Now my question is, should I apply to Exeter/Andover next year, in which I would be a junior? I understand that applying for any Prep School is worth it, especially compared to my current (public) high school. However, I still have doubts, for example, will college admissions offices judge me differently because I attended 2 years of public HS and 1-2 years of prep school? Or will the time and money be wasted if I do get accepted and I am judged the same? Thank you
College admissions officers will “judge” you based on what you did with what you had at whichever high school you attend. Choose the one where you think you will thrive and which you think will help you become your best self.
I am no expert, my child is not even in a BS. However, I believe that if you transferred to an academically much more rigorous school as a junior colleges would look at that favorably. The decision is something you can talk about in a college interview and explain why you did it: you needed a higher academic standard, you wanted to really surround yourself with other students who cared deeply about learning, whatever your reasons are. It seems to me it would be foolish for a college to nix someone who sought out a challenging experience.
In general, moving to a school like PEA as a junior is very tough. The other students have had two years to adjust to the expectations, independence, etc as well as to be placed correctly in classes.
However, a handful of students do it every year. Sometimes, they are athletes who are of interest to very selective schools who need stronger academics to clear the admissions hurdle. Sometimes, they need more challenge or coursework than they can get in their current environment.
Pretty much every student at PEA (and every other BS) will be able to talk about having choSen that environment for rigor, and that is good.
You want to go wherever you think you can become the best version of yourself. If you think that is BS, I would strongly encourage you to broaden your search beyond those 2 schools.
Agree with above, just ensure you can “cut it” You might be very very surprised at the caliber of student in your classrooms at PEA. Remember they are picking out the top students from a pool of top students. Transferring and not being able to make it academically wouldn’t help you. If you are already a top student ( 5%) in a top school then you have a lower risk. If you are transferring from a school that isn’t intellectually rigorous then I would ask to get curriculum lists for your current grade year and compare them to your own. IF they don’t match, you might struggle which would be a disaster in Junior year.
^ Does PA or Exeter have a lock on “Top” students? No, they do not, but they do have everyone and their brother applying for FA or " prestige " which makes them look far more “selective” than they really are. Picking out students from a pool of " top students " isn’t exactly how I’d describe it, but whatever.
@Lilina - V Form year is an uphill slog for anyone. It’s almost like they’ve trying to kill you. If you have stats that are in range, and you can operate away from home successfully , go for it! If you’re applying to a certain set of boarding schools because you’ve heard they’re tickets to an Ivy League acceptance … stay home, save the money and do what smart people do, and apply to those schools from a box - preferably located near an underpass off I95 .
If you LOVE PA and Exeter because you did your research and compared them to other schools, and they suit your needs perfectly-- you should definitely apply for V Form without giving it another thought. Why the heck not?
Will college admissions judge you for switching schools midway through HS? No.
The journey is always more important than the destination.
Also, you might want to consider United World Colleges. They pick top students from each country and then scatter them among each campus in Europe, North America, and Asia so that each campus has a great mix of kids from around the world. It is an incredible 2 year program so you won’t be at a disadvantage compared to others in it.
Some kids apply for junior and senior year, but I believe most participants do senior year plus a post grad year. The cost is subsidized by the national committees and college admissions officers LOVE UWC grads.
Care to expand, @Center? That’s a pretty leading statement. You have direct experience with the school, and you have indicated many times that you found the school too one-sided for your child, but what specifically would make it a worse choice for someone who wants to enter as a junior compared to any other boarding school?
Many reasons separate from our own experiences: the school favors 4 year students, the school has extremely misleading and opaque grades/ranking methodology. Savvy/informed students take the easiest course load possible which enables grade point average inflation. Because Exeter doesnt weight, there is little with which to distinguish oneself curriculum wise as a typical student. They dont offer APS which is fine but if you want to take the tests you must fo it on your own. College counseling is heavily controlled: if you are not one of the schools chosen (color, trustee kid, foreign royalty etc) you will not be supported by admissions. I.e you are on your own. (more students leave after 1 or 2 years than you would realize for many of these reasons)
@center This is good information for potential students to consider. I have heard stories of only a certain number of kid being supported for X or Y college. ( These comments were not at all related to Exeter but were just spoken of in the context of BS ways). It happens at public schools also. In any case it is just wrong.
I disagree. There is no reason a counselor should support a kid in the bottom half of the class with applications to HYPMS. A couple of reaches, sure; 5 reaches, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Part of the counselors’ responsibility is helping the student craft a reasonable list of targets.
Whether the pecking order at PEA is at @center describes is valid is another conversation.
@skieurope I agree with you. “There is no reason a counselor should support a kid in the bottom half of the class with applications to HYPMS. A couple of reaches, sure; 5 reaches, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Part of the counselors’ responsibility is helping the student craft a reasonable list of targets,” is not what I am describing at all.
I am baffled why you are always inferring that I am wrong or lying?
@skieurope Well, the student might be wasting everyone’s time, but it is not the counselor’s job to nix personal choices. Advise yes, control no. The advisor doesn’t get to decide where each person applies to college. They can offer sane advice and let’s hope they do. But deciding for them is what would not be acceptable.he person applying to college has control over the process. We know from these boards that many students don’t realize where they stand relative to other applicants but that doesn’t seem to stop them.
