<p>Hey guys, I've been looking to apply to a couple HADES schools as well as some other pretty good boarding schools (milton, middlesex, etc.) I'm really wondering how these schools compare to a regular public school academically. Everywhere i look i see that it is "extremely challenging" but i don't really get a lot out of that because the only "extremely challenging" i know is from my public school, which is pretty hard but not horrible. I realize that this may not have a perfect answer because it is a hard thing to fully explain, but please try. I would like to know, in detail, the difficulty of these schools compared to your average public school. Use some examples if you can (time spent doing hw, etc. etc.) Thanks! :D</p>
<p>If you think your public school is extremely challenging maybe you shouldn’t be applying for boarding school (I’m not trying to crush your hopes though) I’m just saying</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s extremely challenging… what i meant to say is that i don’t exactly know what extremely challenging is because i only know the challenges of my normal public school which isn’t too bad for me.</p>
<p>For Exeter, I’ve heard, you’re lucky if you get 6-7 hours of sleep each night. The work in all of these schools are very rigorous, but it usually depends on how a student manages his or her time. Some people have also said a C in a top prep school like Exeter, Andover, SPS, etc. is equivalent to an A in a regular public school.</p>
<p>First of all don’t be discouraged by that first post. If you strive, to do your very best academically it’s fairly certain you will achieve good results no matter which type of school you attend.
That being said, Prep schools are known to be more rigorous and demanding academically, to prepare students for higher education. They also provide students with excellent facilities so, they can strive as much as possible. </p>
<p>However it isn’t always true that Prep school is better than normal public school. It just depends on which one you go to, and factors such as which courses they offer ( AP, IB etc.) As well as more subtle variables like matriculation data. At least I look at that to gain knowledge of what type of universities the schools graduates end up attending. Prep schools tend to usually yield better results.</p>
<p>To be honest I don’t know much about “HADES” schools and all that, however I do know that it is to be expected that prep schools provide a much more stringent workloads meaning more homework. That being said chances are the class rooms will be smaller, and the teachers will probably be more dedicated so this allows for more interaction, and possibly 1-on-1 time with them.</p>
<p>However one thing I am certain of is that these “HADES” schools are all very highly selective and very competitive. If you do get accepted, then you will be surrounded by driven, and ambitious students who are most likely high achievers. You WILL be under more pressure than in normal high school because I, assume you will want to stay within the top percentile of your grade.
Hope this helped</p>
<p>Although that’s not exactly what i’m looking for, it does help ease my nerves. What concerns me the most is that i’m afraid that top prep schools are full of complete geniuses . I am far from genius, but i am smart and a very hard worker. Thanks for the posts guys… i’m still kind of looking for that reply that’s coming from someone who’s experienced it all first hand or even went to public a couple of years and switched over to one of these schools.</p>
<p>Yeah insights would be interesting. I’ve read a lot about how it is extremely rigorous and the teachers expect only the highest calibre of work from students and push you to your absolute limits at these schools. Exactly what standard of work is expected and the difficulty to achieve that level can really only be answered from first hand students who’ve experienced it all.</p>
<p>Not everyone at boarding school is a genius. I felt there were two groups of people - those who were naturally bright and those who were smart, but worked hard. Teachers do expect a lot out of their students and have higher standards for quality of work. They expect students to put the time and work in. They don’t assign easy work because they know their students can handle more difficult material. They don’t assign a lot of busywork, but more homework that makes you think. They don’t assign too much because they know that students have other classes and are involved in extracurriculars. As long as you work hard you’ll be fine. Most students who complain about lack of sleep procrastinate or socialize when they work.</p>
<p>You can be naturally bright and work hard. “Smart” and “Naturally Bright” have the same connotations. So are you saying they are either “intelligent and work hard” or intelligent and don’t work hard"? I’m kind of confused.</p>
<p>I think sugerkim is trying to say that there is one group which is very intelligent and for whom school comes very easily in general, and then there’s the other group with is smart, but not quite as intelligent, however they work harder to make up the difference.</p>
