<p>All you parents out their. Have any of your children gone to New England prep schools? Did they enjoy it and which ones did they go to? What were their stats? I need as much help as possible during this application process!</p>
<p>My child didn't. Just curious, what are you applying to? Is this a prep school application? Are you trying to figure out where to apply? Is this Boarding school?</p>
<p>I'm applying to Exeter, Andover, and St. Paul's and I was just wondering what parents views of boarding schools are and the experiences of their children.</p>
<p>Public school here, but you might want to do a search on this board and the old one. There have been several threads about prep schools.</p>
<p>My son is in a prep school in NJ (1st year junior) and also attended a boarding school in Texas. The NJ school is perfect for him. I am a big proponent of boarding schools for kids who are independent and can manage themselves fairly well. While the environment is somewhat structured, there is a lot of responsibility placed on the students to get themselves to class, do their homework, take care of their laundry etc. Whenever we visit our son, I am grateful that he has the opportunity to attend this school- for its academics, athletics and nurturing faculty and staff. My daugher attended a boarding school in Michigan and had an equally great experience. Good luck and let us know where you wind up. Karen</p>
<p>My kids (one S and one D) went to a NE boarding school and loved their experiences. (Their stats are irrelevant because they were admitted years ago and have since graduated.) You do have to be ready for the challenge. It helps to be self-motivated, willing to read ahead, adept at time management (sometimes to the minute), willing to roll with some punches (you probably won't get the straight A's that your buddies from your hometown will get), maintain a sense of humor (some of the kids get caught up in a culture of complaint and cynicism), and be ready to be humbled academically and intellectually. These schools have quite a concentration of brilliant kids who excel at academics and are often at a national level with their ECs. The kid who looks unassuming might be a renowned musician of world-class sailor or something. My family isn't rich or well-connected, but my kids found their niches and came away from the experience well prepared for college, fully aware of the privilege they had in attending.</p>
<p>I did not attend prep school, nor did my kids, however there were tons of preppies from these schools at my college. </p>
<p>These schools are three of the top 5 or 10 prep schools in New England, and as such are bastions of the American upper class & power elite. This can be intimidating. Some of these kids are really wonderful, and others are really spoiled. There is a culture at these schools of primarily extremely wealthy Upper East Side Manhattan kids who summer in th Hamptons & Martha's Vineyard.</p>
<p>This info is not to dissuade you, but just to tell it like it is.</p>
<p>My kids didn't happen to find many more spoiled jerks of powerful parents at their prep than at the schools around home. Anyway, they tended to gravitate to the really wonderful kids and didn't have much interaction with the other kind. Generally the students at these schools respect their fellow students more for their academic achievements than who their parents are, and they don't have much patience for jerks. At any rate, by the time my kids went to boarding school, they'd learned how to seek out the many truly good people to be found anywhere.</p>
<p>What schools did your kids go to everybody?</p>
<p>Momstheword,</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your advice on the "I wish I knew" for new Preps. My eyes couldn't help to wet when I read your last advice from parents' point of view. I wish I could PM you, so I replied you here. My son will be a new prep at Andover. I am trying very hard to avoid feeling blue now.</p>