PG year for non athlete?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

My younger son is 16, in 11th grade, and very young for his age. He attends an excellent public school in New Jersey and is very smart but he needs help with time management and self discipline and I am worried that he won’t be mature enough for college in a year.

I have an older son who graduated from Loomis and when we were checking out schools I was intrigued that some PGs used the year to get “polished” for college - really learn how to write, etc.

Anyway, has anyone ever heard of a kid going to a year of boarding school after high school, but not as an athlete?

I’m thinking about NMH and Berkshire as more supportive schools. Should I reach out to them? Is this a crazy thing to do? What are my other options to give a kid a year to grow up before college?

2

I know a couple of non-athletes who went to English boarding schools for a PG year and enjoyed the experience.

3

Other options are a gap year (sorry for stating the obvious!) as well as foreign language immersion programs. There are gap year programs that are a bit more structured.

Exploring PG years could be worth it for you. It is a good way to get academic polish. Personally, I would explore what it would be like socially – athletes have their teams, and typically their impact on them – as a way to create their place on campus.

4

Berkshire has a great PG program and has about 5-10 PGs every year. I am a current student so please feel free to pm me with any questions or if you want to know more about Berkshire:)