<p>I like seated meals for several reasons: the interaction with faculty; assigments rotate every few weeks, so students get to know many students, rather than eating with the same clique every day; and the discipline of having to attend meals as opposed to skipping meals. Do you feel these meals take up too much time from daily activities? Your insight would be helpful.</p>
<p>I am not opposed to any of your criteria. I was very busy at school and the complication of a set meal time each day......the time involved would have made my life very difficult. One example is that meals are offered over a period of time and so scheduling of sports practice, study time, personal time.....not being able to eat elsewhere...all of those things are then affected. As to cliques......kids at BS are busy and I don't see this as an issue. I am sure it is at some schools but from my experience=no. One thing that is hard to envision when making the boarding school switch is letting go of many of the social customs of day school.</p>
<p>Skipping meals as in not eating or eating elsewhere?</p>
<p>dabost check your PM</p>
<p>Have you looked into educational loans? There are some available with very low interest rates. The schools that your son is applying to should be able to provide you with that information. Personally, if my son was so motivated to go to a BS then I would explore all options to enable him to do so. I like the idea of seated meals too but it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. I also wouldn't worry about bad influences. If it's a good school then they have probably weeded out the bad seeds. More so than in a day school. Good luck!</p>
<p>Do you live close enough to send your child to a boarding school as a Day Student? My son attended one of the schools mentioned in post #18, and we got the best of both worlds. He got a great education, but he was still able to live with us for four years! </p>
<p>(Day Student tuition is a little cheaper............)</p>
<p>dmd77, which boarding schools are you referring to that "fight to fill boarding school beds"? We're looking at schools now, and would be interested in knowng which are having problems getting boarding students, and why.</p>
<p>You might check out some of the schools in Canada, they have a different feel than the US schools, with similar goals & results.</p>
<p>Dabost, the vast majority of boarding schools have trouble filling every boarding school space. The exceptions are the high prestige New England schools (Andover, Exeter, etc.) and a few of the other schools. Boarding school slots cost as much as a private college, endowments are nothing like college endowments, and very few schools can offer sufficient financial aid. </p>
<p>That doesn't mean that they compromise admission standards (much), but it often means that they have programs designed to attract foreign students (especially Asian students), such as ESL, or accept students into the boarding school who might be borderline in the day school.</p>
<p>dabost-the "Ten Schools" get the lion's share of the apps.<br>
(Choate, Deerfield, Hill, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, Loomis Chaffee, Andover, Exeter, St. Paul's (their endowment is astronomical!), Taft) with Choate, Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul's probably topping the others in terms of apps.</p>
<p>There are so many other schools that offer a great, if not equal, educational experience that are not so competitive. The Ten Schools list mirrors the Ivies somewhat.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. My D is applying to 5 of the schools in the "10-school" list. I know they're competitive, but those are the only schools she's interested in. I'm glad to hear these schools are not have trouble getting boarding applicants.</p>
<p>Re: the 'bad seed' discussion. These schools have the ability (and they use it) to expel students who get caught drinking, cheating, etc. I am certain there is less substance abuse at most b.s. than at our local h.s. (I realize it's not the only factor.)</p>
<p>Consequences for drinking vary school by school. Very few schools expel for a first offense.</p>
<p>My son attends one of the schools in the MAPL league and his school turns away many kids each year for boarding. The school maintains a ration of 4 to 1 boarding to day. There are no kids who have been kicked out of the Exeter-level schools. There are foreign students and some extremely talented athletes who are there for athletics as well as academics. There is a range in academic abilities, but plenty of kids go on to very selective colleges. Plenty go on to other colleges which are an excellent fit for them. There are a number of excellent schools that are overlooked in the frenzy to attend the top ten. Western Reserve, Asheville, Episcopal in Virginia and all the MAPL schools are a few examples.</p>
<p>Wow, again thanks for all that great, additional info on so many important aspects of the boarding school topic!</p>
<p>Interesting about the top ten boarding schools. I didn't even know what the 'hierarchy' (so to speak) was, except for recognizing one or two names.</p>
<p>Son has since branched out his interest in schools (over the past two weeks!) into 'any very high quality school that will give a great education' (not just the school his good friend attends).</p>
