<p>I approached my parents and asked them to let me go to boarding school and repeat 10th grade. As soon as I told them my idea they rejected it. They said that only people with really bad grades repeat. I showed them this article:
If</a> at First You Don't Succeed Enough - The New York Times
And they said it was stupid, and that there was no need. It's true that I need help from my parents with my schoolwork, but at a boarding school wouldn't I get the same kind of help? And I currently go to a school where the teachers give lectures and the students are expected to take notes and go home and take notes from a textbook. This is so ineffective for me that it's bringing down my grades. I'd much rather go to a school like Exeter where they teach using the Harkness method. Please, if someone could tell me whether you think I'll be able to handle HADES then let me know, and let me know someway to convince my parents to let me go to boarding school as a repeat sophomore. And if you could, please chance me! You can see my stats there. :D</p>
<p>@Circuit10,
I have not attended a HADES boarding school, nor any high school whatsoever. I am only an eighth grader applying to boarding school who has convinced his parents to let him apply to boarding school. I convinced my parents to let me go to boarding school by starting with convincing them to let me go to a boarding school near my home AS A DAY STUDENT. From there, I convinced them that IF I got into Andover, they would let me go. From there I convinced them to let me go to any school in Massachusetts. Then any school in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. That’s about as far as I’ve gotten, but I really don’t want to go any further away. My advice for convincing your parents to send you to boarding school is work slowly. Don’t try to convince them to send you to boarding school in one night. Slowly sell them the idea. Also, I noticed that you’re applying to LeRosey in Switzerland, um I would NOT try to sell them on the idea of boarding school starting with LeRosey. Work your way up to LeRosey by first convincing them to let you go to a New England boarding school. Hope this helped! :)</p>
<p>Hi!
So my parents have agreed to let me attend my local private school. But they really want me to stay at home. And I REALLY don’t want to go to my local private school. BTW, it’s Lakeside, which is where Bill Gates went and where his children go. But a lot of my friends go to these private schools and they are just as expensive as a b.s. My parents issue is that because I need so much help with my hw here at home, I’m going to need help when I go to boarding school and I’m not going to get it. They also think I’m just running away from the fact that I need to work hard. But really, I just want to get away from my parents, who yell at me and help me. I feel like at boarding school I’d be able to get help from people, but they wouldn’t yell at me. So I guess I’ve already convinced my parents to let me go to a private school. I need help convincing them to let me APPLY to boarding schools. So I think I’ll do what you’re doing, ask them if I can apply and if I get in then we’ll talk about it a bit more and then decide.
Thanks!</p>
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<p>@Circuit10,
If you wind up interviewing at boarding schools DO NOT tell them that you only want to go to boarding school to escape your parents. During an interview if the question, “Why do you want to go to boarding school” arrises, I wouldn’t mention the fact that you want to escape your parents. You might get rejected just for saying that. And I’m sorry to here you have problems with your parents.</p>
<p>Based on your post, it looks like the reason you want to go to BS is to get away from your parents. To go to top BS, you need to be independent in doing your work and HADES schools can be sink or swim. You can go to Lakeside and show your parents that you can do independent work without much of their help and apply to BS for 10th grade. BTW, lakeside is a great school which has alumni like BG and others. Sometimes you may have to accept the fact that your parents know best as they have the experience that you now lack. You may thank them in the long run for their wisdom and foresight.</p>
<p>Okay, so I definitely think I did not use my words properly. I don’t necessarily have problems with my parents, but I have Indian parents, and in my opinion Indian parents are so protective and harsh when it comes to grades, that essentially, they just coddle their children. My parents help me so much that I feel like I learn less, and I think it may hinder me. At boarding school I’d be able to learn on my own, without my parents doing half my work. I’m hoping that the transition process will be easier with the help of teachers and older students. But the problem is, I’m in 10th grade now, if I went to Lakeside for 11th grade (they would never let me repeat) then I could only apply to boarding school for 12th grade which wouldn’t help me at all. Please, I really need to know how to convince my parents to let me go.</p>
<p>It took me awhile to convince mine to let me go, especially since I’d be going thousands of miles away from home, overseas. The reason that they have decided to let me is because they know that it is the best thing for my future. If I stay here, and my school is really great, I would still not be able to get as good an education as I would at the top BS.
