I know this is premature but I fear if I leave my competitive public school to attend boarding school, it will be much harder to achieve the same GPA. With this logic, would attending a top boarding school actually hurt my chances for college? Does anyone have experience leaving a highly ranked public school to attend a school of HADES quality? Did you see a noticeable difference in workload or grading? I understand that all top schools are rigorous, I just do not want to sacrifice my highschool GPA in addition to spending $200,000 if grades are going to be deflated and my public school offers many opportunities.
I think many top universities have long-standing relationships with some of the HADES schools so I think you will do well if you are a good student. I can say that at one of the HADES schools we visited, I was surprised to see just how many students were going to Yale – it seems like every other graduate. It wasn’t just Yale though, there were many other top schools listed as well.
While the matriculation statistics at many of the top schools are impressive, we have to remember that the admissions process cherry picks students who have already shown great promise. It also doesn’t account for the fact that they may or may not have gone on to ivies if they had attended their LPS, or the fact that many of the students who attend BS are legacy to the ivies.
I am starting to become doubtful of the process, that I am just the 80% of students who act as score boosters and tuition fillers and at the end of the four years gets spit out with debt…
Hi @LaxPrep,
Let me take a stab at answering some of your questions. I am a parent (not a student) of a child who left a highly regarded public school for a HADES school. I can speak from my perspective-- as a witness to my child. Since she just finished the college admissions cycle, I feel that I have some germane experience.
First, yes, her GPA went down. She was a 4.0+ student in PHS. At boarding school, it is very rare to get a 6 out 6 (that is how her school ranks). As a matter of fact, 1% of students leave her BS with a 6 GPA. So if it is strictly GPA for which you are focused, by all means stay in public. It is a reality.
But, competitive colleges (read-in elite) all know that. There are different standards for admissions from HADES. They expect the students to be strong, but not to achieve a perfect GPA.
The value in going to a wonderful BS, in my opinion, is in the education itself. My child can write much better than she did before she left. She can take courses of study that are not available in the local public school system. (BTW, our PS school is one of the best in the state. To give you some perspective, two of her PS classmates were admitted to Harvard.)
The coursework is more rigorous (except for advanced Mandarin and classes in the Arts). The students seem to acclimate to the coursework. My child had consistently taken 6 course per semester, with 5 classes as a requirement. So, she has take an extra course each semester and managed the workload. In many BSs, the students really do want to learn and so the classes are more engaged in discussion and feedback. She has found this motivating and rewarding. It can be fun and exhilarating to have a heated discussion about the topic at hand in class or at the dinner table. She has expanded her world view substantially. BS offers a more diverse population of bright kids and many are internationals. They tend to be progressive. From this momma’s perspective, that is all good.
When we interviewing colleges, most college AOs knew of her BS and it was generally well respected. My child is far more prepared for college (and life) than if she had remained at home in PS. It is expensive, but money well spent.
Your CC name is @LaxPrep. If lacrosse (or sports) is your thing, then that may be a bigger factor in college admissions that your GPA. My child is an athlete. (Back in the day, my college alma mater won NCAA in lax, so I remember the lax boys well.) In BS, you won’t have the chance to compete in year round club teams. My child no longer plays lax, her sport is another team sport, and this was an issue for my child, as she could only play club in the summers–in addition to play for the BS teams. Had she stayed locally, she might have had a better hook, from an athletic recruiting perspective, and might have been able to go to a school with a small Title IX athletic scholarship.
Are you familiar with the Athletic Index (aka AI)? With her grades and Test scores she had a very solid AI–even from BS. Her favorite Ivy League coach had no doubt in her academic credentials even though she did not receive all As in class.
She is going to a college that plays in Division 3–so no athletic scholarship :-(. When it came to looking at colleges, she was so much wiser and in tune with what she wanted b/c she had lived on her own and seen what was important to her learning and development.
The $$$ and lower GPA were well worth it from this momma’s opinion (my poor husband might disagree) as my child has received a top notch education–both in and outside the classroom.
Your response is not only informative but extremely thoughtful! Thank you!
You raise interesting points about the athletic dimension of attending prep school. As an athlete, would you recommend staying at LPS if I will get more field time or would you say that attending boarding school gave your child more exposure to and legitimacy when talking to college coaches even at the expense of less play time. I guess this goes back to my bigger fish in a smaller pond or smaller fish in a larger pond dilemma… Though I often fall within the top 10%, I will never be the smartest in a class or the best athlete on the field, which makes me worry about attending a school comprised of the best. I can only imagine it would lower my relative merit / value.
