<p>@PxAlaska 8th grade you are so right. Well except for me and most of my friends. Haha, whatever. I wish I had time for teenage stuff, but I was too busy being forced to work and stuff. I should actually thank my parents for that, I guess. Px, what. At least you had the balls (pardon my language) to kiss him! Ahh, I don’t think I can. D:</p>
<p>@GoldenRatio & PxAlaska Seriously? Do they have a fairly normal hierarchy or one based on the amount of FA? Because that’s kind of tacky if it is a FA-based hierarchy if you ask me -__-</p>
<p>^ Well, my middle school has a fierce hierarchy; the apex cliques are consisted of those with the most money. They are born into mansions, tug around designer clothing, etc, and act totally bratty towards the middle class <em>coughcoughmeandmyfriendscoughcough</em></p>
<p>So I worry it’s going to be the same for boarding school. Yes, I know, very tacky-sounding. :P</p>
<p>^Dude, that sounds really sucky. Haha it’s weird to think how I’m a 9th grader and you’re an 8th grader, yet we probably have about the same level of intellect. My middle school was nothing like yours, it was the ‘pretty’, popular girls and sluts at the top with the ghetto kids, then the normal kids, then the weirdo’s. I think your middle school will prepare you if you go to boarding school because you’ve gone to school with these ‘rich kid’ types. I have to admit I haven’t, and while I’m not embarrassed, I’m curious to see how rich kids act, exactly. If their conceit and mental assurances that money entitles them anything will really show on them.</p>
<p>^ I doubt it; after all, you have a year’s experience and knowledge on me!</p>
<p>Well, there are also always those rich kids who are genuinely into academics; but in my school, it means that they have the money to hire private tutors, they have the resources to dedicate 5+ hours to a sport, they have the money to take lessons in __<em>. And I’ve met some who are sickeningly modest (you just know that they’re perfection incarnated, yet they so vehemently deny it and argh! ></em><) </p>
<p>Then again, most of the students in my middle school are rich, so…I’m definitely the outlier. Wealth really makes no difference-there are just as many shades of orange as there are blue. However, it does bring more opportunities to the person (which is definitely odd, considering America is the “land of oppurtunity [for all]”)</p>
<p>^Do people still believe that about America? I thought it was fairly obviously ridiculous. Some people don’t even get basic healthcare yet.</p>
<p>Money really isn’t a factor at my school, it’s more about the effort you put into fashion, not the brand names. One of the most popular groups are all perputually broke.</p>
<p>You guys are 8th and 9th grade, I’m 10th, and probably not nearly as smart as you guys. Although I have my moments when for some reason I start doing really well in school. Luckily this coincided with my entrance exams :D</p>
<p>Interesting stories guys and gals. Ukgirl don’t worry about dating. It happens naturally. Just be wary of guys. They often just want to have sex. </p>
<p>My middle school was very average. Despite there being groups, there weren’t based off of financial status or clothes. They were based off of intelligence. There were typically 4 groups. 1.) special needs. The special needs kids tended to stick together. They had autism and stuff like that. We always tried to befriend them, but since we never had classes with them and they were always in a separate classroom, it was hard. 2.) average academics. They were on the normal track for normal classes. 3.) above average. I was here. It’s kids who will take higher level classes in middle school as well as high school. 4.) the geniuses. There were about 24 of them my 8th grade year. a lot to be considered geniuses, so I’ll reword it. They were above the above average. They will eventually exhaust the high school curriculum. </p>
<p>There were poor kids and rich kids in all of the groups. There were kids who wore fancier brands or newer shoes throughout. Some kids were in the 4-H group and others played instruments or were in school plays. Again they were also spread throughout. </p>
<p>All schools keep it confidential whether or not you’re a FA applicant. It’s an invasion of privacy to tell everyone. Not saying students won’t speculate, but I’m assuming the students won’t have time to speculate. It’s a busy schedule. I would require full FA plus books/travel/computer stuff to go. I do not believe I will be treated any differently. I’m too busy to think about other people. I’m sure other people are too busy to think about me.</p>
<p>@UKgirl23: It is quite outrageous; comparable to how America was fighting World War I because they were, “fighting in this war to end all wars,” yet the Senate rejected the peace treaty, and how World War II happened anyway.</p>
<p>:-) All of us fluctuate in ability; I, for one, have plummeting scores due to inadequate studying. Just got a C on a quadratic functions quiz-I really need help! Who said that Asians were mathy, anyways? I am certainly not one of them!</p>
<p>@PxAlaska: +1 on that post! …my school, for one, has around 10 people applying for ninth grade at the same HADES boarding schools. They’re the people that will exhaust my high school curriculum, too!</p>
<p>In my school, there are 27 students applying (including me) to BS.
