Questions About Boarding Schools: Who to Contact and What to Ask?

Prep School Admissions
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Hello everyone!

I’m currently applying to boarding school, and I have a few questions. I’m hoping you can help me figure out who I should contact at these schools and what kind of questions I should ask. Here are a couple of specific areas I’m interested in:

Music: I’m a strong violinist and passionate about music. Should I reach out to the music director or department for information on music programs, ensembles, and opportunities for advanced musicians like me? (I already did contact some of the schools last year when I applied but I’m not quite sure if it was a good idea, but I think for some schools it was)

Math Lover: Math is another area where I excel at. I’m interested in math competitions and joining a math team. I already did math team and other math related competitions and placed and scored really good on those (Top 1% nationally on the AMC). Should I get in touch with the math teachers or a math coordinator to learn about math-related extracurriculars and academic opportunities at the school? (I also contacted some of the math teachers at some schools last year but same thing here)

I appreciate any advice or guidance you can provide on who to contact and what to ask when reaching out to these boarding schools. Thanks in advance!

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In all instances *, you ask questions of admissions. If they feel it would be beneficial to speak with a specialist, they will direct you.

  • with the possible exception of athletics. And then only if they have a contract procedure listed on the athletic site.
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Oh alright, I didn’t know that. Thank you!

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Hi sorry, I was just wondering if you would advise students to contact faculty members and such on their own per their interests and what they are good at? For example, if I excelled in art, could I contact someone in the English or art department and send them my portfolio? Thank you!

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I refer you back to my earlier post. You should contact admissions. If they think there is merit to contacting faculty, they will provide a contact name.

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In addition to @skieurope, I would also take a close look at their website and any other online material you can find (ie. student newspaper or blog). The website will probably answer some of the questions you have. For things like math competitions, you can probably get a sense if the school both 1. supports those endeavors and 2. has competent students in those departments by the school’s blog post or equivalent. If they perform well, it will probably be posted somewhere.