Hi,
I would greatly appreciate some school visit suggestions for my son:
We are looking for to enroll our son in a PG program for next year. He is currently a senior at a decent public school. He is a social and well-liked A/B student, however he is very “young” and we do not feel he is mature enough to attend college. He is frequently late, very unorganized, and unfocused on his goals. We feel that with the lack of these life skills he is not reaching his potential, and he will not have much success in college. We are looking for Prep schools that offer programs that will help this type of student. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that you may have. Thank you in advance.
A significant percentage of the PG slots at most boarding schools are reserved for students who are bringing a special skill or talent to the school, often in the athletic realm, such as providing them with a left tackle for the football team. If your son has a special talent, you might look in that direction to gain admittance. There are also schools, often military academies, that offer PG programs as a way to get a student’s grades up to gain college eligibility. But, that does not appear to be your issue. For kids like yours, community college or junior college may be a better way to start college because they can handle the work and the community/junior colleges do a much better job of staying on top of the students to make sure they do. After a year or two they can transfer to a flagship institution and receive his degree from there. Another option would be to plan for a gap year where he is not in school at all, but using the time to mature and gain life experience.
I feel that he needs to be on his own, and that is why we ruled out community college. People have suggested Bridgton Academy, as they focus on this type of student. They only accept 11,12, and PG students. As you mentioned,they enroll many athletes that have talented skills, but lack the academic skills to be accepted into Division 1 schools. They also accept students like my son, that are well-rounded, but just need an extra year to mature, and polish their life skills. That is one of the schools that we will be visiting. I am looking for similar school suggestions, as I don’t want to limit his choices. I am reaching out, as I am unaware of other schools that offer this type of curriculum,but I know they must be out there. He is a four year varsity athlete in two sports, but he doesn’t have the ability to play at the next level.
We have considered gap years, but I am concerned with having him take a year away from academics. He could also use some growth in math, and essay writing.
Are you full-pay? If so, search out the smaller schools which enroll PGs; many of those schools will always have room for another student who can afford the tuition and offer rolling admissions. Your son won’t need to be an athletic superstar. Schools like Marvelwood and South Kent; that’s in just one CT town! There are plenty of schools that might work for you.