Multiple Unrelated Boarding School Questions

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Since they're all fairly different (and long), I don't expect anyone to answer them all. Feel free to pick and choose. Heh.</p>

<p>Which boarding schools should I look at, considering these factors?
[ul][<em>]I don't care about prestige/rankings at all, as long as it's not a bad school.[/ul]
[ul][</em>]I'd like a fair amount of math classes (post AP Calc BC).[/ul]
[ul][<em>]My GPA is fairly average (3.6<my GPA<3.8). However, I've had a substantial jump in grades from my first semester of HS classes, and I've taken all honors/AP classes. Test scores are tops.[/ul]
[ul][</em>]My ECs are ace, but they're the only things I do in my free time. I've never gone to any competitions or summer camps (except Duke TIP, but people don't seem to care much about that one :L); Hell, I'd never even heard of any of them until I came here.[/ul]
[ul][<em>]I don't mind uniforms.[/ul]
[ul][</em>]I'd be okay with a single-sex (female) school, but co-ed is definitely preferred. I get on with guys better. Plus, as someone who plans on majoring in CompSci after high school and will most likely do so at a tech school, I'm not sure that getting used to being around a lot of females is a good idea...lol[/ul]
[ul][<em>]Schools known for having a very socially conservative and/or religious atmosphere are an automatic no.[/ul]
[ul][</em>] Laid Back > Pressure cooker, but intense isn't a deal-breaker[/ul]
[ul][li]I need a large amount of FA (-watches as all of my options disappear-).[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>So...How good at a sport do you have to be for it to help in admissions?
I'm fairly good at a certain sport, but I only very recently started playing; the only reason I'm good is because I learn really fast. As a result, I've not gone out and won any awards for it. Could it still help with admission if I put it down?</p>

<p>** What are some other things that help admissions chances?**
Any ideas?</p>

<p>"Boarding school actually hurts your chances for college admission." What about in my situation?
I've gone to crappy public schools my entire life. If I go to a boarding school, and do really well despite the huge jump in rigor, do you think it would help me rather than hurt me, or maybe even help me stand out?</p>

<p>How much does it really cost to attend boarding school?
I know that there's the set tuition and fees, but there have to be other expenses involved--things like trips and just general things involved in "boarding school life". How much extra does that cost a family per year?</p>

<p>Why does applying as a repeat help admissions chances when you get to the high school level?
It seems that people are always saying to "try applying as a repeat Xth grader, if you're up for it; it will probably raise your chances of being accepted". Why is that? At first I thought "because they get more money if you're there longer, derp", but it seems like this is a common suggestion to help students who need substantial FA to raise their chances as well. :confused:</p>

<p>Any tips? Things to think about when searching for my "perfect fit" school? Things I should know about boarding school in general? Things to avoid?
Thank you~. :D</p>

2

<p>Look at boarding school review, and start plugging in the parameters that are important to you. Is there a range (in distance) that feels more comfortable for you and your family? Do you think you prefer a small, medium, or large school? I would look at schools that have larger endowments (relative to their population), and a larger % of kids receiving financial aid. In general, boarding schools are rigorous, they don’t have to be one of the 5 most talked about to have excellent opportunities. </p>

<p>I can’t answer any sports questions, other than to say it isn’t necessary to be a sports star to be accepted. </p>

<p>Boarding school does not hurt your chances at college admissions, but if you’re coming from a very intense boarding school with 40 other kids applying to the same 5 colleges, then yes, it could, because any given Ivy/MIT/Stan is not going to take 40 kids from the same high school. However, the odds of admission into one of those schools are so small, it’s basically a crapshoot no matter where you’re coming from. In other words, those 10 schools are not a “match” for anyone, they’re reaches; no matter if you have a perfect GPA and/or perfect SAT scores. </p>

<p>Have you taken a practice SSAT? That could help you to focus in on what schools make sense to look at.</p>

3

<p>I would search the forums, quite a few of your questions have already been discussed</p>

4

<p>I’ve used BSR’s search tool, but to be honest I don’t really have any preferences when it comes to that kind of thing. As long as there are less than 30 kids/class (what I’m used to), and it’s not on a farm, I’ll be fine. My family doesn’t really care about distance either. As for searching for endowment size, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. D’oh.</p>

<p>Maybe I just don’t know how to do a proper search, but the reason I asked was because I kept seeing “you should apply as a repeat, it helps and it’s quite common” or “playing a sport helps” without any further explanation. (Though admittedly I should’ve searched the extra costs thing first; I found that easily :o.) They’re not really necessary anyway, though. I’m just curious. :p</p>

