<p>How will a shy kid do in a boarding school? Do they survive and slowly make friends or shutdown? It has to be hard for them to be thrust into the midst of dozens of kids who may be outgoing and not necessarily take kindly to someone who is shy. Do dorm parents help? Thanks.</p>
<p>I would suggest looking at BS with population under 300 students and a low day student population. One that comes to mind is Marvelwood in Kent, CT. It would be a good idea to see how the child does at a sleep away camp before BS. Many BS offer summer programs.</p>
<p>Try looking at a BS with more of a nurturing environment than one with a “sink or swim” environment. I agree with muf’s suggestion of Marvelwood.</p>
<p>Dorm parents do help. People describe them as caring, a second sister/brother, etc. I’m sure a shy kid will do fine with the proper assistance.</p>
<p>It really depends on the degree of shyness. Personally, if my 14/15 year old child was shy, I would think twice about sending them to boarding school. It is a wonderful experience for most, but does require self-reliance and independence. </p>
<p>Be careful about romanticing the idea of dorm parents. They are caring people however they are BUSY people - teaching, coaching, advising other students and clubs, dorm duty and extra help hours in the evenings - all this in addition to raising their own families. In all but rare cases, they won’t be able to provide the same nurturing and attention that parents will in a home environment.</p>
<p>My daughter is an introvert who is thriving in her second year at Andover. One of the advantages of a larger school such as Andover is that there are all sorts of kids there, including plenty of other introverts, or extroverts, or jocks, or musicians, or artists, or math whizzes, or theater geeks, or whatever group of like-minded kids that your child might want to seek out. I think a smaller setting is actually riskier for a shy kid since there will be a smaller number of quiet kids in the mix. My daughter has made lots of friends at Andover. A number of them are the more outgoing kids, but her closest group of friends are the quiet studious ones who are a lot like her. Boarding school has worked well for her, so yes, a quiet kid can thrive socially at boarding school.</p>