<p>Sorry, I think of bright as being the top of the top of smarts. These are the kids who don’t need to study even in the most challenging classes and still get As. Boarding schools also have a lot of kids who are more average, but work incredibly hard to get mediocre grades. Boarding school will differ in difficulty depending on your intelligence and your working habits. While some kids are overwhelmed with the work, it’s not necessarily the norm.</p>
<p>Hopefullybound: You have your answer, even if you think you don’t. Not everyone at a prep school is a genius. Most of the students are smart and they work hard. If you are motivated enough to put in the hours studying and you like academics then you’ll be fine. What keeps most people from going to prep schools is a lack of resources. Middle class families might be willing to pull out all the stops to finance the best college that their kids can get into but middle class families can’t do that for both high school and college. If you have to opportunity to go to a prep school then you should grab it.</p>
<p>Pea that is very helpful. I think that i am just about able to fit into the smart category and i am an extremely hard worker. If what you say is true though, it sounds as if getting in is the easy part and paying is really the problem. Is that really the case? and I’m just wondering if anyone knows how the competition is for junior year… i am guessing that it isn’t as bad as say freshman year because all of the very good kids have already been accepted. I am part of a middle class family but everyone will be pitching in to help me (brother, grandparents, etc.) I really hope i can make it and do well… I haven’t been getting very desirable grades lately and 1st semester of sophomore year i am taking very hard courses to kind of prove to myself if i can handle a prep school or not. I will pretty much study my butt off with no distractions at all until the weekend… this will also kind of help me get a feel for the way i’ll be studying in one of these schools.I really hope everything turns out in my favor 
… I have a pretty good set of ec’s though so that’ll help… this isn’t a chance me thread so i won’t do this now lol. Thanks for all your replies everybody! But if anyone has switched from public to a top prep school… can you please give an insight on the difference between the two?</p>
<p>Note: I only attended one HADES school obviously, and I’m assuming that the other four are similar to the one I went to.</p>
<p>I did two and two, two years in a public school and two years at one of the HADES schools. (Sidenote: At most, if not all, it’s substantially more difficult to be accepted as a new eleventh grader. And by substantially I mean something like 20% as a ninth grader as opposed to 14% as an eleventh grader.) To be concise, it’s incredibly different, but neither is necessarily bad. Academically, there’s little comparison, and I went to a well regarded public school. </p>
<p>1) The students are far more driven than those in most public schools. As a sophomore, I took three honors classes, three AP classes, and one without leveling, and still people would come to class unprepared, unmotivated, etc. That doesn’t happen at the HADES, you WILL DO your homework and the difference is that most students actually want to get it done and to learn.
2) At HADES you’ll probably have less work to do. Now let me explain. At most public schools, they force the knowledge down your throat because they don’t expect you to learn it otherwise. This comes in the form of frequent graded homework assignments, worksheets in class, etc. At HADES, they expect you to do a lot of it on your own. So no more busy work, but you have to figure out what you need to do to absorb the material. I personally found that I had less work to do period, because I went from seven classes to five. However, the work was undeniably harder. Oh, and since all those busy work graded assignments are gone, tests are weighted more heavily.
3) There’s a lot more freedom in general. At public school, you’re expected to be in class or in study hall or in the hall with a pass, etc. At HADES, you’d better be in class, but if you don’t have class you can pretty much do what you want. Between classes, I’ve gone downtown, hung out in the library, slept on the lawn, gone back to my dorm, met a teacher for extra help, etc.<br>
4) Smaller classes. No hiding. This was really great for me, because at public school I would get bored and rarely pay attention. I’d get everything I needed to know from all the useless homework I had to finish. At HADES, you have to participate, the teacher will notice if you don’t. The discussions are also a lot better and more manageable with fewer people. The teacher also has more time to assist you if you’re having trouble. At public school, I never asked a teacher for help, and I can’t remember if I ever saw anyone doing so beyond quick questions in class. At BS, the teachers are always available and open to assisting you, from helping you work through a problem to going over your paper with you.
