<p>I currently attend a public high school, and after easily coming rank 1 in an atmosphere where the teachers literally force you to almost "self study" every course, and a student body that hardly cares at all, I realized how much I wanted to attend some place like Exeter. By no means is my school a bad one; maybe I've exaggerated. Incidentally, it's the same school as last year's ISEF winner. Still, I feel like I do not benefit much from the school I attend, and cannot relate to many people in it.</p>
<p>As the majority of the people who surf this forum know, the deadlines to apply for next year to such schools are pretty much all past. As a freshman in highschool now, would it be beneficial/worth it to attend such a school my junior and senior years? (I wouldn't be able to attend next year, due to the aforementioned deadlines. I do, however, see a "late applicants" page on Exeter's website: it states that information would be posted mid-April.)</p>
<p>How has a school of this caliber benefited you, and do you opine that it would be "worth it"--if this is even possible--for me to only attend for two years? (Or should I just stay in my current school until college?)</p>
<p>Thank you. I've developed a pretty bad attitude towards the quality of my school, for some reason, and hopefully someone can enlighten me.</p>
<p>I can’t say for how much a school has enlightened me, as I have yet to attend - but I can say that you definitely can attend a school for only two years, as that’s what I’m doing this fall.</p>
<p>You actually sound just like me a year ago! I was in the ninth grade, realized I wanted to go to boarding school but it was already April/May. I spent 10th grade applying, and was successful. </p>
<p>As for the benefits - I’m sure you’ll meet a lot of very enthusiastic students on this forum, all of whom will assure you what a wonderful time they at their schools, as well as how much they learned.</p>
<p>(1) Don’t count on getting admitted to Exeter. No matter how qualified you are, the odds are against you. Start researching schools ([Boarding</a> School Review](<a href=“Boarding School Search Results”>Boarding School Search Results)), and broaden your search to include at least one or two schools you know you can get into.</p>
<p>(2) If you’re willing to do #1 above, then you will also find several good schools that have rolling admissions, plus, many other schools take late applicants even though they don’t advertise the fact on their websites. So, if you’re willing to hurry up and take the SSAT and fill out some applications, applying for this coming school year might be a possibility. (NOTE: If you need financial aid, then late applications are probably not a good idea. You’ll have a very difficult time finding any school with financial aid funds.)</p>
<p>(3) Whether you are applying now for this coming school year or next year for the following year, you should seriously consider repeating a year. No, not because you’re not qualified to just go into your expected grade - but because you’ll have a much better chance of getting admitted. There are more spaces in 9th grade than in 10th, and more spaces in 10th grade than 11th. Getting admitted as an 11th grader can be done, but it’s really difficult. If you enter as repeat, you’ll find you are not alone . . . you will not end up being the oldest kid in your class!</p>
<p>Dogersmom’s advice is so spot on and a very realistic impression of the current BS admissions climate. This post should actually be it’s own thread because it will be very helpful for future applicants.</p>
<p>Another thought I had that is probably really pretentious:</p>
<p>By going to such an outstanding school, do I diminish my chances of “standing out” as a student for college applications? I feel like I can easily come on top of the school that I attend currently, but if I go to a place like Exeter, I might not look as “outstanding” on a college application.</p>
<p>It’s simply a thought I had, and of course one shouldn’t base these sorts of decisions solely on college, but what do you all think?</p>
<p>Absolutely! There’s a lot to be said for being a big fish in a small pond. An Exeter diploma is a great thing to have . . . but the math is simple: only one out of ten kids is going to be in the top 10% of the graduating class.</p>
<p>The top boarding schools don’t rank, and send a large portion of the graduating class (up to 30%) to Ivies and like-caliber schools. Going to a top BS does not hurt your chances of going to a top college (but may not help, either).</p>
<p>To echo what the other users have said above-it is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, you might attend a school where you are so much more educated and experience new opportunities then the typical, run-of-the-mill public school student will ever experience in their high school. On the other hand, the Ivies choose only the top students from the BS’s-so you’ll have some tough competition. but please, please don’t apply or attend a BS because you want to go to an Ivy. Go there because you genuinely love it there.</p>
<p>You’d be mistaken if you assume that Ivies only take the top students from BS and if you define “top” as highest grade average/highest test scores. I know many boarding school students going to Ivies that weren’t the best academically yet have other attributes that appeal to Ivies and are still completely capable of handling Ivy academics.</p>
<p>I was looking at the Andover students per grade and noticed that there are less students in grade 11 than 10. Does that mean its easier to get in as a junior and do people normally leave boarding schools?
Grade 11—283
Grade 10—290</p>
<p>Amuchan, I think small variations are explained by small differences in yield rates. If more students than expected accept a school’s offer of admission in Year 1, in Year 2 the school may not have as many beds to fill. When the large class in Year 1 graduates, the school may admit a larger class for year 5.</p>
<p>In other words, I don’t think there’s a significant attrition rate at Andover, and it’s hard to get in for any grade.</p>
<p>At the Andover revisit, I vaguely recall a one point something percent attrition rate was mentioned. It’s somewhere between 1 and 2%, which is very low.</p>