Boarding school

<p>Soozievt, you make a good point about sports, & arts and that not all kids will make the cut at some point. From what I can gather from son, there aren’t thirds for all sports and kids are forced to do intramurals in a different sport if they still want to play or none at all.</p>

<p>I guess if my child who will be on thirds this year, is cut from JV next year, realistically, he’ll pursue other club interests or get back into music. (As an aside MWC, he is very good, played on JO teams and made all-stars back home.) What happened this year we also learned is that coach made big cuts to Varsity team at the BS which had a trickle down effect. Varsity team had gotten too big, and kids didn’t have enough playing time to get good enough & win games. Those varsity kids had to go somewhere and many took JV spots.</p>

<p>I guess I am still struggling with the question, “Did we make the right decision?” in terms of BS. I do believe that son is a very strong student and athlete and would do well wherever he goes, but I guess I am hoping that my hard earned $ spent at this school will help him somewhere along the way, and afford him something he couldn’t get at the local ps. Just haven’t seen it, and maybe we won’t.</p>

<p>It’s extremely hard to get into some of the popular sports like tennis at elite BS because everyone is just so good. I heard that so many are like “Olympic Players.” They’re well “prepared.” If you look into the ones in top 10 to even 20%, they are all ready for academics: if you sit in the Honors or AP class in elite BS, you’ll see that everyone already knows what the class covers. They are not the first learners so if someone goes in that class without knowing everything, he/she will be automatically behind. If he/she wants to shine in academics + sports at elite BS, be prepared…otherwise, just enjoy the school experience, get school fame and be happy going to a small lac. Then will be happy. I know many students and parents having such a hard time at elite BS. They had such a high expectation because they were always top in MS, high SSAT scores or even high SAT scores in 7th and 8th grades. But they confront the reality being not in top 20 or 30%…So if they had a goal to get into Ivies by attending elite BS, they will have hard time and few transfer to their hometown school for better chance or for regain confidence.</p>

<p>redblue…your question, “Did we make the right decision?”
Think about another issues for your kid: maturity + daily/study habit + freedom without responsibility + detached from family. I know kids left elite BS because they lost daily/study habit because nobody will closely supervise and they have too much freedom. Unless your kid is already independent, this is something you might think. When a kid is already independent and “super” in academics or art/sports, elite BS is a perfect place. It will make your kid very very successful in terms of college adm. IF not getting into JV and HO really bothers you, there will be more coming to make you confuse. Elite BS will not assign HO in sophomore year unless he/she earns very good grade in freshman year. SO it happens again and it’s getting harder to get into JV or V.</p>

<p>good points, but son is very independent and is in HO Math (don’t know why he didn’t get HO Science) and advanced language.
I have no worries about his being in additional honors classes. This may have just been a mistake or a fluke, we’re still trying to find out. Right now, he seems very happy…again for me, I think I am trying to justify the money spent wanting something to point to saying, this is money well spent.</p>

<p>Only time will tell. But for now he earned a spot in a top prep school because he does have what it takes, mentally and physically. He’s happy, so for now that is what I’ve decided my money is buying.</p>

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<p>To me, this is what it is totally about. If my kid is happy, that’s all that matters. If your kid likes his new BS, then it is indeed money well spent. </p>

<p>I’m glad that for your son’s sport, that they did add a freshmen team and that makes sense to me. Pretty good situation for him. </p>

<p>I’ll share a story from my D’s public school. D was a three season sport athlete. One of her sports was soccer, which is in fall here. She had played it starting in K every year. In HS, for ninth and tenth grade, she was the starting goalie on the JV team. For 11th grade, she tried out for Varsity (here if you are in 11th and don’t make Varsity, you pretty much quit the sport as no juniors tend to play on JV). She did physical training all summer despite being on a travel program unrelated to sports and did the whole preseason, etc. The Varsity had a returning senior goalie and a team normally has two goalies. She thought she was vying for the other slot since obviously the Varsity goalie was returning (the other previous Varsity goalie had graduated) and that left one slot open and she was the likely candidate having been the JV starting goalie for two years. What happened was that the coach did not pick ANY new goalies and just kept the existing Varsity goalie and there were NO new slots available after all and he just had ONE goalie all season (not wise for a team…forget my daughter’s situation for a moment). My D was trying out for a spot that never truly existed. </p>

<p>What this meant was that my D who had played soccer her entire life, was all of a sudden out of soccer that year. But as disappointing as it was, she did not wallow and she was a coach to a fifth/sixth grade team instead and loved that. Most would have given up playing for the high school after that. But my D did not. She came back for tryouts senior year and became the starting goalie on the Varsity team that year and went onto the state Semi Finals. I think the coach was sorry for his choice to not keep my D on the squad in her junior year and only have one goalie and he could have lost having her as Varsity goalie in senior year as anyone who did not make it in junior year never came back to the sport at the school. But she did and it all worked out. In fact, the whole experience became the topic of one of her college essays (and she did get admitted to several elite colleges). </p>

<p>She was a Varsity sport athlete in college in one of her other sports (but not recruited). For two years, she also did the club soccer team in college but that was hard to do in addition to her varsity team which had year long commitments at the college varsity level.</p>

<p>I think September of freshman year is a little soon to tell if it is money well spent. Wait until November when about 15 kids get booted out after a drug bust! (only half kidding)</p>

<p>MWC–I know you are right.</p>

<p>MOWC…so true!</p>

<p>One of my advisees last year, got booted (related to substances in a highly serious situation) in late winter of senior year!</p>

<p>I also know two cases that both students are expelled for plagiarizm in junior year. One came back to hometown and the other went to abroad. Spring term (Jan. to May) is the hardest time for students and there are more incidents at BS.</p>