<p>I go to a high school in CT, that is a private school. It has admissions and not everyone gets accepted. We have had people from our school get into all of the Ivy League's. At This school I get A's and B's. My grades are looking pretty good. Would going to a school like Loomis Chafee or Exeter hurt or increase my chances at Getting into an Ivy League.</p>
<p>We can’t say for certain, because those boarding school students that end up at an Ivy were probably of Ivy-caliber in the first place.</p>
<p>But again, does an Ivy League degree always guarantee a successful career?</p>
<p>Depends if you work hard at Loomis or Exeter. Prep school definitely does not equate to acceptance to good college.</p>
<p>If you are active and maintain strong grades with A’s and B’s at let’s say Exeter, it would make you a strong college applicant/</p>
<p>Normally I would say yes. It will normally give you better teaching, the college will know you’ve been through a rigorous school so can likely cope with their school, it will normally give you EC opportunities not available at every school and it shows that you are independent enough to cope with college life.</p>
<p>It won’t necessarily get you into your first choice college, but it will make college easier since the workload at Boarding School is comparable if not harder.</p>
<p>Don’t go to boarding schools hoping for a specific outcome (college). That’s a waste of money unless you’re in a lousy district. Go to boarding school because you want the breadth of what it has to offer (cultural, social, academic).</p>
<p>Bear in mind that people with an average of A- at Exeter still get deferred EA by Stanford and the likes.</p>
<p>Having seen my son’s prep school senior class EA results compared with those of his friends at our public high school, I am feeling discouraged about the edge that prep schools once gave their students for college. While I value the standalone academic/cultural experience one receives at prep school, I believe that it may be harder to get in to a top college from a prep school than it was historically. My son has an A- average at a very good prep school. He, as well as many of his friends, were deferred in the EA round. The friends he has in our public high school were all accepted EA to Ivys, Stanford, Davidson, etc. My son’s boards are higher and his course load appears to be a little more interesting than that of his friends’ typical public high school AP-heavy transcript. He is now questioning whether he should have stayed home for high school and my husband and I are questioning whether to send his younger brother to prep school.</p>
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<p>The edge is in preparation for handling the rigor of college. I agree with Exie that if youre in it:</p>
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<p>Also, what defines a top college has been discussed ad nauseum. I looked at the college matriculation list for Choate last year, and I see that every single student went to college and every single one of those colleges will provide a fine education. What more could you possibly ask for?</p>
<p>You will have an easier initial time in college at the cost of $200k.</p>
<p>MBVloveless tells the truth.</p>
<p>The fact that you have a college counselor gives a big advantage. My monstrous school has a total of 4 counselors for 2,600 students. They have to do everything from helping students decide what hs courses to take to dealing with all the course transfers during the year. Getting to know students and helping them decide where to apply to college isn’t really important to them and they don’t know us so that can’t really write good recs. I’ve met my counselor in person just once so far and I’m a junior. She hasn’t even heard of the schools I want to apply to. Plus the counselors move around all the time between schools in the district so the chances that I’ll have the same counselor next year aren’t great.</p>
<p>It’s true that boarding schools are no longer the Ivy feeders they once were. If you are hoping to attend boarding school for the sole purpose of attaining Ivy admission, then you should be paying close attention to the college counseling department at the schools you visit. For students from large publics, almost any prep school college counseling dept will improve your admission chances to a good college (not necessarily Ivy). But for students from schools that already have successful college matriculations - public or private: go to boarding school for the education itself. We will never know whether D would have gotten into as good a college without boarding school, but we do know that she could never be as prepared to succeed. </p>
<p>Colleges are receiving applicants from all over the world now. Why would they allow any one prep school to dominate their freshman class when pulling from a global pool?</p>
<p>Another thing - I’m in full blown interview season (or at the tail end of it).I worry about the parents and students who assume “staying at home” will give them a better shot by looking at stats and making assumptions. The answer is - maybe or maybe not. Schools aren’t accepting numbers and widgets - they’re accepting real kids with interesting lives and real live flaws. So someone else getting into a college (from either a public or private school) doesn’t mean the student reading the stats will be equally attractive no matter where they rank on the class list. And a boarding school “B” often means a lot more than a local school’s “A”.</p>
<p>If families truly believe they will have better chances by staying at home, then that’s an internal matter. There are no guarantees that outcome will be any better. Frankly, if the purpose of going to Boarding School is to guarantee entrance into an Ivy, it’s both myopic and a waste of money. Most of the worlds top (you name it - scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, etc.) didn’t go to IVY’s. Many other schools are also “top” schools.</p>
