<p>Should prestige be a factor when you are choosing a school ? college etc ? </p>
<p>For instance if you get into both the HADES school and a school that fits you better but is not as well regarded say St.Andrews where would you go and why ?</p>
<p>If say I had to choose between Harvard and Princeton (though both are widely known in some random village in Africa people are more likely to have heard of Harvard than Princeton) where should I go if I think that Princeton's small class sizes and awesome Professor (Krugman, Cornell West need I go on) suits me better? (though of course Harvard has its fair share of awesome Professors Gergen for instance). What would you do ? </p>
<p>You can survive in both schools and one is only a slightly better fit than the other but the worst fit is more prestigious what would you do ?</p>
<p>Prestige can be a factor if it's important to you. Everything depends on the applicant. Princeton is better at some things and Harvard is better at some things. One school is not universally better than another, so it depends on other factors. I think any info you find should be a factor in your decision, the more info you have the better equipped you are to make a good decision =)</p>
<p>I'm a senior, and I'm applying to college these days. As a matter of fact, I'm stuck home and writing last minute college essays that's due tonight right now. One valuable lesson I have learned through this admission process is that prestige has little correlation with the quality of education. Those two elements could be relevant to each other in some cases, but just because Cornell is an Ivy does not mean it's a better school that say... Swarthmore, a small liberal arts college whose name is less well-known on the street. </p>
<p>But boarding schools are a different world. Boarding schools are fundamentally prestigious things on their own, like it's an opportunity that is rarely given to everyone or the majority of the population, unlike college. Don't you realize that they are ALL prestigious - whether it be Groton, Andover, or St. Mark's school? </p>
<p>One thing that I have learned is that just because you go to Exeter, you will not all end up at Princeton and Harvard.
Actually what I'm about to tell you right now may sound a little cheap, but I'm speaking of this wholeheartedly from personal experience of me and my friends. The easier high schools you go to, it's easier to get into good colleges. Seriously, it's much easier to nail down A's at Holderness than if you were at SPS. At some of these best boarding schools, because of the grade deflation, the best average grade is B+.</p>
<p>Fit is overplayed...these boarding schools aren't THAT much different from each other that you would LOVE one or HATE another. Unless of course you hate how Andovers huge and feel likes its "sink or swim", I can understand that sort of "fit" examples. But most is just crap...you just happened to get a tour guide you liked at one school over the other or just happened to meet that super nice kid walking to class that stopped and said hi.</p>
<p>I don't need anyone to tell me that it's hard to get as much time with counselors or have someone watching over you when over 1.000 people are in your highschool. It seemed obvious to me that you either do great their...or you get left behind simply because of the share size. May not be true, but seemed like a logical assumption to me (considering these are some of the top schools in the world).</p>
<p>But ya im not saying base everything on prestige...I'm just saying this "fit" stuff is a little harder to find than people make it seem. Don't base everything on prestige (Cuz im not), but its a definitely a factor. You shouldn't even be applying to the school if you can't see yourself there so I don't see whats so bad on basing value in a name. We all do whether intentionally or unintentionally</p>
<p>I don't know how you would sink at one school any more than another? If you fail at andover/ have no friends, it's going to be just as bad as it would be at a small school. </p>
<p>I don't think you can judge whether a school is sink or swim solely on the size of it's student body.</p>
<p>I don't think you understand me. If a kid is failing a class or finds something hard at pomfret...he has around 70-80 kids in his class. Everyone knows each other..its small, he has an easier chance of having a long in depth talk with his counselors. The counselors have no problem walking to his math teacher and having an in-depth conversation about him. Its a smaller community...easier to get caught before you screw yourself over at these competitive boarding schools.</p>
<p>At most every boarding school you live with the teachers, your friends, and have a advisor. That's a lot of support right if you need it. I still don't see why a counselor at andover couldn't do the exact same thing your talking about. It's not like there's a lack of faculty, 5 students to one teacher, that's plenty of personal attention.</p>
<p>Alright istoleyournose .... w.e. Yes people get attention, but no one at Andover has the time to baby someone, you grow up quick when you look around and don't see your parents. And frankly ...most people don't need that, they know how to seek the necessary help. But as much may not think it, there are kids at andover or any big school that let the pressure get to them and after that you just can't function. You look around and there's 250 peers seemingly doing just fine. </p>
