BS for one year only?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hi! I've been reading the forum for some time but this is my first post. I have been pondering about this:</p>

<p>Is it a good idea to send my kid to a BS for just one year? I'm thinking maybe his freshman or his sophomore year and then he would come back to his regular high school with expanded thinking skills (hopefully) and a good experience. Although he could get some financial aid, we still have college ahead for all our kids. Money is then one reason to consider this and the other reason is the difficulty that I foresee for both our kid and us to be far away for all his high school years.</p>

<p>My question is:</p>

<p>1) Does this make sense from the academic experience point of view?
2) How would the admissions people like the idea if presented upfront?
3) Would this hurt/help/neither hurt nor help his possibilities when he applies to college?</p>

<p>My son is an excellent student and might have a relatively good chance to be admitted to one of the top BS. </p>

<p>I see many of you are very knowledgable on BS. Any insights will be most appreciated!</p>

2

<p>yes! it is a good idea. it does make sense from the academic experience point of view. i would not present this idea to the admissions people at the boarding schools you are applying to. there is no reason to tell them you are planning to apply for only one year, and it could hurt your son's chances at the school. who wants a kid for just one year? it COULD help, but likely would neither help nor hurt, your son's college admissions chances. </p>

<p>im actually right in the middle of something, but i wanted to post on this topic so i did not forget to do so! i will come back later and post more.</p>

3

<p>I think -- actually I KNOW -- that a single year of boarding school can be very beneficial and an incredible journey...for the right student. But then, here's the problem you have to address as the parent who is planning on this being NO MORE than a single year experience:</p>

<p>If that one year is so wonderful and terrific, how can you plan to take your child out of that environment?</p>

<p>And here's another one: Will your child know about this plan? If so, you could be planting the seeds for its failure; and if not, isn't that sort of a cruel game on your part?</p>

<p>As for getting some "buy-in" from the school, that ain't gonna happen. They want success and one way that's measured is in terms of attrition rates. So add them to the list of people you'll have to deceive (if your son's not on board with it) and -- again, another problem -- if he is in on it, you're putting him in a bad situation in terms of the Honor Code.</p>

<p>I can see this spiraling out of control, with a tangled web of deception generating a series of unforeseen consequences. It will be like some sort of boarding school version of "Fargo" in which a simple, oh-so-clever plan gets a little bit off track and the next thing you know there a derailment and the anhydrous ammonia cars are leaking or -- to return to the "Fargo" analogy -- the whole thing comes to a climax as you're seen putting a freshman year gone awry into the wood chipper in hopes that you can just start over as if the whole previous year never happened.</p>

<p>I don't see this coming off as planned or hoped for. The best case scenario is that the year is terrific and you're proceeding with plans to pull the rug out from under your child's education and life experience. If it was a great year, he'll have new friends you'll be pulling him away from. If you're making this your plan, and you're hoping things go really, really well, then your plan, in a nutshell, is to screw over your kid and tear him away from a great experience so he can have one less year to succeed, make friends and get adjusted to the school his peers will be cruising along at. And you'll be heaping on a heapin' helpin' of stigma from what everyone will presume is a failure of some sort that accounts for the change.</p>

<p>I think you've got to go in with an attitude that you're going to be fully invested in this community to the end: graduation. Whether it's at a boarding school or the public school, going in to the experience with that mindset is the best way to go. Things can change -- they always do, it seems -- but planning on quitting just doesn't pass the smell test...in my personal and totally subjective opinion.</p>

4

<p>I have to agree with D'yer on this. You might investigate summer academic programs at boarding schools. I don't know much about the program, but there is Wolfboro (sp?) which is a summer boarding school. When we did one of our school tours, the student guide said that he went there to get ready for boarding school. If your son is still in 7th grade, you can investigate whether or not he qualifies for programs like Johns Hopkins CTY. These gifted programs are divided by geography, so it depends where you live. CTY has academic summer camps, and programs during the school year in science and the humanities. Also, you might investigate prep day schools in your area. While still very expensive, day schools are not as expensive as boarding schools.</p>

5

<p>I think it would be more successful if he did a study year abroad, no strings attached plus more international. </p>

<p>if you're more into experience than academics, I know one school (in switzerland) that is cool with 1 year students.</p>

<p>only if he is not up tight and very upen minded, not the place for anyone that has any race/religion/ sexual orientation reservations. they have to be open with other people. must be athletic. there is an automatic reduced tuition, you just need to say that you need it. I think that covers about 10,000, financial aid is seperate. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.ecole.ch/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ecole.ch/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>I agree with D'Yer Maker. I also like roses&clovers' suggestion, and Burb Parent's suggestion. </p>

<p>I would be afraid that a single year at a boarding school would be unnecessarily hard to explain, when applying to college. Yes, there are children who decide that boarding school's not for them, after they've tried it, but you'd be setting your child up to fall into this category. The first year at a prep school seems to see a dip in a student's grades, and I'm concerned about how an outside observer, i.e., college admissions officers, would read the record.</p>

<p>If you were to be posted overseas, it would make sense. Also, if your son had outstripped all the local offerings, including community college courses, it would look reasonable to switch to boarding school for junior and senior year. If I were in your position, I would gravitate to summer academic programs, which can also teach good study skills. On a college application, they make sense for a child who's looking to improve study skills, and don't awaken concern about something being "wrong." Some summer programs are also a definite feather in the cap for an applicant. If he's into math and science, here's a list worth checking out: <a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/science_fairs_olympiads_etc/index.shtml#summer%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/science_fairs_olympiads_etc/index.shtml#summer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

7

<p>Thanks for your comments! </p>

<p>It does give me a lot of food for thought. I haven't decided one way or another but I have a lot more to consider now.</p>

8

<p>Have your son do a PG year. It will be a year of BS on the back rather than front end, however, it could be a life-changing experience and prepare him well for college. Check out the essay in Deerfield's viewbook written by a PG boy from Massachusetts. His story is a touching and positive one.</p>

9

<p>i disagree it think its a bad idea. unless the academics at his current school are top notch then he will probably come back and be verrrrrry bored. and if they are top notch, then why send him away? also, he will most likely have made some great friends and it would be awful to have to leave them behind.</p>