<p>Are they just generally the students who want to attend the school?</p>
<p>Self-motivated, determined, and diligent?
What will generally separate a typical student they want from the rest of the applicants?
If all the applicants chose for themselves to apply to that school, wouldn't the students all carry similar traits?</p>
<p>Many of the interviewees seemingly ask me if my parents are pushing me to BS (GETTING RID OF ME!? Dx ), which they really haven't influenced the choice upon me. So, I was wondering if there were a lot of applicants that have parents that push them to BS. So maybe = better chances and just higher applicant numbers? With more applicants, the admission seems tougher, but I want to know what kind of students generally will apply.</p>
<p>CURIOUS-- Thanks, I want to know your opinions to kinda estimate my chances with schools that have acceptance rates >45%</p>
<p>My son did not apply to the bigger schools. It was more about wanting the feel of a smaller community, being a part of that, where you are not just a "face in the crowd" at times. Where he could make a difference. (I know that at the bigger schools that can be true too, but it's more segmented.)
All his interviews asked him why he wanted to attend BS, did he want to be away from home, things like that. His answer, which was true because we do have 3 boarding schools that he could be day students at - was that it was not about boarding or not, being away from home or not, but about finding the right school for him.<br>
I'm not sure that's what you're looking for though...???</p>
<p>I don't think the applicants to smaller schools are really different from applicants to bigger schools. Maybe some folks would like to chime in on this theory though, my daughter's small school (<300 students) does have a smaller geographic draw than those bigger schools. I think those big schools (Andover >1100, Exeter >1000, Choate and Lawrenceville 800) are better known and have a wider (less regional) draw.</p>
<p>For many families, geography plays a big role in the decision making process. I don't think that most applicants are in a situation where they can choose from every boarding school in the country whether it's in California or New Hampshire. Geographical proximity was one of our families highest priorities, not size of the community.</p>
<p>For Grejuni: If I may ask where else did your daughter apply? SAS is a really terrific school, a belated congrats. Putting geography aside, what schools are comparable to SAS?</p>
<p>For Grejuni: If I may ask, where else did your daughter apply? SAS is a really terrific school, a belated congrats. Putting geography aside, what schools are comparable to SAS?</p>
<p>We too were taking geography into consideration. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) we are in an area where if you drew the 2 hour radius (our requirement) we had literally hundreds of schools. </p>
<p>I think grejuni is right that ultimately, the applicants want the same thing - a challenging environment, to be surrounded by students who want to learn, to be taught by teachers who love to teach, to have...you know all the reasons for going to BS to begin with. It's what pretty much all boarding schools offer - big and small. </p>
<p>From there, it's maybe more what kind of environment you would thrive in. How much structure, would "freedom with responsibility" work for you? Do you need more organized time? Do you want sit down family style meals (for us, that was a must, as a mom I would not consider a school that did not have them, I know maybe silly to some, but it is important to me)? Dress Code? Saturday classes? All those little things. Sometimes, big or small is not really as important as the other aspects. My son's school is 410. We visited a similar profile school that has about 100 less students and the school he chose felt smaller to us (campus physically about the same size although set up differently).</p>
<p>my daughter is in a small bording school(total ~340). At first I was not sure if small school is right for her. But now I beleieve it is a lot better to be in a small boarding school because teachers and students are so cloase and really well bonded. They have dit down family style dinners with faculties two time a week. Actually the reason that we decided the school was because of the geographical location. My D's BS is close to our home and we can come and visit anytime. That is a huge factor for us. Big school has advantages as wells disadvantages. you need to think about those.</p>
<p>I'm applying to university laboratory high school. Its on the small side (<500) but its very selective. Most people have to get a 99 on their ssat to gain admission. This is only because its the only prep school (thats public) within miles of our area. I know that 8 of my friends are applying.</p>
<p>I don't think the applicants are different. It is the schools that are differnent and you find what works for you. Second what erkybk said. Smaller felt better to us. When we drove onto a larger school's campus it had a very institutional feel. D is very happy at Mercersburg.</p>