<p>"It is my opinion, and opinions vary greatly on this board, that the greater the distance a student is from home, the better it is to have a high percentage of boarders."</p>
<p>I was just about to post the same thing!</p>
<p>We are from Colorado and have also been thinking over the boarding student percentage figure. We finally decided that a lower percentage would be acceptable for a school within driving distance, but for schools further away he would prefer a school with 80% or higher boarding. The more the better, but we don't want to eliminate any schools that might be an excellent fit otherwise.</p>
<p>After talking with admissions people at several schools, my son is also looking favorably at schools that have Saturday classes -- it seems like the day students stay more involved in the weekend activities when they have Saturday classes.</p>
<p>I also think it depends on the student -- some will have a greater difficulty with fewer students boarding (friends go home on the weekend, they don't, etc) and some will have no issues at all.</p>