<p>So as wcmom said, boarding schools are no longer Ivy feeders. I suspect its because so many applicants enter boarding schools with the sole purpose of hoping for that outcome. The naked ambition is a real turn-off versus students who choose the school for good reasons having nothing to do with prestige. What I am loving about boarding schools is because there is LESS pressure to push IVY schools on students, the counselors are now helping students find good matches for their career goals. I saw my daughter’s list and was pleased. As a test I suggested she throw Yale and Brown on the pile and she looked at me like I had two heads. Wise kid - she’s following her dream, not someone else’s distorted version of it.</p>
<p>BTW - I do note those kids who say they want MIT and then can’t demonstrate any knowledge about the school other than its reputation. My team sees that a lot. So i can imagine other colleges do too and it’s wholly unappealing in an applicant. So it is with much amusement that I’m noticing how god awfully tough the college supplements are becoming - and how impossible it will be for students to clone other responses, or “fake” their knowledge of the colleges now. And the questions are changed every year. In one case, they’re created by existing students. As a result, I’m hearing some students are reducing their number of colleges because the essays are so specific and so hard.</p>
<p>About time, if you ask me. Finally - a test students can’t prep for in advance. :)</p>
<p>You have to consider the situation. Like I say for nearly everything, it depends. On the person, on the prep school, college, etc. </p>
<p>Although, at well-known, so-called “tier1” schools, it is said that you are competing against your very own, very talented and smart classmates for admissions to colleges</p>
<p>If you already have enough academic challenge at home, what can boarding school give you? Boarding is a character experience that teaches personal independence and maturity, but everyone who goes to boarding school gets that, so while it may be huge for personal growth, it may not be an admissions edge. And remember you will get that experience anyway when you go to college. </p>
<p>For the most selective colleges you need not only high grades and high scores, but also to show them something world-class or unique. The best way to do that is to have a personal passion and pursue it. Go out and accomplish something more than grades. </p>
<p>Going to private school raises the bar if anything, because you have access to tons of resources. So the expectations are higher. And it becomes that much harder to stand out.</p>
<p>So it may be more a matter of doing something different where you are.</p>
<p>In any case, start with your dreams and then ask what school will help you attain those best. That way you come out ahead regardless of what happens with college admissions.</p>
<p>It disappoints me that people debase Exeter and other prep schools as simply a vehicle to take someone from point A (suburban middle class society) to point B (the Ivy League), only to attack and call it “a waste of a small fortune” when it doesn’t fulfill this “college admissions-crazy” parents mantra. I’ve began to see that people at these sorts of schools have a better handle on what they’d want to do with their lives, and are better equipped to go out and succeed in the real world. They are the sorts of people that would take the risk to create a start-up, to go out and change the world. That essence, ultimately, is what you’re paying for in a school like Exeter. </p>
<p>What do you expect to gain from going to an Ivy League (or similar) school? I currently go to one now, and although its been fun, its not nearly the learning and growing experience that Exeter was for me. If you want to go on and get an MD/MBA/JD, it honestly does not matter where you choose to go to undergrad – the battle is won and lost in your test scores and internships, along with research for the medical track.</p>
<p>I am an antiquated graduate of a prep school I had my 50 year reunion in 2010, it helped me at that time not attend a poor split session catholic high school, the prep school took my adelpated carcass and got me in college where I matured and became a graduate school student and progressed further than I would have otherwise I believe. The social adjustment in the artificial environment of a structured boarding environment was probably inadequate to that available in a co ed high school but my parents were wise and it helped me a lot. I had 4 children naturally all females and two adopted males. The first female child went from a private high school catholic to an ivy league, the second to a catholic university , the third to a very selective University Tufts and on to Columbia then to medical school. She attended a regional high school in Ny Ichabod Crane where she got an average exposure in the school but she was motivated by nature. The boy was a minority who was a good student and went to a state university in Mass and on to grad school there in business. His brother went to a High school in Boston and was a weak student in a community that was a very deprived community with not the best schools. Soon after he emerged gfrom the school ,after a difficult time, and was shot to death in Mattapan area of Boston Mass ,not in small measure because of the type of youth in that area , the gangs , and other at risk youth. What I am really saying is that what is in a person will strongly influence the outcome more than the wyld ambitions of even the most idiocyncratic parents who can certainly potentiate a students success or failure but not determine it! My youngest entered as a freshman this year in a college outside Nyc , Pace , she is just beginning her voyage in adulthood and I am praying for her to progress well and be happy in life.So to all those preoccupied parents freting over grades and admittance, I urge you to closely monitor your childs happiness , as much or more than how high they leap over academic hurdles;take my word for it that in the final analysis that the most important result you can achieve is their happiness and illuminated self acceptance not achieving some academic trophy to present to the world. My opinion anyway as a father who has many diverse experiences over45 years now and still counting. Good god I will be in a nursing facility before this all ends!</p>
<p>Above by jim murphy</p>
<p>tl;dr, but I’m not sure what the above has to do with the price of tea in China. Regardless, it’s bumping an old thread needlessly. Closing.</p>