My son and I are looking for boarding schools for him. With the help of people from my son’s school, this forum, boardingschoolreview.com, and school websites, we’ve got a list of 24 schools. (I think that’s the latest number.) My son is going to try contacting some alumni from his school who are now in boarding school. How else can we judge schools for fit? We can’t visit 24 schools. He is interested in East Coast schools, and we live in the Midwest.
For people who would like to recommend looking at or avoiding certain schools who haven’t seen my previous posts, here is some background info. My son is in 7th grade. He is a B student at academically rigorous day school. His grades are improving now that he’s getting help with executive functioning. He took the SSAT this January to see what it was like. He scored in the mid 80’s with math in the mid 90’s. He’s going to use a prep book to help him improve his verbal and reading scores, plus we both think that improving his vocabulary and reading comprehension will help him in non-math classes, especially literacy. He’s a laid back kid who wants to be challenged academically, but he doesn’t want a competitive environment. His interests include, math, more math, history, chess, violin, choir, soccer, volunteering, and math. He’d love to try new sports. His school has Harkness discussions for some classes, and he loves it. His teachers tell me he really shines in Harkness discussions. He wants a school that has math past Calc BC. He’d prefer fewer, longer classes, such as the block schedule at NMH. He prefers smaller schools. He has no hook and needs over >50% financial aid. He doesn’t care about whether a school is GLADCHEMMS, first tier, etc. Right now, his list has schools with SSAT averages of the 60’s all the way up to one that is 90. Three schools he’s interested in have no average SSAT listed.
Now that I have a pretty good profile of my son, I can just refer to it if I create other posts!
I would search on “fit.” There have been dozens of superb threads dissecting and arguing about “fit” over the past 3 years. You’ll see a constant tension around “fit” vs stats as the best way to select. My son reviewed 20+ schools online, but when we got down to visits, I think we looked at 7 schools and applied to 5. Good luck!
@ThacherParent I’m having difficulty finding those threads. The word “fit” brings up almost every thread. I’ll keep looking though. If you have suggestions for narrowing that search, please let me know. Thanks for your help!
I would say you should visit larger schools as well as small schools. Sometimes kids find they fit in better with a larger community. Also, visit schools in the Midwest, even if he thinks he likes the Northeast. Once you start visiting schools, you will be astounded by how your/his opinions might change.
@Periwinkle He has at least one Midwest school in his list. He’s had difficulty with finding Midwest schools with the math he wants. He also loves US History, so he’d really love the Northeast. He also has a few larger schools too. He thinks Lawrenceville has the best of both worlds with their house system. I agree with you about visits. It’s just hard to know which ones to visit.
@ThatcherParent Thank you for the link. I hope after reading it, I can get some ideas about keywords for other fit threads.
Just because your child is the one going to BS and not you does not mean that the fit doesn’t need to be right for the parents too. If you disagree with the school’s policies or major parts of its philosophy, it’s going to be tough on everyone. It’s likely that at some point in the 4 year period, something will happen that bumps you up against these. Since you’re co-parenting with the school in many ways, it’ll be much easier to work through these issues if you feel comfortable with their overall approach.
Putney school has a lot of what you describe… it’s pretty different and is definitely about fit. While you could glean some of that from looking at videos or reading the school’s mission. It won’t mean much until you are actually on the campus, and you would know very quickly if it’s the right place (or not My suggestion is try and visualize what kind of environment (you and) your son sees himself in, and see if that doesn’t narrow the search.
Off the top of my head, @PossiblePrepMom, if your son does not want a highly competitive environment, Lawrenceville may not be his best fit. There are other schools in the Middle Atlantic that, while still maintaining academically high standards, are known for being more collaborative environments. The George School in PA and St. Andrews School in DE come to mind, as does Peddie in NJ, among others (some of which are probably already on your long list!). In New England, there are so many options it can be a bit boggling. You may want to even narrow down to things like “proximity to an airport you can get to from your home hub” — not that such a consideration may be a major item, but it’s worth thinking about. We ruled out one school because not only was it a haul to get to, but there were almost no places to stay within a 20-minute drive.
I think @SevenDad’s story is worth a thorough read:
Fit is really only something you can tell by being on campus. Your question is more about narrowing down the field to get to the point where you are looking at fit. In this internet age it is both harder and easier. More difficult because you can learn of the existence of schools you might otherwise never have had to consider. Easier because you can get the answers to very, very specific questions without ever setting foot on campus.
At this stage, I would ask make a list of Must Have’s and Can’t Haves, and go through the schools that way. If he cannot stand the idea of all-boys, cross those off the list. If a school doesn’t offer the right math classes, out it goes. If he will only go to a school with block scheduling, figure out which ones have it and keep them, discard all the rest. If you need a direct flight or a particular driving distance, purge anything that doesn’t meet that criteria and keep the rest. Keep doing that until you get to a manageable number of schools to go deeper with tours, formal interviews, etc.
You might want to look at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson OH. Has math up to Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra. Smaller school. Healthy endowment size. Variety of class formats and teaching styles. Good soccer coach. Interesting use of Saturday schedule.
St. Mark’s sounds like a reasonable match. When we visited a few years ago I believe they mentioned implementing a block schedule in the future but I don’t know if that happened.
St. Mark’s sounds like a reasonable match. When we visited a few years ago I believe they mentioned implementing a block schedule in the future but I don’t know if that happened.
Is Berkshire School in MA on your list? It seems like it could be a good fit. They do a lot of harkened table and have math going to AP linear functions. I am a current student there so feel free to PM to get more details.
Berkshire and NMH both sound like potential fits. I would worry re Putney if he needs executive functioning help - it is very unstructured. NMH and Berkshire both offer some support for executive functioning type things if he needs more support beyond the already structured boarding school environment. NMH classes are nearly all discussion based which is why they have longer blocks and just 2 semesters. This was a huge advantage for my DD. NMH is also one of the more laid back BSs and the dorms participate in “Hog Olympics” and function somewhat similar to Lawrenceville’s houses. My daughter was in the same dorm all 3 of her years and formed a tight bond with the faculty. PM if you want to reach out - I know they offer linear algebra and number theory plus likely independent study options. For kids who need just a little support NMH is a good choice. Berkshire has a more robust support program that you apply to join. NMH has a very strong music program and is known for its many singing groups.
Re new sports, this is def possible at NMH on JV teams. My daughter made JV hockey as a newbie. Most varsity teams, however, are filled with recruits at most BSs and few kids move up from JV. Not usually an issue for kids who just enjoy playing and are not looking for sports scholarships.
I second @chemmchimney re NMH; my math kiddo loved that place. During one of our visits we spent some really good time with a couple of the math faculty. Afterwards kid said something along the lines of “I could see myself spending hours in this teacher’s office talking about math.”
I totally agree with @chemmchimney
Berkshire could defenitley be a good fit! They have some rlly awesome support and a really good math and science program. I am current student so feel free to PM for more info or questions:)
My suggestion is try and visualize what kind of environment (you and) your son sees himself in, and see if that doesn’t narrow the search.