I mentioned it to Andy Cohen. He said “Hard pass.” 
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We met Sebastian a couple of years ago from that old Bravo show 
No - we did not ask him about the show.
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I agree. There’s not a single thing that a school puts forward in any meaningfully public/official way that’s not curated at least in part, if not entirely.
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All Lawrentians in my family were annoyed when they heard of this. Apart from the video, what do they do when prospects visit the dorms? Do the admins dress up the dorm rooms, ask kids to look and act a certain way, and only show the “model rooms” too?
I should be clear: the students in the video were residents of that dorm, just not of that specific room. There are no actors involved, as far as I am aware (the photos on the Instagram all have students that I know in them). “Student actors” likely meant “students acting as actors.”
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I have a bridge to sell to anyone who expects any school, business, product, celebrity, vacation spot, rental, etc. to look just like the brochure.
Do the admins dress up the dorm rooms, ask kids to look and act a certain way?
No. Some interesting hijinks would occur in the Boys’ Lower common room back when I was a freshman, and we certainly didn’t stop when tours came through.
And only show the “model rooms” too?
Yes. Back when I tour guided, we were given fobs that could only access a specific few rooms in certain designated Houses (for the Circle and Crescent, they specifically chose the prettiest ones). The students who lived in those rooms were instructed to keep their rooms clean at all times. While the admissions office themselves didn’t openly say this, the senior tour guide who trained me also specifically told us to avoid showing the ugliest buildings on campus (in Lawrenceville’s case, the field house and dining hall, which are thankfully both being replaced at the beginning of the next school year) as much as possible.
Echoing @choatiemom, I’m really surprised that these “revelations” weren’t expected.
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And we all have Mr. Tsai to thank for this.
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Changing the subject here with an update from the BS class of 2015…
ChoatieLT has been admitted to the graduate program at Georgia Tech to earn a master’s in Computer Science starting in January. Hopefully, this will keep him stateside for awhile (last month, he was scheduled to go to Qatar for six months, but another officer volunteered for his spot). We will be spending Thanksgiving with him and his GF on our way back to AZ for the winter.
On a long phone call yesterday, he told us that his GF will be moving in with him sometime before Christmas. 
They’ve been together two years next month, and he feels this is the right next step. We met her when we visited in August, and we like her a lot. It’s just such a jolt to this old mom who still sees him as (cringe) her baby. Is she The One?
And, oh, he says casually. The government contractor he worked with on the Guam project just offered him an insane amount of money and a signing bonus that would cover most of his recoupment cost to leave the Army early to continue working on the technology he developed and demo’d there. He said no because he wants to get his master’s, and their work is not in his main area of interest. Given what he’s seeing among his Cyber cohort who are reaching the natural ends of their Army commitments, this offer is low. He’ll get the degree and negotiate later.
I was surprised, though, to hear how many are buying out their contracts. The Army can say no but generally doesn’t, especially if the officer is going to a contractor to continue working on military initiatives. The longer term problem is that the Army is not retaining Cyber officers. It lost 63% of the first Cyber class of 2014 (which met its commitment in 2019) but hit a 100% attrition rate last year, and our son says none of the 25 who branched with him in 2019 plan to stay beyond their commitments. These are West Point numbers and do not include other commissioning sources, but his general observation is that most are leaving from all sources because the Army can’t compete with civilian compensation packages even though it has implemented a bonus/development pay structure on top of the military rank salary similar to the way other branches retain pilots and doctors. The Army is also considering raising the commitment from six to ten years to achieve a better ROI.
So that’s the Army news this morning, not a common topic here, but it’s a large part of our life now and describes one BS grad’s career choice. No matter how I’ve moaned about it here over the years, we ARE proud of him, and we are enjoying each new step he takes. I guess this is the fun part, right? So, hang in there, all.
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Congratulations to your son and I applaud him for sticking out his commitment! My dad is a Naval Academy graduate, the Navy put him through his master’s degree in engineering which then put his path in the Civil Engineer Corps. He stayed in for 27 years, despite the fact that he could have made 2-3x as much as a civilian. We lived some amazing places, and when he retired from the Navy at around age 48, he had an amazing 2nd career doing very well and finally retiring as a Sr.VP from a large hospital system. The military can offer a wonderful career and opportunities. My son (HS class of 25) wants to attend either the Naval or Air Force Academy and become a pilot.
Oh and I can’t imagine my babies moving in with possible future spouses- they will always be my babies!
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I am just seeing this and find it very surprising. I have never heard anything like this from my kid, and I know they respond all weekend, and also meet with the kids for office hours even on Sunday, especially weekends before tests or major papers due.
As for turnover, there is definitely more than usual, but from what I see that is the case in the teaching profession overall, so many are re-evaluating and moving to different careers. I imagine living in a boarding school bubble makes the decision more complex, though that applies to some schools more than others. We seem to have a lot of teachers with spouses working elsewhere, and there are certainly jobs nearby people can get so no major life change is required if they get sick of teaching at a BS.
I always wondered how they decide who is stuck living in the dorms with students vs. all the teachers that get the houses adjacent/BS-owned but student free, and who gets to live wherever they want altogether. And how does it impact compensation, too.
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Curious about this as well.
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I figured it was seniority? Coupled with what is hard-wired into the job description? At Cate there is a lane of homes where teachers live on campus, and I imagine that they rarely open up. When they do they probably go to families with seniority. Newer teachers seem to be the dorm parents. But there are some teachers that have been dorm parents for many years.
Very few teachers, other than part-timers, live off campus. I think there are some who have spouses that need to live off campus because of the spouse’s job.
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Seniority. It is a very organized system, no jumping the queue (or there would be bad feelings). I do not believe where a teacher lives affects compensation.
Your description is true of most boarding schools. There is a pecking order for dorm allocations, primarily based on seniority. HoS obviously has the best house on campus, but if you are a senior director or a dean, the school will make special arrangements as part of the compensation package.
Dorm parent duties are typically not preferred and fulfilled by younger faculty members, but some teachers actually enjoy them and have done it all their lives.
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Some interesting news: Admin is letting us perform the musical unmasked, though it’s only the actors who are allowed to do so; we all also have to get tested extra frequently this week. One step closer to normalcy!
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I am curious which schools are masking. My kiddo’s tested at arrival and a week later. Unvaccinated kids have to mask and have regular testing, but I believe they are at 100% faculty and staff vaccinations and close to it for students. They do not have to mask.
Our kids and teachers have to mask in all of the school buildings because the state of CT mandates it for all schools, there is no choice in the matter. They do not have to mask outside or in residential and other buildings (dorms dining halls etc).
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Just curious @417WHB did your school have mandatory vaccinations?
Also, did your kiddo get the flu shot at school? Ours kids just got their flu shots at school.
The same masking requirements in our kid’s boarding school in Connecticut.