5

<p>Hi! This might be a little late but… I hope it still helps somewhat.
Unfortunately with your slightly lower GPA/need for financial aid, you probably won’t be able to attend Exeter or Andover or whatnot. Fortunately prestige/name doesn’t matter to you, so… :)</p>

<p>Judging by your description/overview, I’d recommend checking out The Webb Schools in California, or Cranbrook in Michigan. Neither are very conservative/religious; at Webb you have to go to chapel 3 times a week but only for about 15-20 minutes, and each time you go it will be a senior giving a ‘‘chapel talk’’ about their experiences/goals/ambitions past high school. Most of these are actually quite hilarious and though provoking and definitely not a waste of time, neither are they religiously geared. I’m not as familiarized with Cranbrook, but my friend goes there and she is a strict agnostic (ironic, huh?) and has no problem. Neither of these schools require uniforms, and both are quite laid back past the normal boundaries of living at school and loco parentis… e.t.c. Cranbrook has a very large endowment (250million or so?) therefore it’s likely you will get financial aid if you need it. It also has many APs geared towards science/computer science and has a lot of opportunities. Webb has the average AP offerings for science, but if you are really passionate/good at it there are opportunities to take college level classes at many local colleges that are 5-10 minutes away like Claremont Mckenna, Harvey Mudd, e.t.c. which looks nice as a bonus for college apps. Webb offers a fair amount of financial aid as well although endowment is lower. </p>

<p>So…How good at a sport do you have to be for it to help in admissions?
To be honest, if you’re good enough to play on Varsity and contribute to the team, you’re in. Boarding school sports usually aren’t that big of a deal/prestigious contrary to popular belief (unless you go to Exeter/Deerfield e.t.c) even though boarding schools still WANT to be good at sports, so if you’re a well-rounded player, it does benefit you.</p>

<p>What are some other things that help admissions chances?
Your essay matters a lot, as well as your interview. The interview is basically how the school will judge your character past your more materialistic/tangible aspects such as grades, ECs, e.t.c. Having a higher SSAT score actually doesn’t matter much if you don’t want to apply to the ABSOLUTE BEST boarding school but having one doesn’t hurt.</p>

<p>“Boarding school actually hurts your chances for college admission.” What about in my situation?
I don’t think that’s true unless the boarding school you’re talking about is one for delinquents. ‘‘Boarding school does not hurt your chances at college admissions, but if you’re coming from a very intense boarding school with 40 other kids applying to the same 5 colleges, then yes, it could’’ so basically, unless you go to one of the aforementioned ‘super good schools’ you don’t have to worry. In comparison, Webb has a student population of about 100 people per grade and gender is split up (for the first two years of humanities classes; foreign language and maths/sciences are co-ed and humanities are co-ed your upperclassman years) so there is a female AND male valedictorian and class rankings based on your genders, which gives you a much better change if you’re the only one applying for a certain major/to a certain college. Cranbrook is slightly bigger but still not as big as large schools like Exeter with 300+students per each grade.</p>

<p>How much does it really cost to attend boarding school?
Honestly, tuition costs anywhere from 40k to 50k a year and your personal costs, if you spend wisely, will come up to about 2000-3000$. Personally, I don’t buy much but I spent a lot of money buying useless things this year so I spent about 3500$, as well as a school trip I took that was 5000$. I’m sure if money is tight that you could learn to spend much less. In addition, financial aid can range anywhere from 5k to 20k, or more. Depends on your financial status (but you cannot receive aid if you’re international). </p>

<p>Why does applying as a repeat help admissions chances when you get to the high school level?
This is because, at least in my experience, there are a certain number of seniors that the schools want to graduate in a given year based on competition rates, e.t.c. so if you apply for a repeat year not only are they gaining more money from you, but they ensure that the graduating class will not be overcrowded.</p>

<p>Any tips? Things to think about when searching for my “perfect fit” school? Things I should know about boarding school in general? Things to avoid?
Basically to not want to go to a school just because of prestige or name… Choose the school that you think is best for YOU and that will help you live your life better/get into a better college/ have more opportunities or whatnot. I chose to go to Webb rather than a much more ‘‘prestigious’’ school because I realized my college chances would be higher if I wasn’t competing with a bunch of people whose skills/assets were the same as mine, this way I can also maintain a higher class ranking.</p>

<p>That’s all. Very long. Hope it helped somewhat.</p>