The Boarding School Experience

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hey everybody!</p>

<p>I’m a new sophomore at a small New England boarding school this year and I wanted to share with the CC community my time thus far at my school. I remember how stressful the process was last year and how helpful the college confidential forum was for me so I thought that I’d talk a bit about my experience at my boarding school.</p>

<p>But first, a disclaimer about the boarding school experience. Your experience WILL differ from my own and will be shaped around such factors as the curriculum of your previous school, where you’re from, your ethnicity, your family’s income level, your personality, your sexual orientation, and many other factors that are NOT under your control. To be completely honest there is still a strong bias against certain groups of people at boarding schools.</p>

<p>I came to prep school from my local public school. To say the least, it was a pretty crappy school so I probably wasn’t the most prepared for prep school. I’m also on financial aid, which has colored my perception of things quite a bit. For me, the first semester was extremely difficult. I struggled almost daily and had a hard time adjusting to the academics, living away from home, and the school culture. I somehow managed to earn decent semester grades but not without working my butt off. </p>

<p>After midterms I felt more secure with my place in the school community and would often call this school my home. However getting to this point was really difficult. Adjusting to 6 day school weeks was hard, finding a group of people who I could truly trust took a lot of time, and I’m still uncomfortable with walking into the dining hall without a friend or two because people can be very cliquey.</p>

<p>There are definitely many benefits to attending a boarding school and many of them are pretty obvious. I’ve grown immensely from meeting students from many areas of the world, taking challenging classes with extremely intelligent people, and being surrounded by people with amazing talents. But the negatives also should be considered heavily. </p>

<p>The joke around school is that there are three things that you can strive for at boarding school: good grades, a good social life, or a good amount of sleep each night. However due to time constraints you can only reasonably attain two of the above.</p>

<p>There are many pros and cons to boarding school that should be weighed before sending in the contract in March / April.</p>

<p>And now some pieces of general advice to applicants.</p>

<p>Boarding school is NOT right for everyone. There are some people who whom boarding school is probably not the best option based on their previous preparation and their backgrounds.</p>

<p>Don’t believe everything they write in the view books or brochures. Boarding school is not a paradise, at least it is not a paradise every day or even many of the days you will be at the school. Most of the time it is a grind and it’s very stressful. You have to work hard all the time and it can be and will be very tiring. It’s all about time management. That is something that you will hopefully learn soon enough during your first year at boarding school.</p>

<p>People who are “different” aren’t completely accepted at some boarding schools. After talking to some of the gay students at the school, they say that they feel a strong bias against them at school. A girl in a couple of my classes who has a different sense of style is sometimes ostracized based on her clothing choices. And students who don’t fit the stereotypical prep school student mold may have a harder time fitting in at a prep school. As I mentioned there is definitely a strong bias against certain groups of people. </p>

<p>As you can see, I’ve had some very mixed feelings about the boarding school I attend. The grass is not always greener on the other side, however, there are many things that I wouldn’t want to change about my experience here thus far.</p>

<p>I hope my ramblings helped someone!</p>

<p>Thank you,
EnragedCamel</p>

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<p>Could you perhaps tell us the name of the school? (only if you are comfortable)</p>

3

<p>Thanks for sharing your experience. Very timely and thoughtful…</p>

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<p>“Could you perhaps tell us the name of the school? (only if you are comfortable)”</p>

<p>I’d rather not and I don’t think it should matter anyways. Not everything I wrote is true for all schools but I’m sure certain aspects of what I said can apply to most, if not all, boarding schools.</p>

5

<p>If I may ask, what do you consider “decent grades” at your school?</p>

6

<p>It depends on the person but personally I think that anything above a C+ is decent at this school. Other people are able to somehow maintain straight As, which to say the least is extremely difficult.</p>

7

<p>Oh wow. I’ve heard about the harsh grading before, but that will definitely take some adjusting to. Thank you for your response! :D</p>

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<p>Thanks @EnragedCamel - your post will help a lot of student survive the adjustment phase of Boarding School!</p>

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<p>Aww, thank you so much. This is totally helping me see your perspective!! Great post :)</p>