<p>Unfortunately, either your interviewer was misleading or you misinterpreted what he/she said. Someone from Exeter will undoubtedly be accepted to any college on your list. However, for a given student there are no promises - certainly not “you can go to any college you want.” At all the top preps on April 1 (roughly the Ivy admissions date) there are many students that are ecstatic and many that are depressed. “Only” 1/3 or so will soon be using Ivy + SM email addresses.</p>
<p>Fortunately, most of those that are depressed because they didn’t get into their dream school ultimately realize that they’ve been accepted to some outstanding schools where they can have a rewarding college experience - but they have to get over the “I came here to get into Harvard” mindset first. Last year I looked at the Andover matriculation stats and 2/3 of the graduates went to top 25 (using USNWR ratings, which are certainly open to debate) universities or LACs. Almost every student went to a top 50-60 school or its international equivalent. There are many outstanding schools on that list that don’t happen to play in an 8 team northeastern collegiate sports league.</p>
<p>*No matter what your interviewer said, that should never be the reason you choose a school.<a href=“referring%20to%20college%20placement”>/I</a></p>
<p>Do you really mean this? It certainly shouldn’t be the only reason one chooses a school, nor should it be the most significant reason. But to claim that it should never be the reason seems somewhat strange to me. Sure, if you’re choosing between Exeter and Andover, don’t worry about any slight differences. Even if choosing between St. Paul’s School and another excellent school with an excellent college placement record but one that is clearly not as good as St. Paul’s, you probably shouldn’t focus on the relative records too much. If you graduate from either school, your personal performance will be the primary determining factor in where you attend college. But at some point, the differences in college placement do indeed make a difference and you should take notice.</p>
<p>In fact, I’ve done some analysis of the relative college placement records (I’m a math-type person) of the schools to which my son is applying in order to gain some insight. This is particularly valuable for us because he’s applying to 3 distinct sets of schools: NYC private schools, one boarding school, NYC select public schools. I haven’t finished yet, but some of the results look interesting so far. This analysis will certainly not be the primary factor in any decision yet to be made, but it will definitely be taken into account.</p>
<p>College placement IS a selling point of many prep schools although they don’t want to define the successful college placement as sending all their students to Ivies. Now this is a bold —: The reality is that if being told they had NO chance for an ivy four years down the road half of the top prep school freshman families would pull their students out and send them either back to their PS or a local school, where they could be shining stars. (edit: that is, if they belive they’d have a better shot there. Sometimes the prep school is already the last resort for some families’ ivy dreams.)</p>
<p>xxxFutureIvyxxx, boarding school life is very different than public school. Living away from home changes many aspects of a student’s life. My kid really enjoys living in dorms, and the very active, busy lifestyle which is possible when you board.</p>
<p>As a parent, I appreciate the relative insulation from the surrounding culture, which the boarding school schedule imposes. St. Mark’s has mandatory study hall, so the students can’t watch t.v. from 7:30 to 9:30. As they live in the dorms, a certain percentage of time must go to eating, showering, doing laudry, etc. They do “hang out” in common rooms, but they aren’t glued to the “boob tube.” They might watch movies on DVD in the common room, but they’re watching in groups. </p>
<p>It may be a subtle point, but I think it is more healthy for teens to be interested in the latest “inside jokes” and happenings on campus, than to be overly interested in whatever Hollywood’s decided to push this month.</p>
<p>My child’s also said that everyone at her school has something they’re really good at, or very interested in, and that they’re a nice group of kids. From my visits to campus, and talking with my child, I don’t think that there are many (if any) students who are just drifting from day to day.</p>
<p>College placement? Well, as you don’t know all the confounding factors in a student’s admission to “elite colleges,” however that’s defined, it’s impossible to separate out any school’s relative influence on college placement. I recommend The Price of Admission, for examples of factors which can influence admission.</p>
<p>I must say, I enjoy this site, because I feel like such a laid-back, relaxed person, in comparison to other parents and posters. For us, boarding school provides our child with a more challenging academic program (no, our high school is not on the Newsweek “best high school” list.) </p>
<p>Maybe a student who’s in the middle of the pack at a boarding school would have been a shining star at their local public school. Maybe. However, will the local public school prepare the shining star to thrive in college? Many local stars arrive at an elite university, to encounter the shock of not being top of the heap.</p>
<p>Benley, for us, I would define the question in a different manner. At boarding school, our children may not gain admission to an Ivy, but we know that the school will do its best to prepare them to thrive at a challenging, selective college. As many parents do care about college admissions, the boarding schools also care about college admissions.</p>
<p>At our local public high school, many bright students have no chance of admission to an elite school, from the first day of 9th grade. Access to challenging courses is restricted, due to a mixture of finances and philosophy. </p>
<p>I’m not one of the “Harvard or Bust” parents, but I was not willing to say, when my child was in 8th grade, that I didn’t care about college admissions. Our local public school does not publish matriculation lists, but I know enough parents of graduating seniors to know that it isn’t that impressive, given the town’s demographics.</p>
<p>Padre13 your the one that was mislead. I won’t try to explain what I wanted to say to you…there would be no point.
