<p>I'm so glad College Confidential added a forum for Boarding Schools. I've skimmed through a few of the threads and have been hard-pressed to find many, if any, alumni posts. (I suppose the most recent alumni would be posting in the college forums at this stage.)</p>
<p>Anyway, I am a boarding school alumnus, though I am a Californian who attended The Thacher School in Ojai, CA. I mention this because the prospect of attending high school away from home is mostly an East Coast phenomenon; I wouldn't too surprised to find that the majority of posters in this forum hail from this area and have their aspirations set on various schools located in New England. Additionally, Thacher, while sharing many similarities with Andover and Exeter, certainly distinguishes itself as a "Western" school.</p>
<p>For this reason, I'll try to focus on the aspects of boarding schools that are, more or less, shared by all schools. Should another alumnus find my descriptions inaccurate, feel free to chip in.</p>
<p>Firstly, I think it's important to debunk the myth that boarding schools are academically superior to private day schools or public schools. Given the rigor of the former, it's tempting to believe this is so, but I wouldn't invest $30K-$40K a year for this reason. The truth is, you can get a great education anywhere you go, and if you're smart, you'll succeed in any setting.</p>
<p>Why go to boarding school, then? Well, in my opinion, the reason you go to boarding school has almost nothing to do with the daily routine of going to class or even the class itself, but rather, the academic community that surrounds you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At boarding school, it's cool to do well in school and even begin living "the life of the mind," which manifests itself in the day-to-day interactions with students and faculty alike. By contrast, this is not guaranteed at your local high school, and will depend greatly on your chosen group of peers, may they "make you or break you."</p>
<p>It's not all perfect. Boarding schools protect you from the "outside world," which is both a good and a bad thing- a necessary evil, I suppose. Given that many students come from affluent (and thus, sheltered) backgrounds, the common perspective on campus is a little idealistic, a bit naive. This isn't to say that day school students are necessarily more mature than boarding school students- they're not- but they do confront certain realities that are generally absent from the boarding school experience. (While some boarding schools have issues relating to drugs and eating disorders, other aspects of teenage life such as teen pregnancy, gang violence, drinking and driving, and even teenage suicide were virtually nonexistent in my experience.) Understandably, college comes as a huge culture shock to many boarding school graduates.</p>
<p>That said, the traditional cliquishness and popularity contests that seem to dominate social life at most American high schools are not nearly as pervasive at boarding school. (I would go so far as to say "not present," but that's a matter of opinion.) Given that most boarding schools cap their enrollments in the lower triple-digits, students are literally forced to associate themselves with many different types of personalities, sometimes the entire student body. Black kids hang out with white kids, poor kids hang out with rich kids, girls hang out with boys (I mean this in a platonic sort of way), Freshmen hang out with Seniors, and teachers hang out with students. While boarding school certainly isn't "diverse" in the common understanding of the term, the fact is, students of different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, religious, and geographic backgrounds interact with one another and it totally works. There's no "cool or uncool" or "us vs. them" mentality. </p>
<p>Lastly, I think the "$120K shortcut to Ivy League acceptance" is the wrong approach to boarding school, for both applicants and parents. While boarding school fosters a community that encourages success, my feeling is, a day school will more readily hand you a straight A report card. (A common joke at Thacher is that expulsion is really more of a blessing than a punishment, since expelled students have historically excelled in public school.) Again, I would emphasize the intellectual, personal growth elements over those represented by impressive statistics. Of course, some might not feel this is worth the tuition, but remember, the real investment here isn't monetary. Sending a child away during their tumultuous teenage years is a downright preposterous idea to some parents (including my own mother), but as these coming-of-age years are so crucial to a young person's development, I would say it serves in the best interests of both students and parents to embark on this journey as autonomously as possible.</p>