don't go to boarding school

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>i'm telling you, stay away from boarding school. i know most of you think it's great, but it isn't. many of you are probably being pushed into it by your parents; do everything in your power to avoid going. best thing is probably to bomb the interviews hard. but do what you have to. for the love of god, don't get sucked into it. especially if you are not some blue blood east coast wasp type. for every 1 person that likes it, there are about 10 people who hate it.</p>

<p>the admissions advantage is bs as well. you can get into harvard, yale etc. from any high school; boarding schools are just good at hand-holding. all the information you need is right here on these forums. the vast majority of my classmates did not end up at hyp, and a good percentage have burnt out hard. this is a common thing for prep school grads.</p>

<p>you have been warned.</p>

2

<p>And how would you know this? Mabey this forum has the people who are the group of 100 out of 1,000! Ever think of that?</p>

3

<p>ibftw, you need to divulge more about yourself and motivation. i see you have only one post to your name. suspicious to me.</p>

4

<p>If you do any research, you will know that today MOST kids initiate the process re: boarding schools themselves. Several decades ago it was the parents' idea, but today it usually starts with the student asking about boarding school. It is an amazing educational and social opportunity for the right kid. The OP seems to be a troll.</p>

5

<p>i went to one of the select 7 or whatever its called; one of the ones that's graduated a president.</p>

<p>if you really, really want to go to one of these places, go as a sophmore, or better yet a junior. in my experience this is far and away the best route.</p>

<p>as far as kids initiating the process themselves, i don't buy it. maybe if you're one of these kids whose friends are all going to boarding schools and you live 20 minutes away from the school anyways. no normal kids want to go to these places. i suspect a lot of the "kid" posters on this place are actually parents who are embarassed about being so overbearing. no 13 year old is that verbose.</p>

6

<p>What part of the boarding school did you dislike the most? Was it being away from home - or something else?</p>

7

<p>the trolls.</p>

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<p>the being away from home part is bad in the sense that your parents aren't there to watch over you and, as such, you can end up making some pretty dumb decisions. the house parents or whatever aren't like parents; they usually do little to nothing because they're either younger people who still have lives, or they have families.</p>

<p>mainly though, it's just bad. the students are some of the snobbiest, most elitist, over-priviledged brats you could ever imagine; either that or they're hyper-competitive, cutthroat, straining-in-my-seat-so-the-teacher-sees-i-have-my-hand-raised grade-grubbers. the teachers aren't that much better than you'd get at a decent public/private high school; most of are snotty 23 year old ivy league burnouts who are taking "a few years off" between applying to graduate school or whatever. as far as personal freedom goes, it's basically like the military. you do what you're told when you're told, you have almost no free time and your comings and goings are strictly monitored.</p>

<p>the admissions advantage is way overstated. the numbers look good on paper, but keep in mind that the average sat score at these places is about 300-400 points above the national average, and that the average kid comes from a wealthy, east coast family, so of course more are going to go the ivy league. take out the minorities, recruited athletes and kids with big connections (mom is on the admissions committee, dad built the library) and there are no big surprises: kids with 3.8 GPAs and 1550 (or whatever on the new test) SATs get into decent schools. the only thing i can think of is that the classes are pretty hard, so you're better-prepared for the ap, but they have books for that.</p>

9

<p>i'm no troll; i feel i have more credibility than 99% of the posters on this board.</p>

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<p>I think he is just trying to cut down the competition =)</p>

<p>Please don't come to this board and do this, you are putting ideas into peoples heads that just are not true.</p>

11

<p>You're a troll, and a dope.</p>

12

<p>haha. nicely said</p>

13

<p>believe what you want. i'm guessing a few of you are freshman, in which case you'll probably understand what i'm talking about in a couple of years.</p>

14

<p>For some reason, I'd love to know what Ibftw stands for. Honey, you seem angry. I truly hope you will reason through what is happening in your life and realize that it's often not as bad as you think. I'll bet kids do experience what you are describing, however, there are more constructive ways to make your point. Hopefully those that do will seek help and understanding and work through it. Best of luck to you.</p>

