I’m a big advocate for these schools. For the right students they are wonderful opportunities and so much more than they were 50+ years ago. But I’m not one to romanticize individual boarding schools or fall in love with them. The best dollars they spend are on financial aid. I encourage everyone to take a look at this stuff and decide for themselves, but please be skeptical of the folks who hand out rosy glasses in their own interests. Cast a wide net is not just good advice for applications.
Maybe I missed it, @gnarwhail, but why all the sudden “doom and gloom”?
“For the right students they are wonderful opportunities and so much more than than they were 50+ years ago.”
“Coeducation and a recognition of academic ability did wonders. We are living with the results today. Lucky us.”
I’m quotin’ meself there.
My own sense of the history falls somewhat in between these two perspectives. The oldest schools provided an opportunity for higher education where only rudimentary education was available before. So, in the early years you had schools like Andover that served the children of the educated elite but not necessarily rich. As economic prosperity grew so did educational aspiration and demand for like schools increased so several schools were founded in the mid-1800s to serve that demand and that demand began to grow through the second industrial revolution. Out of the economic boom that followed emerged an aspirational class, robber barons, merchants and industrialists who sought higher education for their children that was not available in public education and, really, the opportunity to have their children hob-nob with the educated and wealthy of the day. Many schools were founded between 1870 and 1920 to meet those demands. These students did not choose to go to boarding school though. The overwhelming majority of those students were SENT to boarding school. And the schools were Spartan and very strict. Many were affiliated with the Episcopal church and sought to instill Puritan values in their students. Their parent’s motives for sending them likely included higher and religious education, important contacts, elitism, etc. Until the mid-50s half or more of the students at these schools fed into Princeton, Harvard and Yale with the balance going to the other Ivies. Theses contacts formed an old-school network that I’d wager served them well in business to the exclusion of those who did not possess the secret hand shake. I think that these schools were both popular because they offered a superior education to what was, generally speaking, publicly available but also the prestige and exclusivity sought by the socially aspirational. And many parents just wanted to outsource their parenting.
Anyone willing to share about those letters and materials from boarding schools that get sent to families whose kids participated in a talent identification program (i.e. took the ssat/act in 7th grade)? Which schools send them? What do they say? Can they really be interpretted as virtual promises of admission and full FA?
I’m a little sceptical that these letters are really sent out or, if they are, that there are a lot of them. My son took the SAT in October of his 7th grade year (11 years old) and scored above 2200. Not a single letter! Perhaps it was because he registered with the talent search (CTY) only after he took the test because he wanted to take it in October and not November or later, but he did get all sorts of recognition and awards from the talent search people. He’s now in 8th grade and we’ve got our fingers crossed for some good news next month!
I wonder if it’s a geographic thing? I had at least a dozen folks from around my neck of the woods tell me about getting these.
@AppleNotFar - Perhaps it’s geographic (we’re in California) but maybe it’s just something simple like there is a list that you get on when you first register and this is the list that gets shared with schools. If you register later like my son (in December) you never get on the list even though you are eligible for all the talent search awards.
GoatKid has been registered with DukeTIP since 4th grade and took the SAT in January of 7th grade. Neither she nor other local kids we know have received communication from boarding schools through this talent search program.
Have 3 kids who have gone through the Northwestern CTD/NUMATS program & all have received letters from a number of BS around the country. It depends on the program. Some programs give access to their list (NU CTD) and others don’t. One school told us Duke TIP used to share their list, but not any longer. Not sure about Johns Hopkins or Cal Berkeley.
My kid scored 2298 in 7th grade through CTY and was registered since the SCAT days of 4th grade…no communication was received from boarding schools through CTY.
No mailings here for CTY participants (including one in SET) either. DS1 got some mailings after applying to Caroline D. Bradley program. More along the lines of we think you’ll do well at our school.
My kid is a member of Duke TiP as well and received recognition in 7th grade. He did not receive any solicitation from boarding schools.
Echo @MA2012 , my kid’s Caroline d. Bradley scholarship app triggered Exeter’s reaching out to us and in our case opened our eyes to the whole new world of boarding schools. As a side note, Exeter ended up not accepting the said kid but some other schools seemed more impressed…So the moral is that now that now that you already have BS within your radar, to be included in some schools’ marketing outreach really doesn’t mean much.
I suspect that they attempt to recruit such kids OUTSIDE of the typical markets i.e New England and/or otherwise east coast/west coast hotbeds of the educational elite and other types of affluence.
Thanks all for sharing.
My 12 year old son took the SAT was selected into CTY SET. We did not hear from any. When he took the SSAT and got 99%, he heard from a couple Lower Tiered schools. It was actually how I found out that his scores were in. 
To be honest, I thought the CTY was going to generate more interest.
Lastly, I know a CTY SET and CDB recipient and she was not accept to Exeter and Andover but arguably goes to a more rigorous day school.
My 7th grader has been in Duke TIP since 4th grade & CTY since 6th. She took the ACT - scored > qualifying for the program’s again. I believe we checked off a box when signing up for ACT for opting out of materials-- but we signed up via ACT directly. We did not receive marketing materials from Boarding Schools, BUT we have been getting more spam & junk mail @ applying for loans (LOL!!)…DD did get a couple of brochures for colleges (West & South) but think it’s a mass mailing (not checking age or grade of student) from a possible list after taking the test!
@AppleNotFar and @GoatMama, my DS has been in CTY since 4th and TIP …took the SAT and got state recognition. We are not in New England…not even close. He’s received several mailings from boarding schools but I would say the lesser known or maybe what is being called lower-tiered (hate that term) and few actually from the “hub” area. Of note…he has heard crickets since the admissions deadline from any of them…actually crickets, period. Who knows…I’m over trying to read anything into this, the USPS notifications, the coaches ne calls or lack thereof…
What will be will be…I’m headed back to the miscellaneous ramblings thread to get more cocktail recipes 8-}
The odd part I found was that we were contacted by schools passed the deadline. I emailed and asked whether they typically have a wait list and then responded positively so I asked why would they need my son to apply if they had more than enough applicants. To that they didn’t have a logical response.