<p>My family attended an open house at Loomis Chaffee on Saturday. We liked the school, enjoyed tour, and interacting with admission staffs. We left the school with an overall impression that it provided quality education in a nurturing environment.</p>
<p>One thing that struck me, in addition to the fact that school area becomes an island during flood season (one of the perks of sitting on the bank of Connecticut River?), was that the lack of geographic diversity in its student body. While its website indicates 30 US states and 31 countries (in fact, 25 states, as mentioned on Saturday... not that the difference is important), we were told "75% of all students are from within 3 hours of driving distance, mostly CT, NY, and MA." This means, 25% accounts for 28 US states and 31 countries, and a big chunk of which I guess would represent other New England/Northeastern/Mid Atlantic states. I could understand why the Admission Director was so proud when he said that the school had a student from Utah.</p>
<p>I somehow expected more geographic diversity, somewhat to the levels of nationally known liberal arts colleges, but I realize that such an expectation might not have been warranted. Maybe that's how it is at boarding schools. After all, how many parents would be willing to let their children attend far away high schools... Not that there aren't.</p>
<p>Sharing, I’ve gotten the same impression from our visits to schools last year. I think the larger, acronym schools are better known all across the country – and there are kids at those schools from every part of the US. In general, if you ask someone (an average person, not a parent looking for a BS) on the West coast to name some boarding schools, they will immediately think of those acronym schools… and no others. I do think it’s a really big deal for most to send a kid across the country for high school. The school my D is starting at (this week!! Still can’t believe it…) has a smattering of Midwest/Southwest students but it seems like the majority are from the East Coast, and from a number of other countries.</p>
<p>At Andover, about 10% of the student body are international students, so about 1000 are domestic students, among whom about 53% from NE (and up to 45% from MA), 17% from NY, NJ and PA, and the rest from other parts of the country. Percentage wise, it seems the composition of NE boarding schools are pretty similar. The difference is that in a bigger school like Andover, the same percentage means a bigger number so in effect you will see more students from other parts of the country.</p>
<p>Particular to Loomis, the majority of students are local and/or day students. It really becomes a different place on weekends - a lot of students go home.</p>
<p>The big challenge w achieving greater U.S. geographic diversity is that BS is not part of the culture outside of New England. We’re not New Englanders, so most of our friends & associates are shocked that our S is in BS and think he is in ‘reform school’. </p>
<p>Our int’l associates were the ones who actually put BS on our radar, and back then we had not heard of any of the famous American schools, only the UK ones.</p>
<p>Besides the obvious considerable cost of BS, there is also a considerable TIME commitment for out-of-region folk to travel so far to attend school, or even just to visit/interview. I now spend the bulk of my annual vacation leave on flying to DS’s school.</p>
<p>@Benley, % international is an apples to oranges number. The PAA & PEA int’l count is lower than at other schools because PAA & PEA count it on the basis of nationality, while other schools count it on basis of country of residence. Therefore, Americans residing abroad get counted as domestic, even if they have no U.S. state of residence.</p>
<p>^^GMT, I actually counted “manually” from the Andover online directory those with a foreign home address as international. And more accurately, it’s actually close to 12%.</p>
<p>My child goes to boarding school far from home and there are some differences in the calculations around that decision. As others have mentioned, there’s the time and cost of the travel. There’s also the issue of not having such an easy time popping in for a game or performance, so you’re missing out on more than the parents who are within a couple of hours’ drive. Also, as cameo43 mentioned, boarding school is a much more accepted part of the culture in the northeast than it is in other parts of the country. </p>
<p>With the distance involved, the fact that St. Paul’s has no day students was an attractive feature. The idea of a substantial proportion of students emptying out on weekends was a concern for DD. I don’t know how much that plays in for people, but it might be that schools with a sizeable day student population are less attractive to students from farther away. </p>
<p>SPS has a few regional scholarships in place that are something of a boost for geographic diversity, especially the one for students from Montana (which has been around for years), and ones from heavily underrepresented states like Alabama and the newest one, South Carolina.</p>
<p>Have to refute the all too common platitude from 2prepmom about LC “clearing out” on the weekends. Quite the opposite is true. The campus operates 7 days a week and it is often the day students who are stressed because they have to commute, YES on Saturdays & Sundays. We are from mid-Atlantic and DC has never complained about lack of things to do with weekends on the Island. Athletics and other ECs all operate over weekends, and on rare occasions where things slow down…he’s been invited to the homes of his friends.</p>
<p>Lots of interesting opinions/facts… A quick impression upon me from reading the replies is, more widely known schools like Andover or Choate have about ~50% from in-state or neighboring states, and lesser known (…still well known in the region) schools have 70% or higher. While this desires validation with more schools, it makes sense to me.</p>
<p>All boarding requirement at SPS is certainly one attractive feature… among many others. I thought it had one of the most beautiful campuses. Who’d mind living there 24/7? :)</p>