“Parent fit” for a boarding school

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

<p>There has been lots of discussion about what is a good fit for the child. But “parent fit” is a factor, too, in selecting a school. Here are some thoughts on issues that might matter more to parents than to their kids:</p>

<p>Financial Aid<br>
Generally the schools with fattest endowments are the ones that are best able to give generous FA; however, there are surprises. You need to look a bit closer than just the overall size of the endowment and the percentage of kids on FA. </p>

<p>If you calculate avg FA budget/student, some standouts emerge. Emma Willard’s 'FA budget/student' is in the same class as that of Groton, Deerfield, Choate which have an 'endowment/student' 3-4 times the size of Emma Willard's. </p>

<p>Disciplinary Policy
How strict/forgiving is the school? Some schools have one-strike-you’re-out policies regarding substance abuse. What jibes with your philosophy?</p>

<p>Commuting logistics<br>
How much access do you want? Do you want to watch DC play sports on weekends? Will the cost of airline tickets be a significant burden?</p>

<p>Health Services & Orthodontics
What health services are available on campus? How does the school address severe medical emergencies? Are there nearby orthodontists & dentists? </p>

<p>Engagement with the school<br>
How well does the school disseminate news to parents? Are you a helicopter parent? Some schools welcome parent engagement more than others. Is there an active parents network?</p>

<p>Ratio of boarding:day
There are positive & negative biases about the % of day students. Day parents have the potential to volunteer their support to the school’s operations. A high % of day students also means that the campus empties out at night/weekends. </p>

<p>Teenagers and Cars
Are the students allowed to keep car on campus? What is the policy for students driving other students?</p>

<p>Dating
What is the school’s policy for dorm visitation, sex, birth control?</p>

<p>Attrition rate
How many students leave? And are the reasons mostly involuntary (expulsion for academic dishonesty, substance abuse) or voluntary (homesick, medical issue like eating disorder)</p>

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<p>I’ve long suspected that the “Dating” issue is way under-discussed. Good questions, GMT+7, and the “handbooks” I have seen actually vary quite a bit on the answers. All schools are “addressing” the broader issues in a programmatic way, but we parents are seldom aware of the actual program, or of the details of what is lived day to day. I suppose those with older students may get stories that testify to school culture and norms, but my children are not much in that category yet. The non-fiction I read in books about prep schools makes it seem that the adults often give the kids a wide berth to learn from their own experiences, though I’ve always heard about the favorite advisors/teachers who typically help with “personal problems”. SAS has at least one teacher who will spontaneously digress outside of the class curriculum on the topic of safe sex, as I heard from three boys last weekend. That’s fine with me. Stories like this help in trying to figure out the “parent fit”.</p>

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<p>An awareness issue: the selective schools often have PG’s and a significant proportion of “repeats”. This translates to a wide age range among the students. The students at DS’s school get counselling about age-of-consent</p>