As for cliques, Asians rule the school (We’r 86% Asian. GOD I need some diversity!). It’s almost backwards. We have a math class which is only 5% of the school, and the minute you get in everyone starts treating you like royalty. Which is fun, but it seem inverse to the situations you seem to be speaking of.
I guess that comes from having so many try-hard kids in one school.</p>
<p>I’d say there around about 20~ Chinese kids in my grade of almost 900. We’re a minority in my school. I was the only one in the past few years to apply to any selective boarding school. We had a few go to private day schools and I believe one has gone to Lawrenceville in the past 5 years. </p>
<p>I’m terrible at math. I got a perfect score in math stuff pretty often, but the second I fulfill my math requirements, I will never touch it again. It sucks and I hate it. In the simplest 5 year old tantrum words. I much prefer the humanities. What can I say? I’m human.</p>
<p>^ Same here. I’m positive none of my friends or teachers I asked for recommendations even knew a little bit about boarding school until I told them. When I showed my friend one of the complimentary brochure-books that boarding schools sent, she said, “Look at all these fancy, rich kids.” And I had to remind her that some of them were on FA about two or three times. It got annoying because she had this perpetual idea that everyone who went to bs was rich. And yet, here we all are.</p>
<p>Social hierarchy at my school also depends on intelligence. That is not to say hat one doesnt have to be obnoxious and rich, but “popular” people have to be super smart, rich, and obnoxious. I think I’m the first person to apply to bs from my school in 5+ years.
It feels weird to be the only math-fan!</p>
<p>It’s a common stereotype because it was true for a very long time. It was only recently that schools started giving out full FA. You gotta remember, Lawrenceville didn’t even admit a girl until 30 years ago. Blacks weren’t allowed up until 50 years ago. Our history as we know it is very short.</p>
<p>Speaking of colored admittance, this is a sweet anecdote regarding Phillips Exeter Academy.
‘During the Civil War, three white students from Kentucky confronted the then-principal Gideon Lane Soule over the presence of an African-American student at Exeter. When they demanded that the black student be expelled on account of his color, Soule replied, “The boy is to stay; you may do as you please.”’</p>
<p>I’d like to think that I’d be open-minded like the principal. But I don’t know the social standards then and I can’t say for sure I wouldn’t have done the same thing. I only hope that I would have and still would. I mean I’m “liberal” I suppose. I vote for abortion rights and gay marriage and usually for a lot of topics. I do vote for gun control though so I guess I’m not that liberal. I don’t like guns and while I wish I could say “do what you want”, it affects too many people for it to be a “whatever” sort of thing.</p>
<p>@all you three who like to post a lot (Golden, Px, Alaska) I wish my middle and high school worked like that, with the smart kids at the top. Unfortunately both schools comprised of similar hierarchies, with the generic pretty girls at the top. You know the ones I’m talking about: long hair, semi-perfect skin, generic pretty features, nice outfits, loud and obnoxious without a care, not without a boyfriend for more than a month or two. It’s sad, actually, that these girls get to call themselves popular. I know that boarding school will be much different, because everyone there is smart! Or at least I hope so.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean a hierarchy! I was simply stating groups. It would be a poor show if honors kids were considered “higher” than special education kids who can’t help what they have.</p>