<p>I wonder how much the CC website has contributed to the visibility of BS as an option and whether it is responsible for triggering a big increase in number of applicants. My historical perspective only goes back one year.</p>
<p>1) Did you decide to apply to BS before or after visiting CC?</p>
<p>2) Did CC influence the selection of schools you applied to?</p>
<p>before! i decided to apply THEN went around to look for stuff and found cc :)</p>
<p>I started considering boarding school before I found CC. But without CC, this decision might not have been made because I found so much support and advice here which made me more confident in my choice. 
And no to the second question.</p>
<p>1) Long before. DC1 was a senior in BS when I found this site.</p>
<p>2)Some, mostly in a positive way, because we were able to find/receive answers to questions about schools we weren’t very familiar with. </p>
<p>I was very, very surprised, when I found CC, by how skewed discussion/questions are weighted towards those acronym schools. In honesty, that has worked for me with this admissions cycle, but if I had come across CC when searching for a school for DC1, I would not have stayed.</p>
<p>I always wondered if Harry Potter sparked the boarding school interest for this generation. (Just a thought) But after reading many cc posts, it’s clear that over crowded, budget cutting public schools have a lot to do with the BS increase from the US and the rise of other countries to strive for a US education.
We stumbled upon cc after researching boardingschoolreview. Both sites were helpful throughout the research process. I’d say the internet, in general, contributed to the BS visibility.</p>
<p>^^ I have heard more than one boarding school admissions officer remark, “Thank God for Harry Potter!”</p>
<p>BS came way before CC! I joined CC March 7th of last year, so that I missed all the craze of applications, and didn’t post until after I’d received my decisions!</p>
<p>Not really. But I think that even more than the college section of the website, this portion is unduly focused on an incredibly narrow selection of schools and thoughts about what is important in a person’s education. I think it more than a little obsessive that there are so many people being ‘chanced’ for next year already. Yuk.</p>
<p>In spite of the thread about hidden gems, there is really no evidence of these schools here now, is there? My daughter and I visited a boarding school that NO ONE has mentioned on this board where, in fact, 1/15th of the senior class had been accepted ED or EA to Ivies. Who knows how many will get in regular round. Who cares. The truth is you can get a great education in probably 200 boarding schools, at least. </p>
<p>I think it is pretty sad when a bunch of 13 year-olds can only see 4 potentially life changing years as being a stepping stone to the next statistically improbable event in their lives. Get off the hamster wheel.</p>
<p>1) before</p>
<p>2) no. </p>
<p>I would agree with prior posters. In my opinion, the site doesn’t increase the number of applicants. I hope that it increases the number of applications per applicant, but how could one know? I do see an obsession with a few schools, which leads too many applicants applying only to the most selective schools. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading these boards long enough to recognize a pattern. Many new visitors to CC don’t know much about boarding schools. They’ve heard a few prominent names. They start searching, and unfortunately, “only the best will do.” More experienced parents can try to point out that there are many strong schools in this country, but for some visitors (many of whom are children), the lesson only sinks in after March 10th.</p>
<p>Decision to apply to BS was made first, CC was found when searching for info.</p>
<p>I am not sure I might have first been exposed to the hidden gem that my d will attend here on cc.</p>
<p>My daughter decided on boarding school years before we knew about college confidential. </p>
<p>It scares me to think someone would pick a boarding school solely on what strangers on the internet had to say about it.</p>
<ol>
<li>I’d already started to research BS, and probably would have applied without CC. </li>
<li>I applied only to CHADES, and while CC definitely played a role in that, I’m not sure how much. My ambition and hunger for rigour and opportunies no doubt were factors, but more importantly, I couldn’t go on visits. So the only comparitive measure I had of schools were numbers… and percentages… and matriculation names. In short, I didn’t start out at the big name BSs, but I think I would’ve made my virtual way there eventually even without CC.</li>
</ol>
<p>Some people in my position (waitlisted at all and rejected at one) would be regretting the “Go Big or Go Home” decision. I can’t say I do- M10 has proved that most of the schools recognized me as competent and a fit, with just the full ride I needed barring the way. I think, even in the scenario Periwinkle described, the blame should be placed on nobody but the deluded themselves. They made the decisions, they chose what influenced them, and when M10 comes and shows that perhaps they were looking through rose-coloured glasses, they should deal with- and learn from- the results. That is called responsibility.</p>
<p>A couple yrs ago my daughter met one of my coworker’s daughter who was attending a BS and they had so much in common that my daughter went online searching BSs. I soon found myself online searching for different schools and stumbled across this site. </p>
<p>I also did find the hidden gems schools she applied to on here but saw some of them first on Boarding School Review.</p>
<p>CherryRose, good for you for being so cool headed and logical. The point is to use this board and other tools to make an <em>informed</em> decision. Everyone has a different bottom line and don’t have to pursue have on the list hidden gems invariably.</p>
<p>1) Before
2) Nope. I joined in January, and it was already dead close to the application deadline.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Before, I decided to apply in late summer.</p></li>
<li><p>No. I was tempted to view a few hidden gems, but eventually there were time/traveling constraints.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m not sure it’s the board specifically, but the internet in general which has made it much easier to research schools and screen schools and this board is part of that. There are a lot of people who read the threads and form opinions about schools without ever posting. But also, the boarding school review, the school’s individual websites, youtube videos, etc. are all adding to the frenzy.</p>
<p>I do think stories such as Harry Potter began to demystify the process for many families that would have never considered it before.</p>
<p>My sense is that this board has increased applications TO CERTAIN SCHOOLS. When we first started looking at boarding schools, because our local options had become inadequate, we were looking for schools that had certain characteristics (language, location, sport, etc.). After getting swept up in the conversations here, we got caught up in the “selectivity” game (i.e. HADES, GLADCHEMS, etc.). In the end, we chose somewhat less selective schools, and experience has borne us out. Unless you’re coming from a really top tier local system, a boarding school doesn’t have to be top tier to be MUCH better than local options.</p>
<p>
That’s very true. And put in context, relatively few people have “really top tier” local options. On the other hand, BS tuition is prohibitive and it also involves other financial and non-financial costs to many families. Some faimilies would want to make that sacrifice only for the best of the best (or on the condition of having more than “necessary” FA). Otherwise they’d settle with a less than really top tier but decent local option, hoping to supplement it with more parental support or spend money on outside tutoring etc. I guess it’s a legitimate choice too. </p>
<p>I don’t think this site has increased BS applications, but it does increase the knowledge about BS for people who come into the process, however unbalanced that knowledge can be at times.</p>
<p>Even though we are from Florida, there is a long history of boarding school attendance in my family and my husband’s. He and his brother attended Kent School, his great uncle was the founder of the school. His first cousin is a former head of Hotchkiss. His brother and father attended Exeter. I attended Andover. </p>
<p>We used boarding school review to narrow my daughter’s choices based on such factors as dance offerings, selectivity, and high financial aid awards/endowment per student.</p>
<p>Then we started following the cc threads.</p>
<p>I think access to information on the internet has probably led to the increase in apps beyond the families that would otherwise know anything about boarding schools.</p>
<p>Cc is a helpful tool, and I do think the hidden gems part of it needs to be focused on more. Experienced parents and students are greatly appreciated for sharing their insights. Now that D has been accepted at a school, I am receiving private messages from current students and parents, and that is great too.</p>