That being said, at least you tried.</p>
<p>urbanflop, what part of Padre13’s words do you think is misleading? Although she stated that you were either misled or misunderstood what the Exeter inteviewer said to you, she was actually pretty “positive” about top boarding schools’ college placement prospects. She concluded - based on the analysis of Andover’s matriculation data - that out of a graduating class of 300 students, 1/3 can go to ivies+SM and 2/3 can attend top 25 schools. Now, what she said is actually closest to (or the next best thing to) what the Exeter interviewer told you, which is “you can go to any college you want”. I think you would agree too that the interviewer couldn’t have meant literally that you - ubanflop yourself -can designate a college now and then will certainly attend that college coming out of Exeter. She must’ve meant that for Exeter graudates any college is probable because of the training you receive at Exeter, the readiness for college, and the school’s reputation. It is however not a garantee for “any college” (especially if it’s an ivy) you want. Agree?</p>
This is what the interviewer meant, but Padre didn’t say that. He started giving me the exact data on the matriculation of Exeter graduates. That’s the reason I was saying he was mislead…</p>
<p>i go to a competitive public school with 2000 students (ranked silver medal by Newsweek or something like that). if i had to do it all over again, i would NOT go to a public school. my p.s. experience has been more about ensuring that the worst-performing students meet standardized test score requirements set by the state, not about facilitating the success of the school’s brightest students. my counselor and the administrators hardly know any of the students.</p>
<p>bottom line: i have had ZERO help (in both academics and college placement) from my public school. my advice: go boarding, or at least private/non-boarding</p>
<p>My son is hoping to get in to either Groton or St Pauls. I recently spoke to a friend who has a son graduating from Milton. He was convinced that if he had to do it over again he would have had his kid attend a middle of the pack boarding school where he would have been an academic star. Better to be a top student at Brooks than a middle of the pack student at a HADES school. I think there is more to it than that but I have heard the argument many times. My sons best friend has remained in our terrible local public because his parents are convinced he is better off being the best our in our small town when it comes to college.</p>
<p>It’s my feeling that if the primary reason you’re sending your child to a top boarding school is Ivy admission, you should be reasonably confident he or she will finish in the top 30% of the class (or thereabouts). If, like me, you’re less concerned about the specific college admission, but believe that the high school years are the most important educationally, where all the habits and love of learning are set and nurtured, then the bottom 25% of a top boarding school is better than nearly any public school. It’s the unmatched depth and quality of the peer group and faculty that makes an excellent boarding school the golden opportunity that it is.</p>
<p>I also divert from my fellow CC’ers and believe that any of the top 20 boarding schools on Boarding School Review (sorted by lowest acceptance rate) provide similar educational benefits and college admission prospects. Do the top ten schools have kids with slightly higher SSAT’s who test better than the next ten schools? Sure. Will that help in college admissions? Sometimes. Maybe. Probably. Not necessarily. Take your pick. </p>
<p>After listening carefully to the flood of arguments on this site that parse statistics to “prove” that the HADES schools do the “best” job at Ivy admission, I just can’t get myself to care that much or believe in the underlying argument that Ivy admission is the brass ring that it’s touted to be. If I had the opportunity to send my child to a Middlesex, St. George’s, Taft or Peddie and knew that he or she would be in the bottom 50% and end up at say, a quality state school, I would still choose boarding school any day of the week. </p>
<p>I only care about one thing and that’s getting the best possible education for my high schooler. I want to end up with a kid who speaks and writes well, who is curious and loves to learn, who has great work habits, who is an independent spirit, and who values and gravitates to others who value these same things: in love, in business, and in life. Stop sweating the small distinctions that only people on this site care about and remember that it’s about your son’s education, not about his college admission. That will take care of itself in the way that it’s meant to.</p>
<p>I went to boarding school and loved it, but I ended up at a big public university. My kid went to a great public school and loved it and ended up at a top LAC. The reason to go to a prep school is NOT to get into a great college, but for its own sake. You’d be surprised at how many kids from Exeter and Andover end up at UNH or UMass. THere’s nothing wrong with that, but if your goal is a great college, just remember that they can’t fill their WHOLE classes with Andover kids.</p>
<p>Check out this new research about college placement in boarding schools done by a CC member: [Boarding</a> School Stats : Matriculation Stats](<a href=“matriculationstats.org”>matriculationstats.org) The good thing about it is that it goes beyond the Ivies and covers up to 80% of the top schools and about 30%-50% of the lower tiered schools’ study body.</p>
<p>The above post was just FYI (i meant to say “student body” not “study body”). I should’ve mentioned that I agree with Palabane that a quality high school education has its own values and cannot be judged solely by college placement.</p>
<p>I have the same dilemma… My public school has really good academics and athletics and things of that nature, but at the same time, I still really yearn to go to a boarding school…I think that I want new experiences and meet new people, and I am willing to accept the work…but now I am doubting that those reasons are good enough.</p>
<p>well with the bad economy and all that public schools are losing tons of budget money which means programs are being cut. private bs schools dont really cut programs usually unless there isnt enough participation. at a public school kids go because the law requires them too, but at private bs most kids go becuz they want to learn and not fool around during class. these are some points i considered when choosing to apply to a bs since i go to public school now</p>
<p>My public school is okay, but as I’m getting older, my school is running out of classes for me to take. I think that if your public school is challenging enough for you, you might as well stay there. You can always challenge yourself more by joining extra clubs or taking harder online classes.</p>