They realized, and this in their own words, that the reason they didn’t want me to go was for their sake and not mine, and that holding me back would be selfish. Essentially when and if I leave, I’ll probably never come back. </p>
<p>Your parents are probably just scared of loosing you, and that is reasonable, but you’ll have to convince them that this is the best possible thing for you. Tell them about the low levels of acceptance at the top schools, going from there you could convince them to let you apply and then if you get accepted you would talk about it again in the spring. That would buy you time for them to warm up to the idea. Tell them statistics about the schools, like how there is a 40% acceptance rate to Ivy League Schools from HADES schools, and how this could open all your doors for any career you want. </p>
<p>After I suggested it to my mother that I would go next year to BS, she absolutely refused and said I was too young (15, born 1995) and she wouldn’t even consider letting me go till I was 18. We had a big argument over this and my father agreed with my mother.
Then a couple of days later my mother was visiting her friend who’s husband was raised in America. His friend had gone to Andover and he told her that the friend puts that on her resume and she has never been turned down for a job, ever. After that conversation with him she changed her mind and decided to let me apply. Also after our visit to the schools she completely supports me and wants me to go.</p>
<p>Hope you this all works out for you, I’d love to know how it goes :)</p>
<p>Ps. I’ve heard that you can keep the grade your applying to open so that if you are applying for the 11th and don’t get in, you can be waitlisted for the 10th as well. But I’m not 100% on that though.</p>
<p>You may have a conversation with your parents to let them know that their help with your homework is making you learn less than you would otherwise. You may convince your parents to apply to Lakeside and BS as a backup. The probability of getting into Lakeside is likely lower than getting into a BS, as Lakeside openings may only be through attrition (as it is a 5-12 school). Of course you could also use icelandgirl’s suggestions which have proven successful. You could also tell them that BSs have more opportunities for you to explore to find your passion. You could also tell them about any BS friends you may have/known that are successful as icelandgirl did. If all else fails (When life gives you lemons, make lemonade), do your best where you are as BS is not the only path to success.</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I went to Exeter. I transferred in as an Upper (11th grade). </p>
<p>I had a lot of reasons for wanting to go to boarding school. But, several of them seem similar to yours. </p>
<p>I had grandmother, great aunt, and mom who could teach me anything, and often helped with my work…I did do my own work, but at the time, I often wondered how I would do if I couldn’t ask them question or have them make things interesting when I had a bad teacher…or proof my papers, etc. So, part of wanting to go to Exeter was to see if I could do it on my own, without them there to help.</p>
<p>Partly, was also wanting to get out of the house, be own my own…</p>
<p>But, the most important reason was that I wanted to learn, and I thought Exeter had an incredible course curriculum…it was like college, and most importantly it had the Harkness system, which you mentioned being attracted to. You aren’t just sitting listening to a teacher lecture…however, it puts part of the responsibility for the class on your shoulders…the teacher guides…but it is up to the students to be prepared and delve into the subject…I loved how that transformed math and science for me…There weren’t textbooks, just problem sets, and you used the math your already knew to figure them out, as best you could. Then, you came into class and discuss how you approached it, where you got stuck, and then saw how other people did it…and at the end of class, you discovered that the class had proven the such and such therom or theory…instead of of being told the theory and assigned 20 problems to plug and chug with…Same thing with science labs…we weren’t given instructions or procedures…we were told we want figure out such and such…and asked how do you think you should do it? What test should you run? what measurements should you do? </p>
<p>You learn to think for yourself</p>
<p>I think it is important that you love learning to be successful at Exeter. </p>
<p>The teachers and your fellow students can help…but you really do need to have self-discipline…Looking back now, I wish I had had more self-discipline back then myself…but oh well…I still did fine. </p>
<p>To your part about repeating 10th grade, I had a friend at Exeter who did that…She came in as a Lower, even though she had already completed that year at another boarding school…I think in Germany.
So, it is not unheard of thing, nor was it considered a negative thing. </p>
<p>Part of me thinks it would be nice to do that…get 3 years at Exeter instead of 2…and you would be the same age as a PG when you graduated…no big deal…and three successful years at a school like Exeter would help off set what apepars to be a year of not so decent grades…(but that might present a problem for your application to Exeter or a similar school.) </p>
<p>I will warn you…Exeter is demanding…you have to be prepared to work very hard. I have gone to an Ivy League school, a large State University, a small private university, took some fun classes at the local community college…and nothing compares to the educational environment of Exeter. That might be in part be due to the age you are at the time and the intimacy of the community that college can’t quite replicate. </p>
<p>But, if you do want to apply for next year…you really need to get working on your application. I, myself, didn’t decide to apply until mid to late fall…I took the SSAT in December I think…and I was getting a late start.</p>
<p>I think boarding school is an incredible, enriching experience…I had so much fun. I would recommend it to anyone, and it is definitely different than going to a local private school no matter how excellent.</p>
<p>OP should speak to their school counselor about the parent pressure issue. It will continue through college and beyond so coping skills should be developed.</p>
<p>Lakeside is an excellent school.</p>