<p>I WANT to go to boarding school SO bad. I'm in 8th grade and I want to board for high school. I'm the last one to "leave the nest", seeing as my siblings have all moved out, so my parents will be hesitant. </p>
<p>Actually, I haven't even told them yet, but I'm researching school, had the info packets sent to our house, and even started filling out the applications. I have subtlety asked my parents why they wouldn't let me go, and they say because "we didn't have kids to have someone else raise them". </p>
<p>I know they have a point, but I will see them a lot for breaks and summer and the school I want to go to is less than an hour from here.</p>
<p>If your parents had this issue, how did you convince them that you're ready?
If you're a parent, what would you want to hear from your last child?</p>
<p>We never considered boarding schools for our kids. We did look at private high schools (as a day student) for one of our kiddos.</p>
<p>To be honest, we wanted our kids at home with us until high school graduation. We had plenty of day options to consider. The cost of boarding school was a factor too. To be honest, if they had insisted (we know how to say no, so this would have been unlikely) they would have been on their own for all college costs. </p>
<p>I’m sorry, but as a parent, the answer would have been NO here too…and no amount of begging would have changed our minds.</p>
<p>I want to board. In public school, I have to hide being smart and who I am. In boarding school, it’s cool to be smart and everyone is there to learn.</p>
<p>I can sympathize with your problem, learn1260, but boarding school is expensive.</p>
<p>If your parents spend a lot of money on boarding school tuition for you now, they may not have enough money left to pay for you to go to college.</p>
<p>There may be local public or private high schools where “it’s cool to be smart and everyone is there to learn” but would not require the expense of boarding. Remember that the more your parents spend on your high school (including boarding expenses), the less they have left to spend on your college (“sorry, but we spent your college fund on your boarding high school, so you’ll have to live at home and go to community college and then transfer to the local state university”).</p>
<p>My S2 has a couple of friends who went to boarding school. Both came from boarding school families. One, whose mother was emphatic about the advantages of boarding school for her special little snowflakes, came back after two years and is a senior at our local “private public” high school. I’m not sure why, but when he was in Catholic elementary school with my S, he was a little **** - my guess is, he was politely asked to leave. The other, who comes from money but is probably the most gracious boy I’ve ever met, has stayed and thrived. I’m glad for him but I could never send my kids away that young unless there was some extenuating circumstance. It’s hard enough when they go to college. D1 is a college senior and it still breaks my heart every time he leaves to go back to school.</p>
<p>I mean, they might actually answer his question and give viable arguments he could attempt to utilize. Those parents and individuals will be familiar with that situation- from my reading, this board is populated by highly involved parents of day schoolers. There is an obvious bias.</p>
<p>OP, finances aside, it truly depends on the values of your parents an their assessment of you. I have a friend whose father sent her to boarding school in India while they lived in Colorado springs. I am sure many parents on this board would be horrified by the thought. I has no desire to attend BS, but a very talented friend of mine will be attending a BS on the other side of the country, on an island. It will open lots of opportunities for her and give her an anazing education and that matters most to her and her parents. Each family is different.</p>
<p>Population density and proportions are of interest when one seeks a particular item. If I were shopping for a certain type of jewelry, I would be better off visiting a jeweler than a department store. The OP is shopping for opinions. I am sure this topic is discussed often there.</p>
<p>You don’t need to hide your smart in public high school. You can take some college courses and find a professor who would be willing to accept you as a research assistant if you are truly smart. The #1 girl in DS3’s grade is such a student who got into almost all Ivies.</p>
I have one S in BS and certainly do NOT think he is being raised by other people. When one counts up the actual days BS kids are away, it is only 7 months out of the year. The breaks are very long because the schools are open during the single-day holidays that day students get off (i.e. Presidents Day, Columbus Day, etc). Between the Thanksgiving to Spring Break period, you will probably spend more time at home than at school.</p>
<p>
Because of the Godzilla-sized endowments some of the BS have, families earning under $75k often attend for free. Even families earning $250k can qualify for some FA. Plus/minus a third of the kids in the top BS are receiving FA.</p>
<p>
There is no day school that will have the diversity a top BS will have. Because of the generous FA, there is great socio-economic diversity. Plus the schools attract kids from all over the country and world. The schools attract kids who value smarts; they don’t just attract kids from the same zip code.</p>
<p>The people who dis boarding school have no idea what they really are. It’s probably a good thing, because the top ones are so competitively difficult to get into. Why let the secret out…</p>
I am sure this topic is discussed often there.</p>