<p>I know many people think that this ranking like others is biased and I agree. It only takes four factors into consideration: faculty/student ratio, percentage of faculty holding advanced degrees, endowment size and Ivies+SM matriculation rates, but it lump boarding schools and day schools into the same pool and compare "apples and oranges" in a <em>coherent</em> way, and clearly shows that some top day schools are just as rigorous, successful and prestigious as the top BS's. I know I have and am not sure how many of other BS parents have faced or are facing the choice of whether they should send/keep their kids in an excellent day school or let them attend a BS as a boarder. So here's my hypothetical scenario. If finance is no issue, when you have a few day school choices like Trinity, Horace Mann and Roxbury Latin, and a few choices of BS like PA, PEA and SPS. What would you choose?</p>
<p>When "others things are equal", I can see the advantages of day schools as having balanced support from the family and the school, and interactions between kids and parents being more often and easier. The advantages of attending a BS as a boarder are the exposure to the kind of diversity that is a hallmark of the top BS, and developing independence. I am sure there are other advantages for both options and there are disadvantages as well. What's you thoughts? What's your reasoning why you'd choose day/boarding school?</p>
<p>To answer your question, I’d probably choose a boarding school. I think boarding schools would be more diverse, and that I’d gain more independence from a boarding school than a day school. However, I would probably choose one close to home (PA, PEA, and SPS all are pretty close) so I wouldn’t feel isolated.</p>
<p>Having attended 2 on the list, one of each (Nobles & PA–Nobles above Deerfield? THAT is a joke), I can’t emphasize how different the two environments are. BS requires significantly more social maturity, and while both offer excellent academics, the faculty at day schools just aren’t of the same calibre. At the top BS, you’re getting faculty who could easily be teaching at LAC but have chosen that school for their own reasons, including their willingness to engage students 24/7.</p>
<p>As a parent, I think the best of both worlds is attending one of the prep schools as a day student. While being exposed to the diversity, great academics and “vibe” you would also get to come home to chicken soup when you have a cold, get help with chores like laundry, and maybe get a little boost from parental advice/oversight on organization (i.e.sleep rather than staying up until 2 AM many nights). Taking a look at the “honor roll” at many prep schools supports this - they are over-represented by day students.</p>
<p>Yes, some great boarding schools are pretty secluded and don’t have many day students. The ones with the “right” location often restrict the number of day students as well. But I agree it sounds like a great solution.</p>
<p>“the faculty at day schools just aren’t of the same calibre”</p>
<p>Of all the schools on the Forbes list Deerfield has the lowest percentage of faculty with advanced degrees (42%), while the schools with the highest percentage of faculty with advanced degrees are day schools: Horace Mann (94%) and Winsor (89%).</p>
<p>What makes Deerfield a better school than Nobles? Nobles seems to match or beat Deerfield in this (admitted limited) ranking in every category but endowment, where Deerfield smokes Nobles.</p>
<p>Where do you guys get your info from? Here is the info from Deerfield website.</p>
<p>Deerfield faculty contributions extend well beyond the campus and include service to their profession. Nine have doctorates or professional degrees. Over 70 percent possess advanced degrees in their fields, and many are actively involved in advanced study. Faculty members have served as writers of Advanced Placement examinations and as national readers of those exams. Their number includes a Rhodes Scholar, three Klingenstein Fellows and several Fulbright Fellowship holders. Many have been awarded summer Klingenstein or National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships.</p>
<p>I really think there are advantages/disadvantages to each, and there isn’t a one size fits all answer, even within one family (sibs). A couple of issues I haven’t seen mentioned; boarding schools have larger endowments, so if you’re in need of a large FA package, my understanding is odds are better with the boarding schools. Commuting time is an issue for day school students (whether it’s a day school or a prep that has both day/boarding). If you’re in a city, riding the trains needs to be factored in. I have one child in boarding, and am now exploring these issues again for my second. We’ve had a positive and successful boarding experience, but the “small comforts” kids get at home aren’t so small. It’s hard to be 14, away from home, and sick or injured.</p>
<p>^ I thought this at first also but apparently if a teacher has an advanced degree then they count the lesser degrees as well. So if a teacher has a masters, they would count both the masters and bachelors. </p>
<p>19 Doctorates
65 Masters
114 Bachelors (30 with ONLY bachelors)</p>
<p>Aha, this is where the confusion arises.* Deerfierld lists its number of faculty as 114, its number of faculty with bachelor’s degrees as 114, masters as 65 and PhDs as 19. In other word they’re counting people with the degrees, but not counting them as terminal degrees. Those with PhDs also have masters degrees and bachelors, those with masters also have bachelors. </p>
<p>So it would seem the most acurate way to calculate the number of faculty member with advanced degrees is to divide 65 by 114 which gives a figure of 57%.</p>
<p>The Forbes people screwed up by double counting faculty members with both terminal bachelors and masters and/or doctorates. Pulsar overestimated the number of faculty with advanced degrees by double counting the masters and doctoral holders instead of assuming the faculty with doctorates also hold masters degrees, as is the norm.</p>
<p>Wow, now I’m totally confused. Just checked Deerfield’s own website. On one page (Faculty and Staff) Deerfield lists their number of faculty with doctorates or professional degrees as 9. </p>
<p>On another page (Fast Facts about Deerfield) on the same site they list the number of doctorates as 19.</p>
<p>Sigh. Maybe we’d better just assume that despite Deerfield’s own apparent confusion the number of facuty members with advanced degrees they employ is on par with that of peer instiution, which would put it in the 70-80% range.</p>