<p>I'm new here and wish I had found this site last year when getting my son into boarding school. First of all, congrats to everyone. Its not an easy road, frustrating, gratifying and a little humiliating but that is the real world. I've read the admission director's comment which is so true, it is a matter of finding the right fit. They are all great schools and the accepted students should be proud of their accomplishments and those who did not get into their first choice should not belittle themselves. It is an extremely tough process and sometimes seems no rhyme or reason but there is a method to all their madness which is not a perfect science. I get a kick out of the top school correspondence. I grew up in the whole boarding school scene. Vast majority of my friends went away to school, my brother, my father, my grandfather(s) and they were all different schools. I very much enjoyed the experience and deeply appreciate the opportunity given to me to attend what I believe to be some of the most prestigious private institutions in the world. Education is the key to everything. My only regret is that I did not take advantage enough of all the opportunities and choices afforded me at the schools. I went to Pre-prep too. So much to soak up! Anyway, back to the so called top schools, I'd like to comment without naming schools. There are trends, there were trendy schools 30-40 years ago and they are just that, trends. Pressure cookers, they're out there, if you want them and they certainly are excellent College "preparatory" institutions. College will almost seem easy and maybe too easy and that's not always a good thing. All these schools can achieve that goal for college. It is the faculty and students that make up the school and it only takes one teacher to change the world for a student and those teachers are not all at those 5 or 7 schools that were mentioned, they're in public schools too! </p>
<p>Really utilize the second visits. As was mentioned on a previous message, the tables have turned, now they want you. Talk to the students, do they really want to be there? I can't count the number of students I've pulled to the side and get the real scoop. Its disheartening to hear that they are only there because of their parents or siblings and numerous other excuses. You'll find them in every school, its when you find more than usual at the same school. To think of the students who get wait listed or rejected makes you want to scream. Its when you hear, "I really want to be here" is when the prospective student should take note. Second visits are key.</p>
<p>There are other little things to think of before your decide. Remember, when you first saw the school (especially New England), it was Fall, the leaves were turning, it was warm and beautiful. Now it will be Spring, it will be warm again and a touch of Spring fever will have hit campus. Maybe you did but I doubt most prospective students visited during the New England Winter. It is not like a weekend of skiing. Some of these schools are in the middle of nowhere. They are the town and Boston is farther away than one thinks and there is nothing in Hartford or New haven for that matter, except Yale. Do you want to be in a cornfield for the next 3-4 years? Its not about having fun and coming home on the weekends. Your there to study, that's your job, read and study. Not football, hockey, lacrosse, dance, crew etcetera, those are the fringe benefits after you study, otherwise its summer school. Its not a social scene and if you're thinking of partying at all, well you're in for a rude awakening. Its nice to have the feather in your cap and its worse when its taken out and your back at you local high school explaining to everyone why your back. Its pretty much zero tolerance, one strike and your out. I'll admit that's changing a bit back (ie 2 strikes) but if your the leader, the beer buyer, pot supplier, adios. These schools are tired of the '70's and are not going to tolerate it anymore and you can't blame them. Parents won't be too thrilled about wasting 35-40 gran either. At the other extreme, if one digs enough they will find skeletons in the closet for each and everyone of the schools. Suicides, serious student faculty improprieties to pedophilia and all have existed in the boarding schools since their conception. Same in any public school. Nothing to tell everyone about and these schools of course wish none of it had ever occurred but one would be ignorant not to think it doesn't occur.</p>
<p>On a brighter note, I really enjoy the boarding school community and glad my son wanted to go away. Between my father and brother, uncles and cousins, everyone else like myself, had their opinion of where he should go. Simple, wherever it was they had gone to school. Each and everyone of them would swear by it to their dying breath. The schools are only as good as what the students, faculty and parents put into it. It is a community and hopefully looked upon as a kind of second home for the students, especially so after they graduate. The decision was his as shold be yours and all the more power to you.</p>
<p>I apologize if I sound like a boarding school know it all, I'm not. If your experience is good, you never really leave.</p>