5) Speaking of papers, for me the biggest change in difficulty between public school and BS was in the humanities. Note: I may be a little biased, I’m a math/science person. But I found that math/science classes were pretty much the same, with a slightly more pronounced focus on problem solving rather than memorization. However, the humanities were rather different, largely due to the increased expectations in paper writing. I can’t even describe the difference, but any one of the HADES schools will teach you a ton about writing probably because you’ll be doing so much of it. For comparison, in public school I took history for two years and wrote one paper, about ten pages, with a partner. At HADES I took history for one year, and wrote about ten papers, four of which were ten pages or longer. A weekly or biweekly English paper is not uncommon and the foreign languages have frequent (though much shorter) papers as well. I also found no comparison between public school foreign language and BS FL. Coming into HADES I had four years of Spanish and got dropped back to Spanish 2 because they went through the grammar so fast. </p>
<p>I personally wouldn’t call HADES extremely challenging. Difficult yes, worked to the bone on a daily basis, not so much. To put this into perspective, I finished around the middle of my class (55th - 60th percentile). There were certainly geniuses running around, and there were people who had to work really hard to stay afloat, but the vast majority of people who get accepted can handle the work just fine. (Contrary to popular belief, not everyone at HADES has an IQ over 200 . Most people are excellent at a few things and not so good at others, or just all around decent and excellent at nothing. Chances are you’ll still be good at your favorite subject without too much effort. However, your ego will probably take a hit in subjects you’re not so good at now.) The problem is all five of these schools take people who feel that life just isn’t complete without that A+ and dumps them all in one place. Not everyone’s getting an A. I don’t consider myself a genius by any means and I don’t consider, with a few exceptions, the majority of my friends geniuses. But to be honest, we didn’t really work all that hard. We did the required work, studied some for tests, kinda vaguely learned how to manage our time, and did fine. If you are doing well with honors/AP level coursework at most public schools and you’re motivated you can probably handle HADES. However, don’t necessarily expect to be at or near the top of the class. If you want to be at the top of the class you’re going to have to work your butt off. I personally didn’t think all the extra hours of stress and work were worth the few extra points and I know a substantial number of people who agree, but a lot of people don’t and competition at the top can be fierce. </p>
<p>As a sidenote (I just realized how much I use that word), I think you’ll be fine, provided you get in. If you can figure out how to study on your own you’ll be more than set. I think that’s what a lot of people have trouble with, forcing themselves to manage their own time while living with their friends. Boarding school is like a 24/7 slumber party, except it’s possibly the lamest one ever, considering all the work you have to finish. There will always be distractions and you’ll have to learn to work around them. The teachers will expect a lot, but it’s far from unreasonable and you’ll really grow as a student. Despite the work, increased expectations (which I HATED in English), and learning to “manage” my time, my two boarding school years were by far my favorites.</p>
<p>I can’t think of anything else at the moment, but if I do I’ll add it. Feel free to ask more questions or PM me.</p>
<p>Tapper - that was one of the best posts I’ve ever read in the prep school secyion of CC. Very helpful! Thank you!</p>
<p>I agree. Thank you.</p>
<p>It depends what public school you are talking about. Like for instance, the public school near my house lets you take AP classes and pre-cal or cal as a freshman. It is rather challenging, and you’ll probably end up taking more ‘AP’ classes than @ HADES. However, Ivy League’s give preference to HADES. Harvard gives preference to the Cambridge area, Boston area and New England Prep Schools. Also, on the Yale website, it says that “a student from a less distinguished school w/good grades and HIGH SAT scores, will be comparable to a student from a ‘distinguished’ school with good grades and MODEST SAT scores.” So HADES I think would be a great choice. But I’m a little biased since I’m going to Andover. So evaluate your choices and decide which one is best for you!</p>
<p>Linds819 and Old1: Thanks, that’s high praise.</p>
