<p>Lol - “My poop doesn’t stink”</p>
<p>@needtoboard it’s the harsh truth though… especially the parents. Don’t even get me started. I’m so glad to be leaving!</p>
<p>I hate it when you dislike something but you’re forced to do it.</p>
<p>@mrnephew: Me too. Doesn’t everybody?</p>
<p>My first post. My child is at a junior prep in Mass. There is not enough room in the dorm for all your shirts, let alone a mink coat. At my child’s school, they go on town trips and each student is given a specific amount of money(it’s on a card). Only through personal conversations would my child know that someone’s dad is a CEO of something. They are a close knit community. With study hall and testing, no one has time to be a snob.</p>
<p>@mathman1201 @mrnephew It’s like a huge popularity contest at my school… pathetic. Is it bad I blew off my graduation and stayed home because I didn’t want to see any of the people haha?</p>
<p>Perfectly logical. I would have stayed home too. </p>
<p>I remember being at Choate and seeing these two really snobby families and getting really turned off by the school (it was family weekend when I visited). Of course Choate is a great school with lots of diversity in all does of ways, but it can totally make an impact on the applicant, as after my interview I choose not to apply.
(Note: don’t think I don’t like Choate or that I’m dissing it I just had a bad first impression that really stuck with me. Choate rocks!)</p>
<p>@mrnephew To my defense, I was actually sick with liquid coming out of both ends. </p>
<p>^ you’re welcome for the image! =)) </p>
<p>That’s what happened to me too at Choate. It just felt so made over, like the campus and everything. Obviously that was an isolated incident, but even one thing like that kind of changes your image of the school.</p>
<p>My first post as well! I thought it’d be helpful to share what I’ve experienced regarding financial status and what not during my first year at BS. I go to a fairly laid back boarding school where there is no formal dress code, and so in terms of fashion, there was never a clear difference between the so called “rich kids” and those who were not as wealthy. Most students are content with hanging out with everyone else in the center lounge with old, grungy sweats. However, fashion is just one example as to how different financial situations may influence an individual’s BS experience. There were some people who liked to highlight their wealth, others who did not feel the need to speak about it. Those who did speak about their fortune were not very well-liked by many because that was all they spoke of. Luckily, at least at my school, there were not many who openly bragged of their family’s financial status. In short, most people you meet will be interesting, smart, and just as willing to learn as you. And the snobs? Well they’re just a small percentage that further the “diversity” of the school. 
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<p>@ boardingjunkie & mrnephew,</p>
<p>I thought the ugly display we witnessed in the admissions waiting room at Choate was an isolated incident; therefore, i hesitated before to name the school. We also had the same experience: admissions staff obsequiously fawning over a wealthy family/kid in plain view of all the other families/candidates. It was sickening. We were so turned off that s2 didn’t apply. Until that visit, it was his number one choice.</p>
<p>The fact that so many of us are experiencing the same treatment in the Choate admissions office must mean it’s the normal way of conducting business there. I realize that all schools court development cases, but other schools have the decency to do it discreetly.</p>
<p>In three years, I’ve never seen that behavior. Guess I’ll have to start hanging out in the admissions office and watch the show. ;)</p>
<p>Really, folks, if you were to hang around long enough at ANY school, you would find instances of SOME kind of behavior that you would find distasteful.</p>
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</p>
<p>…that you were all there on the same day?</p>
<p>The admissions office may fawn over the wealthy, but when the wealthy are at the school, they do not flaunt their wealth.</p>
<p>If we visited on same day, then the other posters will SURELY have remembered the fawned over family, bcs the mother was inappropriately dressed: really short black minidress, 6-inch heels, nearly waist-length black hair topped by a 60’s style motorcycle cap. Looked like she was going to a disco, bikers’ rally or Halloween party, rather than a prep school. I can describe the mother in detail bcs she appears in one of the campus photos I took. Whenever she stood up from her seat, everyone in the waiting room gaped, and there was a collective “OMG…”</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe I misinterpreted the actions of the admissions staff. Maybe they were not courting wealth but just wanted to gawk at the fashion show, too. Or maybe they just wanted to “manage” the spectacle, so the mother would not have to stand up in that outfit and corrupt 13 year boys. But I do recall that this family was not entrusted to a student tour guide like the rest of us riff-raff were. They received an adult guide. And they were courted a lot longer than we were, bcs S2’s friend was at the school earlier than we were, and friend’s parents remarked on the “display”. Everyone in the waiting room waited… and waited… and waited while we watched the AOs flutter around this family that was also seated in the waiting room. No fluttering around the rest of us, but then again, none of us wore our Halloween costumes to Choate that day.</p>
<p>Maybe the fluttering was just genuine, substantive interest on the part of the AOs. The loud educational consultant could be overheard describing how the boy was an author, a filmmaker, a humanitarian, a perfect student; therefore, we extrapolated from that that the boy probably cured cancer and rescued stray puppies, too. </p>
<p>I can barely remember our other school visits; there were no Halloween costumes.</p>
<p>In all fairness, we thought Choate was a nice school. But its admissions office ought to be fired or at least water-boarded for lack of discretion. </p>
<p>Wow! Really? I’m glad we weren’t there that day….
The AO at Choate seemed very interested in my daughter and was excited she was applying. He raved about certain aspects of her application and was genuinely engaged. We had an amazing experience with the admissions office at Choate. </p>
<p>We loved Choate as well and i found the admissions staff very professional. We witnessed no favoritism and we all sat and waited for our tour guides together. The families chatted amongst themselves while we waited. Perhaps it was a celebrity family GMT, as the woman you describe certainly doesn’t sound like your typical Choate alum! </p>
<p>It was a family from China along w their hired gun (an American educational consultant).</p>
<p>I attended a boarding school, and when I first brought my son to visit one I explained that many boarding school students are less aware of socioeconomic distinctions than their counterparts in affluent suburbs like our own. You see kids as they are, without knowing how big their houses are, or the fact that their father is CEO of the corporation where half of the community is employed. Yes, their are certain names that we automatically associate with great wealth. One of my classmates at boarding school had that name (hint: her grandfather was the Governor at the time, before he stepped in to replace a disgraced Vice President - this ages me, also). She was astonished that several of us received authorization to shop for graduation dresses with our mothers’ charge cards, saying “My parents would never let me use one of their charge cards.” She was probably the worst-dressed girl in the school, and did not conform to a single “preppy” stereotype. Another girl was as sweet and mousey as could be. She had a fairly ordinary Anglo-Saxon surname which nobody ever associated with the massive, multinational corporation that bore the same name (hint: hyphenated with another name). I only learned this later on, and many friends had no idea through our years at the school. There is much more diversity at most boarding schools than in affluent public schools, also. I think that I am far less intimidated by very rich people than I might have been otherwise, from living alongside them. Most boarding school kids are accustomed to rolling out of bed, and just dashing to morning classes. Some schools have strict dress codes, but at others the students live in pajamas (that certainly appeared to be the case at the school my sons attended). The rich kids don’t look any flashier in sweats and flip-flops than anyone else. </p>