<p>Maybe I'll request apps from some of those listed. Who knows. It just seems like so much money, but I appreciate the encouragement to persevere! :-) </p>
<p>PS Aren't the Hun School & Hlill school quite well regarded? (or is that a mid-atlantic regional thing?)</p>
<p>The MAPL schools (Hun, Hill, Peddie, Blair, Lawrenceville, Mercersburg) are excellent. I think Hun might have too high a ratio of day to boarding, but I could be wrong about that. I have been on all the campuses except Hun, and they are beautiful. Several of the schools have smaller student bodies and have very tight, nurturing communities.</p>
<p>Boarding schools can offer a kid a wonderful opportunity to become someone different. In my son's case, he left a public school where he was bored silly and went to a boarding school where he was challenged and had a great time. That first year, there were spaces in the boarding school all year. (Recessions are really rough on boarding schools. Private school tuition is such as easy place to cut back.)</p>
<p>As for drugs and alcohol, both of my kids' schools didn't threaten, they acted. Kids were gone overnight after inappropriate behavior. Keep in mind that of course the contract parents sign says that no refund is owed.</p>
<p>Good to hear about strict policies on behavior at boarding schools. I did still get a funny feeling walking through the dorms of a (beautiful, expensive) school recently. Just because it reminded me of my own college so much --- but I was <em>18</em> when I went away, not 14. :-(</p>
<p>Momofwildchild---do you think it would be worth applying to the 'top ten' schools listed above, if one (theoretically!) were also applying to most of the "MAPL" schools? Just wondered!!!</p>
<p>It is hard to explain this, but the schools really are different. My son is a really good student, but the environment at his school is really much better for him than a school such as Andover or Exeter would have been. There is a wonderful school called Cushing that we considered, too. Also- Williston Northhampton. With really stellar academics and talents, your chances of getting into a MAPL school are better than getting into one of the top five or six, just based on sheer numbers. If you are looking for a higher percentage of Ivy acceptances (which some people are) you would want to focus more on the most prestigious schools. I was at Peddie (not my son's school)t his past weekend, and I thought it was amazing. It is right near Princeton, as are Lawrenceville and Hun. Many of the non-MAPL (Lawrenceville might be in on this) schools accept a common application, which simplifies things. I would be glad to put you in touch with someone you can talk to at my son's school if you want to PM me. Check out the websites for the schools,too.</p>
<p>MomofWildChild--I sent you a pm on the boarding school topic.</p>
<p>I so agree re: the nurturing environment ... that would be so important if my 14 year old were alone somewhere!</p>
<p>I think it is great that at age 14 your son has the initiative to set his sights on a goal and pursue it with such commitment.... so I don't think you should discourage it. At the same time, I think that you need to be completely honest with your kid about finances, AND I think that it is unreasonable for you to squander family finances on visits to schools your son cannot afford to attend. </p>
<p>So - since your son is so mature - why don't you simply lay the problem before him? Tell him that you support his efforts but cannot afford the schools nor the visits, and let him decide how to address or solve that problem. Alternatively, you might give your son some money or a budget of his own to manage as an "educational" fund, along with the choice of how to spend it. For example, he could spend it on visiting a boarding school he probably can never afford to attend - or alternatively he can spend it on a summer educational program like CTY that is more in line with your family finances, and will help him find the challenge he craves. </p>
<p>I think that your son's high level of independence and commitment to his education is a wonderful indication that whether or not he goes to his school of choice, he will succeed in the long run. There are many less expensive ways that he can find to help shape his own education. He can ask himself, what are the things that he finds attractive about boarding school? How can he structure things to get some of those benefits, without the school and without the cost? Are there some less prestigious, and less pricey, schools that would fill the same need? Would a better alternative be to look at early entry to college - perhaps at a place like Simon's Rock? </p>
<p>Of course I also understand your reluctance to have your son move away from home before you are ready... but that's a bridge you can cross when you come to it. The one thing you have on your side is finances: if your kid somehow manages to solve that problem on his own, you will know that his desire to go is very genuine and heartfelt.</p>
<p>Many schools require an interview on campus as a part of the application. While I understand that funds are limited I don't recommend NO visits.....it is quite hard to get an understanding of boarding school without at least one visit to a campus. If I am understanding correctly these students here haven't been to boarding camp or other summer program that took them away from home.</p>