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<p>This is the surprising assertion? </p>
<p>Hmmm. An uncle attended Harvard decades ago. He always told me, it’s not what you learn at Harvard, it’s the people you meet. If these studies date from the 70s, it would make sense that the graduates of selective boarding schools would out-earn their college peers. So much of adult and professional success is not based upon academic skills. (Shocker, I know.) </p>
<p>I’m a geek, my husband’s a geek, neither of us attended boarding schools, so this hasn’t been our personal life story. It is true, though, that the most successful and generous alumni of my college were not those who took home all the academic honors. They were the students who networked continuously, who learned how to think on their feet, and who learned how to talk to people. </p>
<p>(There is one career track in which grades matter. In medicine and the sciences, the most successful graduates, I presume, would be the students with the highest grade point averages. Does anyone know how many boarding school graduates of the late 70s became doctors or research scientists?)</p>
<p>Lots of parents and applicants get all tied up about SSAT scores and grades, and complain when candidates with “sup-par stats” get in. They don’t understand that, past a certain point, it really doesn’t matter. The student is bright enough to do the work. </p>
<p>Boarding schools emphasize leadership, and character. They also place a high value on sports prowess. There are reasons for that. They are, and have been, places to educate leaders.</p>