15

<p>i graduated a few years ago. i'm not being bitter, and the boarding school experience doesn't haunt me or anything like that. i'm simply trying to help people by telling them what these schools are really like. it's not the brochures or what you saw on your tour. i'm just being frank. yeah, it's not all bad, but the downside far outweights the positives.</p>

16

<p>ibftw reminds me of someone i know who went to kent. he did not want to go away to boarding school. kent was a prison for him. it makes sense that some people have a bad time away from home. this is just one point of view.</p>

17

<p>This thread is making me nervous about boarding school.
Thank you, lbftw, for putting <em>that much more</em> unnecessary stress on my life.</p>

18

<p>it's nothing to be nervous about; it's not like you're gonna get beaten or executed because you're out of dress code. there really isn't even very much hazing anymore.</p>

<p>you people are making me feel bad. i'm not trying to scare or depress anyone. but i honestly feel like most of you'd be better off going to your public high school and just trying to learn as much as you can both in and outside of class. the education aspect is the only thing you'll probably find better about boarding school. and again, if you really wanna go, go as a junior; you get the college prep experience without having to deal with all the bs for too long.</p>

19

<p>okay, i'd like to respond to the whole not believeing that a kid would initiate the whole boarding school thing. maybe for most people, parents force their kids to go. But that's how it is for me. my parents at fist said absolutely not and there was no way they'd even consider it. I worked for months and months writng letters, gathering information and doing eveerything possible to convince them to let me go. two months ago they finally said i could apply and i couldn't be happier. I WANT this. my parents don't. (altho they're all supoortive and stuff now) i think they'd be pleased if i didn't get in. You are alos only one person. This was your experience, not everyones. My cousin goes to the school i'm applying to and he loves it. I've talked to other people who love it to. maybe you just weren't right for boarding school. id you even want to go in the first place? you also might have gone to a school that was a horrible experience for you, but not all schools are like that and things change everyday. i appreciate your opinion, but it's not going to change my mind. what school did you go to, out of curiosity?</p>

20

<p>Boarding school is definitely not for everyone. However, it's one of the most researched high school education choices. Few people actually explore their local public -- let alone private day -- school options with the vigor that even the least-prepared BS applicant musters just by getting through the tour and interview steps.</p>

<p>If, after researching boarding schools, you think it's for you, then fine.</p>

<p>Most boarding schools take steps to ensure that both the parents and the students are on board because it is a monumental decision. And, even then, there will be students like lbftw who have buyer's remorse and yearn to graze in the greener pastures that he thinks are on the other side of the fence. Sometimes it's the parents who reconsider their decision.</p>

<p>It's just as preposterous to contend that boarding school is for everyone as it is to contend that boarding school isn't for anyone.</p>

<p>lbftw, if you want to make the case that boarding school isn't for you, then well done. You've given a one-sided, unbalanced view of the world. Hyperbole tells us much about how badly you and your parents chose and is extremely unpersuasive when you use it to tell others that they will make the same mistake that you did. Most people at this stage have a better sense of self-awareness than you did. And, yes, some will still discover that they're not quite prepared for boarding school.</p>

<p>It's your universal warning and the unflinching stereotyped caricatures you paint for us that suck all credibility from your position. Try explaining why you think boarding school doesn't measure up overall -- after giving us some of the plusses and minuses. (You just give us the negative side.) Try comparing boarding schools to other options available to students. (Apart from a matriculation analysis that most boarding school advocates here point out repeatedly, you don't use comparisons. Are all boarding schools worse than all other options?) And, finally, take some personal responsibility for choosing boarding school when it wasn't right for you. (You're a square peg blaming the round hole because you don't fit...as if the hole has to do all the changing and growing and adapting while the peg remains static.)</p>

<p>If you actually believe what you're saying, you're doing a crappy job of persuading anyone. </p>

<p>And, please, have a long talk with your parents. If you're making half an effort to adapt to boarding school and are still this disaffected, then you're not communicating so well with them either.</p>