<p>ckdnharvardgirl: That’s great that the public school near you allows students to do that. I know that my school not only would not allow students to try to accelerate themselves during the school year, but also actively discouraged taking classes over the summer for advancement. I was the last one who was allowed to receive credit for a summer course. There is now a policy against it. In my experience, there are far more public schools that would prefer you pass the standardized test and shut up than ones that genuinely encourage initiative like you describe. Sure, my old school looks great on paper, they win awards and the academic teams do pretty decently. However, that is due far more to the initiative of the students than anything they are teaching. Your local public high school may be challenging, I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter, but I think you are misleading others when you say that people there will most likely take more AP classes than at HADES. First of all, even if true, AP classes are NOT the be all, end all, despite what stressed out future Ivy applicants think. Had I completed school at my public high school I would have graduated with 9-10 AP credits. I went to HADES for two years and graduated with 6. At public school, I would have taken random AP classes I didn’t care about, because there was nothing else for an honors/AP student to take. Instead at HADES I took things like Organic Chemistry, Multivariable Calculus, and Linear Algebra my senior year. I was able to delve deeper into things I cared about and Orgo with Mr. Maq was far more difficult than any AP class I’ve ever seen. Second, although I admit I don’t know your school, I very much doubt that all things being equal (such as average number of courses taken per year) that a HADES student who wished only to pack their schedule with AP courses would take fewer than a student from public school. HADES offers a ton of AP courses, way more than almost every public school I’ve seen, but they also offer a ton of other advanced courses many far beyond AP level, so you’re not forced to pack AP classes you don’t care about into your schedule. However, nor is this the be all, end all. I thoroughly agree that each student needs to evaluate whether a HADES school is right for them.</p>
<p>I would love to see citation on the quote from Yale. Whether true or not, I’d be shocked if they admitted it. Unless Harvard has explicitly stated, similar to your Yale quote, that they give preference to those regions, there is absolutely no way to draw that conclusion. Each of those can be explained by numerous other factors. For example, Harvard admits to giving preference to children of faculty members. Faculty members who are most likely to live somewhere in the Boston area, including Cambridge. They are also far more likely to send their kids to a top school, such as HADES. There are many factors involved in the college admissions process and it is impossible to say whether applying to a top university from HADES helps or hurts the applicants. There is convincing evidence from both sides. One camp thinks the excellent college counseling, all the courses and various opportunities offered, etc. help the applicant. The other camp thinks that the students accepted from HADES would have gotten accepted from any high school they attended and that the large concentration of excellent applicants in one place hurt them. This camp also tends to subscribe to the idea that for some schools it is significantly harder since there are a number of students with hooks (such as legacies) in the pool and that there are not enough spaces left for people who would have gotten accepted had they gone elsewhere. There’s just no way to validate either side, since we have no way of knowing if the students would have been accepted from a different high school. I personally think that overall, the effect of HADES is neutral or slightly positive, but it may help or hurt the individual applicant.</p>
<p>
and add third group of legacies</p>
<p>My d felt that her school was not better than what her friends said local PHS was. She did have smaller classes and more homework; but some of her teachers were new and maybe not as qualified as at our school. Note not all PHS are equal. Ours has = number of IVY acceptance as HADES (but out of over 1000, so not same %).</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see her comparison after a year. But I, too, liked Tapper’s note. Because of funding, Math and Science are pushed in PHS - humanities suffer. </p>
<p>Our Marching Band is ranked in top 5 in the Country - No comparison to PS. But, we don’t have Lacrosse, etc.</p>
<p>I have not “pushed” her either way. I was against BS (rich kids whose parents want to go skiing, etc) until I visited them with her and then was all for them, esp the small class with Harkness tables. But I think Basis HS or Univ HS in Tucson are probably as good as the HADES (some things better, some worse)</p>
<p>Princess’Dad- it also depends on the district and part of the country you are located in. </p>
<p>for example, i live in a middle class city. medium sized, not many really rich, and not many really poor. my school is decent. not that many adavanced courses compared to a boarding school, but not falling apart. some of the kids are driven, some of the kids aren’t. some of the teachers are horrible, some are fantastic. but does it compare to a boarding school education? not even close.</p>
<p>but one of my friends lives in an inner city. her school has barely enough funding and the kids do not care about academics in any way shape or form. not many people graduate from her local high school. however, she was lucky that her city created a gifted and talented school system, so she could attend school with kids who cared about academics. </p>
<p>so my friend, who is finicially worse off then me, actually is recieving a close equivalent of a boarding school education, whereas i am recieving a medicore education. it all just depends on where you live.</p>