<p>I tried searching and didn't have any luck, so please excuse me if I bring up an old question. How many boarding schools do kids generally visit, and of these, how many do they typically apply to? </p>
<p>We were casting a small net for my son, but people keep talking up other schools, and now we have 8 visits planned. This seems a bit over the top to me, and I am hoping that ds will whittle the actual application list down to 3-5 schools. Then again, I start to worry that maybe 3-5 won't be "enough". </p>
<p>I do remember a thread that addressed this concern, but I can’t remember what it was called. </p>
<p>I think it really depends on an individual’s situation: whether they have local options or not, whether they need financial aid or not, whether they have a particular “must have” program or sport. As with most things having to do with teenagers, it depends!</p>
<p>I’m sorry that I don’t have an easy number to give you. Available time and money to visit also comes into play for many families. For some children, writing essays is more difficult than it is for others. There are just so many factors…</p>
<p>@Rellielou: For what it’s worth, we are pretty much on the same course. As neato observed, it really all depends on the individual/family situation. We have a good local backup as our “safety” so perhaps we are not casting as wide a net as we would otherwise.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the thread I started a while back on a similar topic:</p>
<p>Rell- I agree with Neato (as I often do–lol) but it depends on the situation. </p>
<p>I can share what we did. We visited 9 schools in 5 days, had 11 interviews, (2 in our home town) and finally applied to 7. Two of the schools we did not visit, my d was accepted. After visiting, 2 schools we didn’t apply to because they were not fits from out visits, though we took the interview.</p>
<p>We had to weigh our travel plans very carefully, due to money and distance, and appointment availability (we wanted to visit a school but no interview time was open, so we did a student led tour but interviewed when the school traveled to our town).</p>
<p>Boarding school was our only option. We had exhausted our gifted schools (4 hour bus rides daily), we homeschooled (I felt she was isolated), and our next choice was college. My mom, same academic challenges as my d, started college 2 years early and she had no life, unhappy, wrong decision.</p>
<p>If I knew then what I know now…I would have done an even 10. We were lucky, she was admitted to a few places, but many qualified kids only applied to a few and received no acceptances.</p>
<p>We applied to 6. More than that would have overwhelmed my D’s school and teachers (even with common apps) and us as well. Remember, the student has to write essays for each school, pull together other materials and do in town or on campus interviews where possible.</p>
<p>We did 5 schools over a 4-day weekend and the sixth was scheduled a few weeks later. It was grueling.</p>
<p>It will help if you choose a range of schools so you maximize your options - but as is often said - don’t apply to ANY that your child would not be happy attending if chosen.</p>
<p>Good luck. We’ve all been there (and survived, knock on wood!) :-)</p>
<p>Thanks, all. I did read those other threads and they were quite helpful. My son has a list of what I suppose would be considered 3 safeties, 2 matches, and 3 reaches. The safeties are all close enough that he could attend as a day student, and we will probably eliminate 1-2 after visiting. I think he is actually a strong candidate for his reaches, but since they are tier one schools, I count them as reaches. </p>
<p>I guess we’ll have to look up the common app and see who accepts it. </p>
<p>Sounds like a sensible list. Tier one schools are ALWAYS reaches–our son got into one, but was waitlisted at two, including the one was that seemed the better fit (on paper at least). You just really Can’t predict how it’s going to turn out. And you never know what kind of aid the schools are going to offer–assuming you need it–so I think the wider you cast the net, the better.</p>
<p>Classical, I guess we’ll plan in ds applying to more than 3, but I’m still thinking more time devoted to fewer apps might have a better pay off. Plus, ds is crazy busy this semester, and I don’t want to stress him out with too many essays and such. Five or six apps seems to be a nice comfortable number. </p>
<p>The admissions game is a crap shoot, and I don’t expect ds would get in everywhere, but I hope we will do a fair job of locating the schools that will want him.</p>
<p>You’ll find your son can recycle some of the essays…topics are often similar enough that they can be jiggered to work for more than one application. </p>
<p>I think the key, as you say, is finding schools that truly are a good fit–if we did it again, I’d have my son visit and interview at more schools, then whittle it down to more or less your 3-2-3 number. </p>
<p>That said, though he only applied to four my son luckily did get into the school he wanted most and, despite some homesickness, I still think it’s the place that’s his best fit. Good luck to your family!</p>
<p>My opinion only; 8 visits seems like a good number in order to get a feel for boarding schools and for what they have to offer. I’m not big on safeties or reaches. None of this is easy, you really have to do your homework on the schools and narrow the number down to more like 4-5 for applying. Understanding what’s going through the head of your 12-13 year old is hard enough. It’s really educating your self about the individual schools and determining which one(s) is the right place for your child. There are a lot of really great boarding schools out there with leadership, faculty, facilities and student bodies that are on par with the schools so commonly mentioned here on CC. </p>
<p>Our experiences resulted in numbers I still don’t agree with regardless of the successful out come, first boy 3/3, second guy 2/2. Relentless to say, my worthier half was better in learning about “all” the schools. I was too stuck on where I went, where his brother was, where his grandfathers went and where some of my best friends went. My spouse did not have those thoughts or biases clouding her mind. Needless to say both ended up at different schools simply because the corresponding “fits” were undeniable. It really can and should be a fun and exciting process for both you and your child.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with OPS…if you have enough knowledge and experience to get at the elusive fit before you apply. We went in blind, with a first-generation applicant, and really had no clue what we were doing. So for us, a broader look at more schools (particularly the others not mentioned so frequently on CC) would have helped us, I think, understand the whole “fit” thing before the applications went in the mail. All of the schools are wonderful in their own way…as first-timers we didn’t see any reason not to apply to every one he visited.</p>
<p>My own experience with visits/apps, was that we basically applied to each school we visited, and we visited 9 schools. This was our first time, and I don’t know if I would do it the same way if we were to do it again. It wasn’t the visits. They were great and we really liked all the schools. It was a new experience and we were thrilled seeing each school. They were truly “eye popping.” But the applications and essays…OMG! Most of the schools required multiple parent essays. And someone said they tend to “repeat” but really, not to that great an extent. One could use fragments from one essay to another, but I found that to really answer the questions required new thinking for each essay. And getting them “just so” and working within the timelines for SO MANY ESSAYS was a little stressful.</p>
<p>My d was great with her essays, but it basically consumed our Christmas vacation period. And I sensed the stress in her as well.</p>
<p>So would I do it again the same way? I think I would keep a high number of initial visits. Somewhere around 7. But I would pare down the total number to which one would apply. Maybe around 5. Having never been through the process, all the schools seemed great in their own way, as Ops mentioned, so we applied to an inordinately high number of schools. But this was also partly out of my own paranoia: My d wanted to go so badly and I had this image in my head of the “rejections,” despite the fact that she was a truly outstanding candidate. So our thinking was to increase d’s chances by applying to more schools. It turned out well, but it was a lot of work with the apps and essays.</p>
<p>So whatever you decide, and however many schools you apply to, one thing you will definitely want to do is get a start on the essays!</p>
<p>I have this horrible feeling that we’re just going to fall in love with every place we visit. Well, probably not the schools that would actually be most convenient for day student status…</p>
<p>You probably will love them all. There is usually something to love about every school and it’s important to keep that in mind. My D hasn’t ruled out any yet. For all the talk of “fit” (and I do believe some schools fit some children more than others), there are some kids who are just so easy going that they CAN be comfortable and do well in many situations. Just try to prevent her from falling in love with any one school prior to March 10. It’s hard, but just keep reminding her of what is great about each school if she gets fixated on one in particular.</p>