The counselor needs to send a Secondary School Report to most colleges, and is unlikely to write a glowing report for the applicant that wants to apply to 20 reach schools. Many college counseling offices will limit the number of applications it will support per student. So if Johnny does not want to be shut out, he would be well served to listen to people who know the process. Again, applying to a few reach schools is fine.
But if the OP is looking for a BS that will just rubberstamp her college choices, then she will will discover that Exeter and Andover will not meet her needs. @Happytimes2001
@skieurope Agree that the counselor is going to send the recommendation that is valid. That still doesn’t replace choice. Might not be a wise choice but many people make bad choices everyday. Can’t take away someone’s choices because you are the guidance guru.
I for one, want my kids to make their own choices not have the guidance counselor decide. I think you are saying don’t even bother and that’s fine. But Johnny might actually learn that you have to do the work to get in the door. That’s a good lesson right there. He might also learn that you have to be realistic ( another good lesson). He might even get in ( rarely happens but once in a blue moon).
Many decades ago, I had a guidance counselor that for some reason thought I should apply to Fordham ( a school for which I had zero interest). I refused that “guidance” and ended up in an Ivy league school that was much better suited to my needs. That counselor was convinced Fordham was the school for me. ( It wasn’t).
I am certainly not paying 200K to have someone else make decisions for my kid. No one said rubber stamp, it’s choices. And choice is a beautiful thing.
@happytimes2001 having had 4 kids attend PEA over the years, I can assure you our experience has been very different (on lots of fronts). We did indeed have a student in the bottom half of the class and at no time did anyone stop him from applying to whatever schools we and he chose.
They did offer reasonable advice about expanding our list. Of course we didn’t listen as he was our first kid to apply to colleges. We thought we knew better and he ended up with zero acceptances. He took a gap year and we regrouped. We learned some difficult lessons and did not make the same mistakes with our other kids. We have never heard of a college counselor at PEA discouraging anyone from applying to the colleges of their choice or limiting the number of applicants that can apply to a college.Quite the opposite, it is up to the student to make a reasonable list and do the work to apply.
@vegas1 Well that’s good to hear. I am basing my comments on the original post by @Center which said
“College counseling is heavily controlled: if you are not one of the schools chosen (color, trustee kid, foreign royalty etc) you will not be supported by admissions. I.e you are on your own.”
My reaction to that post was indeed horror on the basis of someone limiting ( and therefore deciding) where you can apply. I know many kids ( and parents) can’t hear reality when it comes time for college admissions and that is another related subject. But limiting the number of slots, as Center infers is something else entirely. I don’t want my kid in line behind the Prince, Legacy kid of note, or really anyone based on someone else’s needs. This also happens at many public schools as well.
I can’t imagine anyone thinks that this policy would be acceptable to the many kids who do have the grades and stats for consideration. And even for those kids who are miles away from consideration, taking away their choice doesn’t serve anyone well ( except maybe the Prince).
I’m talking choice not chance.
I see nothing in @Center’s post that says PEA will not allow a student to apply to a particular college, only that if a student applies to one where there is no chance of admission (and they DO know exactly who and what each applicant is up against), they will not advocate heavily for that student at that school, thus not “supporting” the application. This is not sabotage, just reality, and the way it works everywhere as far as I know. Choate was loud and upfront about this; they are not going to waste resources or their relationship with any college advocating for students who don’t have a snowball’s chance – and they know what each student’s chances are. You are paying for proper guidance and expert help crafting a targeted and appropriate college list. Any student who has the grades, stats, and profile for acceptance to a college they are interested in will be supported (to some extent); those who don’t won’t. And, even if a student has the grades, stats, and profile for acceptance and IS supported but the BS knows the student is not likely to receive admission to that college that year given the peer competition, that student will be informed of the likelihood of rejection. We had this very blunt conversation with our son’s GC about one of the colleges on his list. His stats/grades/profile were in range, but she flat out told him/us not to bother, wasn’t going to happen that year based on the competition. COULD he apply? Yes. Would the school go through all the necessary motions with sending transcripts, LORs, etc.? Yes. Would they advocate heavily for him? No. Was he getting in? No.
Why wouldn’t they “advocate heavily for him?” Because he wasn’t a compelling enough applicant for that school compared to his peer competition that year, and even though the college did not have a firm cap on slots for Choate students, they would not be accepting even half the number of “qualified” Choate applicants to that college based on history. ChoatieKid was just not “shiny” enough to be in the running for that school, so his GC spared him and the school some wasted effort. I see nothing at all wrong with that.
We beat the message on this board over and over and over again: If your goal is any particular college or colleges rather than a stellar high school education, boarding school may be a big disappointment to you. Once again, apparently this is true.
@choatieMOm Thanks for the clarification. I did read it as limited number of slots. While I think that your experience is likely the norm and they seemed to have been very transparent about it, I read that certain types were jumping ahead not based on stats but other factors. Maybe that’s not what @Center intended or maybe it’s inferred. The school definitely has the responsibility to advise the students and parents about what is suitable. This is another good reason kids shouldn’t fixate on a single schools.
And yes, I agree that BS is mainly to develop good skills to prepare you for college. That said, you also want to know that the school is on the up and up when you apply to colleges. Not that you are going to get in somewhere for which you are not qualified but that you have a chance where you are qualified.
