<p>This forum would have been loved all over just a few months ago...</p>
<p>Now that I'm thru w/ prep schools i'm not as thrilled.</p>
<p>WELL- if u hav any questions about the ssat feel free to pm me. i'v got national percentiles of 94,96, and 99 and will be happy to help whoever needs it.</p>
<p>When do you think is the best time to take it?</p>
<p>I'm applying to SPS, Deerfield, Andover, and Exeter next year. Do you recommend any books to study with?</p>
<p>Take the November one. Then if you screw that one up, you can cancel the scores and take the December one and still be safe. That's what I did. =)</p>
<p>The scores don't mean much. I got into every school I applied to with a 66 verbal.</p>
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The scores don't mean much. I got into every school I applied to with a 66 verbal.
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</p>
<p>man i didn't...with better scores....and my ec werent bad, either. i like to think that my financial stuff was the reason- got rejected at those i sent my fi. info to while i got waitlisted at those i didn't.</p>
<p>mathwiz, what schools did you apply to?</p>
<p>I'm going for:</p>
<p>Exeter, Cranbrook, Hotchkiss, and Andover.</p>
<p>wait jonathan k, before, you seemed a bit tentative about going to boarding school, with your financial situation with ur parents and all, and other local private schools. so, what's your decision? you know, you ought to start working on your applications. the essays are killers.</p>
<p>Nah, you don't have to start the essays now. I wrote mine all in the fall, over a period of about a week and a half. Get the reccomendations out to your teachers the day you get them though. And then check exeter's lionlinks and andover's whateveritwascalled to make sure they got them.</p>
<p>ILuvA's, like I said in another thread, it's not that I can't afford it, it's just that I'll have difficult asking my grandmother for over $150,000 just for high school. lol.</p>
<p>My grandmother was willing to pay $15,000 for a local private high school where she lives, but that doesn't mean she'd dish out $15,000 for a boarding school 1,000 miles away from her.</p>
<p>I also heard about prepgate. They offer loans for boarding school. Would I be able to pay those off like... ten years after I graduate boarding school? I'll also have to pay like $150k + for college. (If I go to an American one.) My grandmother said she'd pay for four years of Canadian university, or one year of American. If I went to a private school down here, I would have to get a loan that would take years and years and years to pay off unless I become an investment banker or something.</p>
<p>Ahh...so confusing.</p>
<p>So basically, I want to go to a boarding school, but I don't know if it'd be worth getting myself or my parents into that much debt.</p>
<p>Well I guess it wouldn't be that much since my grandma could pay $15k, my dad could pay 10k and my mom could pay 10k.. that's 35k. Tuition of boarding school.</p>
<p>So I guess it's do able. lol.</p>
<p>Sorry... I'm just thinking out loud here.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>i know, that's what i meant. i know about ur grandma and dad and stuff. what about thinking of financial aid?</p>
<p>I don't think I'd qualify for it.</p>
<p>Do they look at my grandparents' financial situation at all? Or just my mom's and dad's?</p>
<p>If that were the case, then maybe I could apply for financial aid. My dad's on a $60k a year salary, but he's got a ton of investments. My mom's on a $60k salary too, but she barely has any savings.</p>
<p>If they looked at my grandma, they'd say no immediately. She's got over $1M in real estate, and a ton of savings.</p>
<p>Jonathan,</p>
<p>I haven't followed your entire story (you are a prolific poster), but it sounds like you have the potential for getting a good education somewhere. You just have to get it sorted out.</p>
<p>Geographically speaking, it sounds like your gramdma and parents live quite a bit of distance apart (grandma is a Canadian, eh?). And from the posts here it sounds like your parents do not live together (separate income numbers).</p>
<p>And it sounds like there is something that is lacking in your current educational opportunities (i.e. you think that you cannot make your college/post collegiate goals without a different school). Please describe.</p>
<p>I ask this because you need to do a bit of selling within your family to make your educational goals a reality. You seem to have the ambition and courage to do the boarding school thing, but do you have the business case. I'm not talking about how much more money you are going to make here. I'm talking about making you a success in your life which goes beyond dollars and cents.</p>
<p>And a lot of that comes with the growing up part of going away to school. However, this is a thing that has to be sold to your family. The cost thing will take care of itself if everyone is on board with the decision.</p>
<p>With your grandma, it sounds like she likes to be able to see the return on her investment, if you get what I mean. And although it may seem strange, that is a good thing. She must care a lot.</p>
<p>And there are a lot of excellent Canadian prep schools. Although they don't have the cache of Andover/Exeter/SPS/etc here in the US, an international education is often an asset both in terms of making you stand out from the crowd and from a personal basis learning and adapting to a different culture. </p>
<p>What I'm saying is, if you examine what you are trying achieve by
changing your school, you might find that there are alternatives out there that fit that description and are easily sellable to the family.</p>
<p>About your FA questions, no the SSS (the financial aid clearing house for US based prep schools) does not ask about the assets or income of your grandparents. That is the good news.</p>
<p>However, with $120K in income between your parents, don't expect a whole lot of need-based assistance. You will more than likely get some, depending upon a whole host of things (go to SSS's website for more info), but they have a formula that works out most situations.</p>
<p>As to loans for prep education, they don't lend to minors, so your parents would be on the hook for loans. However, your folks should expect that if they want to keep their same standard of living up and send you to prep school, loans will be necessary. It may not sound fair, but that is the reality of it. We will be going there for our daughter who will be starting 9th grade next year, and our financial situation does not sound as good as yours. </p>
<p>Not that you should worry (although you do seem a bit anxious generally by your postings), but if boarding school is a good value to improve your development(over your current situation), I'm sure your family will find a way to do what makes sense.</p>
<p>Just remember, get your priorities in order first, evaluate your alternatives (cost and benefit), and then bring in your family to the matter.</p>
<p>i think u could qualify, jonathan k. i've read the schools' statistics and there were even some with a income over 150,000 that got part financial aid. i doubt u could get a whole scholarship, but certainly I think you could try for part. While i didn't apply for financial aid this year, i think i might next year, since i have a single mother, and both my brothers are in college, and everyone knows how ridiculously expensive college are these days, I might qualify for some money next year. any sum would help.</p>
<p>goaliedad, thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>Could you give me a link to the SSS site?</p>
<p>Yes, I know they don't give loans to minors. I meant my family. :) </p>
<p>Do you know of any "excellent" Canadian prep schools? The only ones I know of are UCC and Brentwood College School.</p>
<p>Rosethay Netherwood? I've heard it's pretty good.</p>
<p>SSS - URL for their FAQ is
<a href="https://sss.ets.org/pfsHelpFAQHome.do%5B/url%5D">https://sss.ets.org/pfsHelpFAQHome.do</a></p>
<p>I can't give you specific advice about Canadian prep schools. I can tell you that they don't get as much chat (like this stuff) as American boarding schools. And boardingschoolreview doesn't really do the job for them and there is no specific Canadian equivalent. There are internet sites that sell lists of rankings, but I generally review that stuff for sale suspiciously.</p>
<p>PrEp kId, what schools did you apply to and which did you get into?</p>