Also, at the end of the four years did you feel as if it was worth it? All the money, effort and perhaps sacrifice of a better GPA?
Excuse me if I sound too pessimistic In my posts. I believe part of my disillusion is coming from it being a dark rainy New England Sunday filled with school work and applications.
@LaxPrep, negotiating sports and high schools is very complex. Depending on the sport, and the child’s athletic ability, and their college aspirations, and other factors, there are too many considerations to boil down to a simple answer. I can say this… at the end of the day what was most important to myself and my child was that she receive a top notch EDUCATION. Our local PS is fine. Many people who don’t live in our town, say “Wow, you live in XYZ town, they have great schools!” And, our little house costs a lot more than some other communities b/c we live in XYZ with the great school system. :-; But, XYZ doesn’t hold a candle to the education available at some of the HADES. I loved some of my child’s teachers, and the principal at the local HS , etc. But, they don’t have the funds or resources or charter or mission to educate the same way a HADES school does. They rarely teach students to THINK. They need to appeal to a much broader population (even though something like 99% of the graduates of our local HS go to college and less than 1% are eligible for school lunch programs, aka underprivileged). In the HADES classroom just about EVERYONE actually wants to learn. Not just get good grades. They want to learn for learning’s sake. They want to be able to make connections and intellectual leaps and assimilate.
So yes, it was money well spent. It was worth the sacrifice. I would do it again.
Many boarding schools, especially HADES, have unbelievable stats on Ivy admissions. What they do not strip out is effect of legacy status and athletics on those stats. It is much harder at a prep school to compete against legacy and other special consideration applicants. Public school makes much more sense …we are not big believers in prep except for very specific circumstances.
You go to BS for the quality of the high school education, not for the college results. If you are a good student, your college results will be just fine no matter where you go. If you are targeting highly selective colleges, there is no guarantee of admission from any high school.
To me its about the package deal but all things must be considered separately to arrive at a conclusion. My child who is applying naively said to me in the beginning “Mom, I’m not certain that I will have a shot at valedictorian if I go to one of these schools.” I had to tell her no, that would not even remotely be possible but she would get opportunities she never thought existed. Regarding athletics, it seems to me that someone shooting for the big, big time in any sport would not consider a BS as the year round training necessary would just not be there in most cases. But, in reality just how many students actually fall into this category. For that player who cannot contribute to a varsity team right away, is s/he going to advance that much during the high school years anyway and be recruited? Probably not.
You shouldn’t go to boarding school with the expectation that it will improve or diminish your college placement chances. It might do ether, but more likely what it will do is prepare you better for college and open your eyes to college study possibilities you would never even have considered at home. You go to boarding school for the experience, the opportunities, the challenges, and the preparation for the rest of life that it can provide. Most of the time, the kids who were bound to get into Yale were going to be admitted there whether they stayed at East Podunk High or went off to Exeter.
As far as athletics are concerned, many times boarding school offers at least as much potential for a boost in college admissions as staying home and playing HS and club levels. The training facilities are available, right within walking distance. Many prep leagues play sports (especially lacrosse) at a level that will allow an athlete to display his or her talents to the satisfaction of college coaches
I think you go to BS for the value of the BS experience in and of itself.
Yes, elite boarding schools might send 10% or more of their kids to ivies, vs. something like 1% for all public. But that still leaves you with about a ~90% chance of not getting into an Ivy even if you do get into a HADES or GLADCHEMMS. And, as others have said, a goodly portion of the 10% were headed to Ivies no matter what, for one reason or another (hook, legacy, mega-wealth, genius).
IMHO, in terms of forming one’s character, networks and world view, going to an elite BS fro 14-18 may be even more valuable in the long run than going to an Ivy when you are already an adult. It’s just that the entire culture focusses on Ivies, and very few do/can consider BS.
I agree with all three moms (@CallieMom, @ChoatieMom, and @MAandMEmom). My daughter is applying with the clear understanding that she will be forfeiting her valedictorian status, GPA, and a nearly certain athletic D1 scholarship; that she will not have an opportunity to continue playing club year-round; and that her prospective BS varsity team, while good according to high-school standards, is light years away from the training she receives on a club level. She believes that it is all worth it, and so do we, for the reasons eloquently discussed by the three moms. We will see how it all plays out. Good luck to you!
