<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I am currently a Junior at a private day-school. I have first in class rank, many leadership positions, and am well liked (or seem to be) by my teachers. While I am in a good situation at my current school, I do not think I could stand to attend it another year. The environment is in no way intellectually stimulating; the students have no drive to learn and I feel that all my time is spent doing things solely to get into college. Simply put, I would like to learn just to learn and to grow my ability think critically in an environment filled with people that have similar interests.</p>
<p>I did not know much about boarding school until recently and did not know that one could repeat a year without an athletic reason until this past week. I am now considering applying to some schools as a repeat junior. As for which schools, I am thinking possibly Choate, Hotchkiss, Kent, Loomis, and Taft; from what I have read on their websites and some of this forum, they resemble what I am looking for, but I could be completely wrong. I know it is late in the process, but from my understanding, it seems like I would be able to get the apps and visits done in time.</p>
<p>Also, while I do not want to make this move to help me get into an ivy, I do not want to put myself in a worse position when the time comes to apply to colleges, as I would like to attend a top university. Essentially, I am telling you this to explain my reasoning of not considering a broader range of schools with safeties, etc...</p>
<p>My questions are would it be worth going to one of these schools as a repeat junior if I were to get in? Would I even be able to find an environment that is actually intellectually stimulating, or have I just created a utopian idea of what boarding school is like? If they exist, are there any schools that you feel excel in providing such environments?</p>
<p>I hope I do come off as presumptuous by looking so far ahead of the actual application process, but with the application fees and cost of visiting schools, I don't want to dive into a pricey endeavor if there is no point at all.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post and thank you so much for your help!</p>
<p>When you transfer schools you prior record does not disappear. Colleges will still see everything you’ve accomplished at your current school. There is also nothing to prevent you or your BS from saying on your college app that you chose to do two years because you wanted more. The only way it could hurt you is by placing you in a more competitive local pool.</p>
<p>Do what you feel you need to do for yourself right now and the rest will fall into place.</p>
<p>My daughter is a new junior. When it comes time for her to apply to college it will be VERY obvious from her pre boarding school transcript why she chose that path. Of course I’ll be surprised if she even applies to any single digit acceptance rate colleges so maybe that’s why I’m not worried. She’s happy, I’m happy.</p>
<p>Sounds like OP is mainly dissatisfied with intellectual rigor during senior year at existing school.</p>
<p>Perhaps consider dual enrollment in college classes while a senior, while staying at home. That will strengthen application and be very inreresting. Also MOOCs and other on-line resources exist.</p>
<p>At BS, it is a good idea to be a PG or one-year senior (essentially the same) for a very specific purpose, like athletics or to strenthen academic credentials. But you just have one term to do this before applications (and even less for early apps). </p>
<p>Repeating junior year makes much more sense if you want the BS expereince to play a substantial role in your application. I’m not sure that is what you are looking for.</p>
<p>I don’t think your hopes for a boarding school are utopian and unrealistic, prepdreams. At my son’s boarding school (Cate), when I’ve attended the parent weekends there have been rousing and interesting conversations in every class. The students all seem really engaged, and the discussions and questions make me want to go re-read whichever book, supreme court decision, etc. had been under scrutiny. It probably depends on the school, though. I think the ones on your list probably have what you are looking for, but it would be very informative for you if you could sit in on a class or two to check them out. Many only offer class visits at revisit days after acceptance. Cate takes interviewees to classes on the 1st visit. This makes the 1st visit a full half day, but is really helpful for evaluating the school. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your insight.</p>
<p>Prepmom,</p>
<p>While I don’t want the boarding school experience just to strengthen my app, I still feel like it could provide an environment that I would not be able to attain on my own. I am taking dual enrollment courses this year, but at my school, the only difference between a dual enrollment class and an honors/ap class is whether or not a student pays the fees in the beginning of the year, so all the students still take the same class. Maybe I should seek other systems of dual enrollment. I also make use of online resources, but I have found that I learn best, and enjoy the learning more, when I learn or read the information then apply it to discussion or debate. I enjoy speaking and hearing the information in scenarios that force you think critically about the material. My current school simply does not have the ability to provide this, as the students either lack the ability or desire, but boarding school, in my mind at least, could.</p>
<p>
