<p>...In a private/prep school.</p>
<p>I think i'm basically on my own in this search, and I want to know what you guys think are important qualities in a school (obvious or not). I know that everyone has different things they look for, but I really could use at least a few points to look at/help me think of my own. I'd really appreciate it!</p>
<p>-college matriculation
-teacher-student ratio
-facilities
-geographic location (not as important)
-prestige (not as important, but some schools might give u a bit of an edge)
-academics</p>
<p>Thanks for replying so quickly. I forgot to mention that I don't think i'll be able to apply for any boarding schools (so location isn't as much of an issue, but still somewhat) but i'm thinking of a few things off of what you wrote.</p>
<p>you might also want to look at food; and environment (eg. is it more competitive academically or in sports? school unity/no cliques?) i also looked at the average SAT scores because i just use picky things like that haha
boardingschoolreview.com is amazing if you want to search up general information for each school; and it links to the school website for more info</p>
<p>some info on boardingschoolreview.com is wrong and outdated. only use it as a general reference.</p>
<p>Here are some things to look for in a school
- Average SAT score
- % of faculties with advanced degrees
- big number of EC's
- endowment (If you need FA, it's critical)
- matriculation, or however you spell it(it's 8 in the morning)
- # of AP courses (some schools might not have it as AP)</p>
<p>hope they helped.</p>
<p>If you are not planning to attend BS, is this Question for research?
We looked for High percentage boarding, high level math course offerings, interesting ECs, and geographical proximity.</p>
<p>After that we looked at the fit between the school's educational philosophy and ours. My D looked at whether she clicked with the students on campus and whether the classes seemed challenging with engaged students.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I'm not looking at boarding school anymore. :( but this still all helps a ton. Right now i'm at a complete loss as to what i'm looking for and this helps a lot.</p>
<p>instead of using boarding school reviews I use this website: <a href="http://www.petersons.com/pschools/code/psector.asp?path=hs.fas.private%5B/url%5D">http://www.petersons.com/pschools/code/psector.asp?path=hs.fas.private</a> its pretty up to date..</p>
<p>i think..</p>
<p>Also, another good starting place:</p>
<p>That Peterson's site was great. I have a list of 10 schools to call tomorrow, and a list of questions as well ask requesting info.</p>
<p>My current questions are:</p>
<p>-If the school offers/requires placement testing
-If the school accepts first year seniors
-What kind of art, music, athletic, etc offerings they have
-If they offer a day for me to "shadow" a student or a day to tour the school and meet with faculty, admissions, the principal
-The acceptance rate for the school
-The application deadline</p>
<p>Many of your questions can be answered on the web sites of the individual schools. I would check them out before bombarding a school with many easily answered questions. For example, only about 20 boarding schools in NE have swim teams.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have specific questions for each school I guess. Some websites were very helpful and i'm just going to ask for their basic packet, while others were really lacking and some I couldn't find/access at all. The deadlines/testing/interview stuff i'm going to ask over the phone, but i'm probably going to ask if they could include info on extracurriculars and things like that in the papers they send me. I have 10 schools to call so i'd prefer not to be on the phone all day.</p>
<p>I called today with the questions and got lots of helpful information, thanks everyone. I really like one of the schools, they offer a summer admissions test, the classes are very small and won't fill up quickly (or at all, so I can sort of take my time) and there are colleges both 10 and 15 minutes away so I can take college classes if I choose. :)</p>