<p>Im just explaining to you why it has the reputation as a sink or swim school. I didn't just make this up out of the blue. Not saying I agree whole heartedly with this, but it makes sense...and very logical. One of the knocks on the more prestigious big academies.</p>
<p>All boarding schools are like that, in that your parents aren't there. I just don't see the connection between student body size and how nurturing a school is. </p>
<p>P.S- Since we most likely won't change eachother's minds wanna just shake hands and let the argument die?</p>
<p>Not so poss791. If you get all A's at an "easier" school, the colleges do realize this. The more academically rigorous schools are known and respected for their difficulty and students can get into excellent colleges from these schools with lower grades than would be acceptable from the "easier" schools.</p>
<p>Yes, Andover has 1000 students. But, your advisor only has 6-8 students and lives with you. Some dorms have less than 10 students, and your classes will gnerally be less than 14 students. I understand why some may say it is too large. Before our student went there, I had those concerns as well. Now that she is there, they have been dispelled. I feel that everyone is warm, welcoming and supportive. So, please don't prejudge.</p>
<p>Just one adult's opinion....your experience may vary, of course! :)</p>
<p>I'm not pre-judging, Andovers my first choice because frankly I don't really need a "nurturing" school. I was simply stating something that someone might say against Andover in relation to fit. I would have easily pulled out a negative stereotype of any other school for the sake of a juxtaposition to all negative "fits" talk that goes around here.</p>
<p>Nothing against Andover or big schools, their my favorite.</p>
<p>Do I sense a revolution against fit in the works ? </p>
<p>Basically I do believe in some types of fit. For instance when choosing a school I would loook at what school is the best at the academic subjects I enjoy - for instance if i wanted to work in the UN perhaps I would consider a school with a large and varied language program that also excelled in debate, YMUNS and things of that nature. </p>
<p>If I wanted to become a physicist perhaps I would consider a school with a strong science programs as well as a strong maths program that gets involved and does very well at physics olympiads.</p>
<p>If I wanted to work towards becoming a business man perhaps I would look for a school with a very strong economics/ management course that offered business experience and had the connections to get me ahead in the game. </p>
<p>If I wanted to become a professional footballer I choose a school with the best footballl program that could help me finesse my skills but could also teach me other things just in case I fall short of my goal. </p>
<p>So I think it is incorrect to say that "fit" does not exist. It certainly does and is incredibly important when it comes to the type of "fit" i mentioned above. </p>
<p>As for the size of the school that is a bit more controversial. Personally think that there is a difference between a 300 student school and a 1000 student school no matter what the advisor/faculty to student ratio is. They are just not the same thing. Both have their advantages and disadvantages though. At a bigger school you can get a wider variety of people to do more things. So for instance if you joined some obscure club at a large school you could probably find 10 or so people like you whereas you would be unlikely to do so at a smaller school. On the other hand a smaller school almost by definition has a stronger sense of community since everyone more or less knows everyone else. You are extremely unlikely to leave that school without being relatively good acquaintances with everyone at the school. Which is significant because when it comes to networking the strength of the bonds between schoolmates is just as important as the power each individual school mate attains. So the large to small divide does matter. Though being a large school is not necessarily a bad thing - it depends what you want. Lets face it if you want to end up at a place like Harvard its going to LARGE as in a single class at Harvard is as large as the entire student body of a large and a medium school combined. So it depends on the individual really. </p>
<p>Personally I see the school size like this</p>
<p>Let me divide them by HADES + GC
Below > 500 is small</p>
<p>You understood me wrong. My point wasn't about comparison between some random easy public school and famous private school.
When it comes to college admission, the difference between Holderness and SPS is quite subtle. Both their school profiles will describe their institutions private boarding in New England. Obviously those of us in this forum will instantly recognize that SPS bears more prestige and rigor in academics, but when college admission officers???? I don't think they hardly care when the majority of total applications will be from huge urban public schools. But it tends to get easier to nail down A's at like NMH, Westminster, and Kent than say, Andover. You see what I'm saying??</p>