<p>Bumping for the next cycle of BS applicants (which will include SevenDaughter the younger!)</p>
<p>Random thoughts after a busy week… I think the last few posts make great sense, and I think about recent exchanges with GG, who also did not make her own appointments etc. — the months since school started have been months of tremendous growth in independence. She now does schedule her own appointments, arranges with school for transportation to rehearsals and other appointments, etc. with no input from her parents. Why? Well, of course, we’re not there to nag her. And also, her school has strong ideas about fostering self advocacy skills in young women, and makes sure the girls know they are expected to step up in such matters. </p>
<p>Really, the idea that a child who lives at home and doesn’t make all his or her appointments isn’t ready for boarding school is a bit of a conceptual stretch, to say the least (and I well remember the exchange surrounding that damning comment). Despite fears to the contrary, no one is expected to arrive at boarding school fully formed, with all the life skills of an adult. “Independence” in this younger adolescent sense seems to me to mean the capacity to grow and develop into a self-sufficient young adult.</p>
<p>Looking forward to hearing about 7D2’s search!</p>
<p>SevenDad, great thread.</p>
<p>Hi Sevendad , wow you put so much effort in to helping your daughter! You are a really great parent. I was wondering if I could have some advice from you because my own parents have refused to help me through the application process. I currently go to a boarding school in England so I’m pretty clueless about everything but I’m wondering most about the essays. Do you write them during the Saat exam or do you prewrite them? Can you possibly tell me in some detail about the essays?? Thank you so much</p>
<p>@carrow2: The essays I mention are part of the individual (or common) application for each school, not part of the SSAT. The essay prompts will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>Here is the main essay prompt for St. Andrew’s School (from their website):</p>
<p>“At St. Andrew’s you will have an advisor who will support you in all areas of boarding school life—academic and non-academic. In the space below, write a letter to your advisor telling about yourself. Talk about your goals, passions and developing interests. What does your advisor need to know about your character, your strengths and weaknesses and your life experiences?”</p>
<p>I had to write an essay for SAS right on the spot, after the interview. It was something like: “Imagine a free day in your life. What would you do?” Probably my favorite 30 minutes in the whole application process.</p>
<p>Sevendad thank you so much 
also do you think it’s wise to move from england to america for tenth grade? Do you think it’ll be hard to settle down side the work is so different? Also do you think that i’m going to need a lot of adult help in order to get in because my parents won’t have anything to do with it :(</p>
<p>@carrow2: I can’t really advise on whether or not coming to the US for high school would be a good move for you…I would think there are plenty of great schools in England, no?</p>
<p>There are of course, many kids who do come over here for high school…from all around the world.</p>
<p>As for how much parental help/support you need, from what I gather from my few years on the forum, there are kids who drive the process 100% and then there are kids whose parents are VERY involved (maybe too involved?) in the process. </p>
<p>Two thoughts: A) For many of the schools with which I am familiar, there is a part of the application your parents have to fill out…short essays and other household info…pretty sure these are required (or perhaps some parent surrogate who is supportive of the process could fill them out?); and B) I think admissions people can sense when parents aren’t enthusiastic, and that may factor into their decision. Remember that they all want to have high “yields” (meaning a high percentage of matriculation by the pool of accepted candidates)…so they might be reluctant to admit a candidate if they don’t think they will be accept the offer due to parent influence.</p>
<p>I know there have been kids on the forum who have started threads/asked questions like “How do I convince my parents to let me apply/go to BS?” or “What if my parents don’t support my decision to apply to BS?” Search for those types of threads and see if you glean any wisdom from them.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>@sevendad thank you that really helped :)</p>
<p>Our third move-in day as first-time BS parents is done. </p>
<p>Great to meet the second generation of families who may have read this thread and given the little school on Noxontown Pond a second (or first!) look. I hope your experience is as wonderful as ours has been so far.</p>
<p>Bumping for the current crop of prospects/parents of prospects.</p>
<p>Just left the new parent reception at Choate. Had a wonderful time hearing all the first-timer stories and feeling great that now we can help to calm those fears and answer many of those last minute questions as parents leave their freshman on campus for the first night. Lots of hugs for those parents, too. I sat in the back of the auditorium earlier this afternoon to listen to another welcome speech sadly knowing that we only have one more round. I think it may be harder for parents to leave their kids’ BS than it is for the kids.</p>
<p>Enjoy every minute of this amazing journey. Wishing all of you a fantastic start to the school year.</p>
<p>Another bump for 2013-2014 prospective families.</p>
<p>Now that we are in the thick of things with SevenDaughter2, I realize I forgot to include The George School in the list of schools from which we requested info so that’s 15 total.</p>
<p>15 wow, RBG2 (2) applied to 12 and I thought that was almost an impossibility to manage! Good Luck to her. Hope to see her and you at Choate next fall. :)</p>
<p>To clarify, RBGG, 15 was the number we requested info from LAST go around. 8 was the number we visited and 3 was the number of final applications. Again, this is from experience with first daughter a few years ago.</p>
<p>okay, 7D, makes sense now. I remember you were a big believer in fit which worked well for D#1.</p>
<p>I am still a believer that many schools “fit” a student and vice versa. I still endorse the idea that you apply to great schools, and then look for your opportunity.</p>
<p>The good news is that I think there are far more great colleges than there are BSs. DS would be thrilled to attend any one of 15 or so colleges that we visited when he cast a wide net. There was something exciting about each one, but as we discussed them all, there were a few that ticked off every check box on his wish list, arguing a case for “fit.”</p>
<p>At several of the prestigious colleges, the tour guides stated the same thing. Most found a few that hit everything on their wish list.</p>
<p>Maybe one of the best things that came out of the BS app process was the rehearsal for college shopping.</p>
<p>SevenDad: where is daughter number two applying? I hear that Lawrenceville has a great fencing program. Thanks for all of the helpful information. You had me sold on St. Andrew’s (I visited and researched too of course) but DD felt it wasn’t an emotional fit. Here’s yet another example of intangibles at work. I’m disappointed, but she’s got some other good choices, too.</p>
<p>@Spoon6566: Thanks for even putting SAS into your consideration set. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I think that it deserves far more attention than it gets.</p>
<p>Regarding “the list” for 7D2…it’s pretty much set in stone at this point. 4 schools. I will most likely do a recap when all is said and done (probs in the summer, though, after the frenzy of M10-A10). SAS is not on the list, but mostly because of the difficulty of pursuing her individual sport at the level she wants to pursue it.</p>
<p>Thanks, SevenDad. All the best for a successful outcome with 7D2. You deserve it!</p>
<p>This being among the most helpful threads ever, I hope other parents (myself included) will try to do similar recaps after the “season” is over.</p>