I haven’t told ANY of my closest school friends that I’m applying to prep school! Nope, not one! M9 is right around the anxiety filled corner, I haven’t got a clue what to do. I don’t want to make my friends mad, so how should I break the news? (assuming that I get accepted somewhere)
At this point I’d wait until you hear from the schools and make a decision to attend before telling them.
That was what I was planning to do, but I don’t really know how to tell then after the decision.
I told my friends, and I have to admit, it felt like they were icing me out because they were preparing for me to leave. I fixed things, but only 3 of my friends understand how serious I am about leaving if I get in.
I’ve thought about how I’ll tell them if I leave, though. I think I’ll take each one by themselves, for example walk home with one, and explain why I’ve decided to go. For my 3 best friends (the ones who know) I don’t know how I’ll tell them without crying so hard, even though I’m the one leaving.
Awwww, well I’m sure you’ll get in, and best of luck with handling your friends!
ah well i have a weird situation where my friends that are quite close and ik they’re super nice and all, they know, but i didn’t tell my super duper close friends in case i felt pressure from them to actually get in
I plan on just telling my friends that I’m leaving and we’ll keep in touch. In your situation, I’d just say something like “I love you all and I’m glad to be your friend, but I won’t be going to school here anymore… I’ll be attending BS at X.”
I need advice for how to tell my speech coach… he’s going to be mad.
My dad gave me some great advice today - when you tell your friends, don’t apologize for leaving! It’s what you want! Be happy about it, but it’s also okay express sadness that you won’t be together anymore.
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I have many friends who currently attending boarding school and I think while it may be hard at first, it truly becomes much easier when you actually attend prep school in September. Honestly, you really don’t go more than 3 weeks without some sort of long-weekend/break where people head home (especially if you are on the east coast) and visit their friends and family. Since boarding school breaks tend to be a little different than private or day school breaks, it is much easier to visit your friends at their schools and houses. I have had friends who went to junior boarding school in 6th grade and are still at boarding school now in 10 grade. I am still very close with all of them. I would really stress the fact that you are back very often and in today’s world there is always FaceTime, snapchat, instagram, text, etc. for you to be able to connect with them.
Wow, I’ve already talked my friends to death about it. Pretty sure they wanna get rid of me at this point. Just try to explain to them why it would be such a great thing for you, and if they’re real friends, they’ll understand and keep in touch!
@misslilbookworm, it is what I want! I was actually kinda planning on saying sorry, but I’m not sorry because this is my dream! That’s a great piece of advice, @misslilbookworm’s dad! No way I’m apologizing now.
When I was a kid my mom always said to use her as the fall guy. So while I recommended honesty in another thread like this, you can always blame your parents: “my parents decided I should go to XX school. They think it will be a better fit for me. I love you guys and I’ll see you every single vacation!”
lol, but no. my friends would never believe me! actually, they might…but no.
We are lucky. Half the kids in our school are applying private so it’s not a big deal. There is one friend who’s sad but we will make an extra effort to see her.
about a third of the girls in my school go to a local all-girls private school. i don’t know why they like it so much, and its acceptance rate is like 70%. there is only one other girl in my grade applying somewhere, and she is applying to choate like me, so I am hopeful for the both of us 
If I may still comment on this forum (lmk @skieurope or other moderators if it’s ok), this is something I had a lot of experience with in the past. In my opinion, it might be best to put off telling your friends until you know for sure that you’re leaving (i.e. you get an acceptance on M10 or M9), because the admissions process is very harsh and many come out with no acceptances due to high competitiveness. It might be painful for them to think that you’re leaving next year, only to find out - welp, no, you’re not. (Mind, I went this route for the most part and people can get impatient when you’re out of school for days with little explanation. It involves a lot of secrecy)
OTOH, it could be better to give them notice as soon as you start the admissions process so you have a place to rant to as well as adjusting them to the idea of you going away the next year. Really depends on your own situation.(I had a few close friends I did this with and they were decidedly not appreciative of the constant raving, so mind that too!)
And make sure to explicitly talk to everyone who might miss you! I just kind of let the news spread around and some of my friends found out on the very last day of school, which isn’t a favourable situation at all, I can tell you.
@RedLioness yikes. when I told my four friends, their attitude was “cool. see you on Christmas vacation.”
@ffsophiar haha, that’s priceless! I had friends like that too, and I couldn’t quite decide whether I should be hurt, amused, or relieved.
@RedLioness well, boarding school’s a perfect place to find better ones!
@ffsophiar yes, exactly!
At least that’s the hope, anyway… 