<p>Are there lots cliques in Boarding School? I've heard from a couple friends that go to boarding school that all of the well-bred, rich, good looking, legacy kids stick together, and all of the Asians stick together. Apparently the "rich and popular" people all vacation in Nantucket together and the guys wear Vineyard Vines and the girls wear Lilly Pulitzer in the spring and Hunter boots in the fall. Is all of this true?</p>
<p>All schools have cliques. But what’s nice about schools w “sit-down” meals is that there is a regular opportunity for students to get to know students outside their immediate circle of close friends.</p>
<p>It varies by school. At my kids’ school (Concord) there are various groups of friends but they are nothing like the cliques that existed in my public school way back when. Everyone is friendly (even the kids who don’t like each other). If there weren’t any tables of close friends at a meal, my kid felt comfortable sitting down at literally any table with an open seat.</p>
<p>I go to Governor’s. Yes there are cliques but they are very loose. Generally everyone has tons of friends outside of their group and it’s not a huge deal.</p>
<p>As far as preppyness goes… Yes it exists but mostly among day students. Literally no one cares about what you wear. Maybe for the first week freshman will be obsessing over what to wear, but after they get used to the life of boarding school, they’ll stop caring. </p>
<p>So essentially, the things you are worried about, most people barely even think about once they arrive. I’m from outside of New England and not particularly well off, and it’s not a big deal at all.</p>
<p>NChopeful, I can only speak for my son’s school, Concord Academy. In comparison to our local public high school (which my older child attends), I would say the cliquiness is much less intense at CA. I attribute that to two factors: First, the CA culture is extremely casual and accepting of differences. Second, the students get a lot more adult attention/involvement, given much higher teacher:student ratio.</p>
<p>As far as Asians sticking together, all I can say is that my child is white but most of his friends are Asian.</p>
<p>Photodad: Great to see you here again! As you can see, my son did choose CA, and absolutely loves it. Thank you so much for answering my questions and sharing so much with me last spring!!</p>