<p>Pulsar—you are just cluelss.</p>
<p>Sorry Alexz, it makes me sad when others can’t seem to comprehend how hard the lives of people who differ from theirself have it. Ignorance hurts.</p>
<p>Looks like many of you are misreading my posts as you may be taking them personal. These posts mention the options available to one, not asking them to follow them. I have many friends who moved to suburbs for this same reason.</p>
<p>But you don’t understand. Sometimes it is not just easy as just moving to the suburbs. Sometimes a person has no choice but to stay where they live. Sometimes they don’t have the “options” that you state in your posts.</p>
<p>I doubt if pulsar is a kid unless he is continually posting from school.</p>
<p>That is even scarier.</p>
<p>Catg, Haven’t you heard of iPhones? You can be home-schooled too.</p>
<p>Why yes, I have by the way. I would just think a student in school would be more interested and involved in what is going on around him during the school day than checking internet threads… but whatever.</p>
<p>I learn a lot about Schools on CC. And learning doesn’t happen just in school. I know many kids who already know the stuff, but they are held back in the grade due to age etc.</p>
<p>pulsar, if you are already convinced (and it does sound like) that boarding school is not for you, you shouldn’t waste time here. This thread or this forum to a great extent is for the experienced, the newbie and for “the confused” about boarding school as a real option. I suggest you move on to a forum like “high school life” or college admissions section of CC. You are obviously a smart girl. Good luck!</p>
<p>cldwellmom–my S is in a similar situation. Wanted BS and seemed ready–has gone and but experience has not been outstanding (the bubble of wonderful BS has been burst). We are debating going back to local day school. I hear from some–maybe college will look differently at him because he wasn’t well adjusted at BS–well, an important life lesson is that change is okay (and being proactive with a less than ideal situation is actually good, not bad). When we get there, there are lots of spins we could provide as to why he wanted to come home after a year of BS. We need to make the best situation for the near term/next 3 years and I believe then post HS will sort itself out.</p>
<p>grinzing - colleges will not look differently (in a negative way) at your son if he chooses to leave boarding school - if he does well at your local school and stretches himself, that is what will be noticed - if he switched schools each year because he wasn’t content, then colleges may wonder… but going for a year and returning home is nothing to worry about</p>
<p>Yes. And I think it’s the best possible time to pull him back. He can have a fresh start and almost the whole experience in his new school.</p>
<p>I agree–and there might even be a good essay in the whole experience, come college application time.</p>
<p>ok. back to OP’s question and ivies+SM matriculation rate.
Questions for bs parents.
If a student has chances to get in ivies but H,Y,P,M,S. Will they pick other schools like Duke, JH, CMU, NW or Chicago ? Will students pick a school which has better reputation in specific area ?
In engineering field, I do hear students select CMU over Columbia. In hamanity field like economic major. U of Chicago might be a better choice ?
If you are a parent who has this situation. what will you give advices to your kids.
Also, Some parents mentioned strong competition at elite bs and kids themselves or parents still want them to go to ivies.
How many bs parents here think undergraduate school is more important than graduate school if you think your kids might continue to study. Isn’t it the same situation that will hurt their chance to apply top graduate school if class rankings or academy records are not high ?
I also think diversity and more FA offerings at bs will lower ivies matriculation rate. When I talked to a few smart teenagers. they seems don’t think all ivies are their top choice.</p>
<p>I think, as the schools have tried to increase their diversity on a range of measures, diversity will lead to a decrease in the ivies+SM rate. NOT that the student body will be less qualified. Rather, students from outside New England might have a different personal list of “best colleges.” Harvey Mudd or Cal Tech rather than MIT. The University of Chicago rather than Columbia.</p>
<p>Certainly, as many top colleges have moved away from merit aid toward need-based financial aid, a number of middle-class families will prefer that their strong students enroll at their state flagship universities. University of Texas, rather than Yale, for example.</p>
<p>If you set admission to one of ten colleges as the definition of a worthwhile boarding school career, you will always be disappointed. As the colleges try to gather as diverse a class as possible, there will be many able public high school graduates, who arrived at the same destination for free. </p>
<p>A better question might be, is the education a student receives at a boarding school markedly better than the education he might receive at his local public school? The answers to that question will vary, of course.</p>
<p>In some ways, I think we talk round and round here and cover a lot of the same ground over and over. But, I want to say I’m a good example of what Periwinkle asserts. I graduated from a local mediocre no-name high school, but matriculated to an ivy and went on to med school. only student in the school in fourth year Latin, only student in 5th year French (this was all before there was such a thing as AP), had a lot of drive, not a good athlete (women weren’t encouraged to play sports in my day–no money for it). </p>
<p>But I wanted to give my child something more, not only a better HS education that would allow him to explore his passions, but a leg up on getting into an IVY. I did my own HW, and looked at our “exceptional” local PS’s stats and the BS to which my son is now enrolled (not Andover), and yes, I do think just looking at numbers, not the student, he will have a leg up. </p>
<p>Now, hold on…hold your fingers on the keyboard, no need to admonish me…I do think my son is the type who will do well anywhere…seems to score extremely well on standardized tests…always has…is a hardworker and a NICE person, interviews well etc. So now, I am hoping that his “right stuff” will be worked over, and he will be challenged appropriately, not to the extreme which breaks him, however. And yes, I do believe if not an IVY, he will go on to both a name school with a brand name and fine reputation AND a good fit for him which will allow him to be successful. All are important to me.</p>
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<p>Nice way to come back full circle. A fish that can swim will swim, in a pond, in a river,… and can like all this experience, not just one pond. (@copyright, Pulsar, 2010)</p>
<p>
There are exceptions, like anything else, but in general the mainstream perception is that education of the “name” private schools such as A/E, st. Grottlesex is significantly better than that of MOST public schools. The valid questions are: 1. Does going to these schools reduce one’s chance in getting into your dream colleges compared with if you were in PS (or a local “no name” school)? By how much? 2. Is the high quality education you receive worth the risk of losing that advantage in college admission, worth the money (if you are paying significant amount of tuition), or worth other inconvinience (living away from home, etc.)? The answers will vary, of course.</p>