You need to accept the real possibility that you will be remaining in your present school if you do not want to consider ‘safeties’. It is harder to be admitted in the Junior year. There are few slots available, and the schools will take extra care to admit candidate whom it feels can hit the ground running-- Junior year is the most academically demanding year. Entering a rigorous BS in Junior year is high risk/ high reward proposition. </p>
<p>I know of new juniors at my S’s school who have been successful and who have not and have withdrawn. All kids who enter, no matter in what grade, are taken aback initially by the academic demands—it is humbling… But the kids are also dazzled the the breadth of opportunities that are available to them.</p>
<p>The only way you can fully assess whether this is the path you want to take is to go visit the schools.</p>
<p>Mid-Nov is not too late. My S started the process after Xmas.</p>
<p>One thing to consider - will it bother you to be a junior when your current friends are graduating and planning for college? When they are experiencing the independence and new challenges of college, will you feel stifled as a high school senior at boarding school (with curfews, lights out, internet shut-off and a million other constraints that your college friends won’t have)?</p>
<p>Are there any other ways you can satisfy your need for intellectual stimulation without repeating a year of high school? Is there a college or university nearby where you could enroll and attend an actual college class (versus the current way dual enrollment is handled at your school)? Are there any online options that might meet your needs, yet still let you graduate in another year (Stanford’s Online High School comes to mind.)</p>
<p>I expect that right now college enrollment seems like it’s an eternity away, but the time will go by faster than you can imagine. If you research wisely, I think you will be able to identify some colleges that will give you the experiences you’re longing for. The question is - can you wait until fall of 2015 for a full college experience, or is your current situation so stifling that you need to make a drastic change for fall of 2014? Or is there some sort of “stop-gap” solution that will meet some, although not all, of your needs?</p>
<p>Good luck - it is your path, and only you can determine what works best for you.</p>
<p>Prepdream - boarding school might work out well for you, I agree with the suggestion to visit a class and see what you think. </p>
<p>Some students report that college is a let-down after the intensity and quality of academics at BS. This may be especially true if you take advanced/accelerated coursework at BS. </p>
<p>Also consider how it might feel to find yourself in the middle of the class rankings, rather than the top, where you are used to being.</p>
<p>Take a look at some of the larger schools, which may have more flexible course offerings, since you are already dual enrolled in college classes.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Junior year at BS is the toughest year as has been stated. Not sure you want to have the two toughest years of your HS career back to back. To me it doesn’t seem worth it. However, as one poster suggested it might make more sense to do a PG year at BS to enhance your college app if you want, much more enjoyable too I would think.</p>
<p>2prepMom offers best advice </p>
<p>Your best advice is to a dual enrollment. It will be more academically challenging and will also not only improve your college chances (over both current and a private school) and the curses are usually directly transferable without needing to take the AP. As they are a “college course” they are usually allow you to skip the college entrance class (which some universities don’t allow AP to do) letting you immediately take more advanced classes at the university. I see no advantage of delaying college</p>
<p>Be careful about how many college credits you rack up though. Many schools will make you apply as a transfer student if you have more than 12 hours, sometimes less. Not only is admission much more difficult as a transfer student, but the fast majority of scholarships are for first time freshmen.</p>
<p>$50k is not worth it…</p>
<p>Neato,
Again, depends where you live.
eg. Ca guarantees admission after two years of CC (caveats apply) and offer same aid.</p>
<p>I would also add that most college academic committees prefer “real college courses” vs AP courses. I have never heard of an applicant who did college courses in high school being considered a transfer student. If you do, please ref</p>
<p>When my d was 14 she had 6 hours of college credit and was planning on doing more. I called several colleges to ask and was told that she would have to apply as a transfer student if she had over 12 hours. Brown even said that she wouldn’t even have the option of denying the credits. Perhaps it was different for her because these were not dual enrollment, that is, the additional college classes were not also going to fulfill high school graduation requirements because she had already met those. See, they can’t make you graduate from high school if you under the compulsory attendance age in my state. So maybe it depends on the situation. FWIW I didn’t call any public colleges. At any rate, neither me nor my daughter had any interest in her graduating from college at 18, which is what would happen with her combo of ap credits and college courses at our state university. I mean, why would a normal girl want to live at home and go to college at 15 as a sophomore? She would have had to live at home and have her mommy drop her off until she was old enough to drive (as a junior in college) because face it, what 18 year wants a 15yo roommate? That’s just silly. She wants a normal 4year undergraduate experience and I don’t blame her.</p>