<p>There must be hundreds, if not thousands of people applying to boarding school this year who are on College Confidential. One question though: When and how did you first decide that you were going to apply to boarding school? How did you learn about these schools? Were you surfing online, did a friend tell you, or did your parents suggest that you attend one? </p>
<p>Overall, what are you looking for at boarding school? What in particular do you like about them?</p>
<p>@Ang: I’d think there were hundreds of lurkers and only dozens of posters in any given application year.</p>
<p>@SevenDad- You’re right. I guess it was bit of an exaggeration. But there are much more people on other forums, other than Prep School Admissions.</p>
<p>That said, a few of the threads here (like the St. Paul’s one) have gotten hundreds of thousands of hits…so perhaps the lurker factor is much higher.</p>
<p>Buuuuuumppppp</p>
<p>I actually first decided that I would apply to boarding school during my 8th grade year when I first moved to China, when I was in the 3rd grade. I was determined to go back to America for high school, and even at the young age of 7, I already knew I wouldn’t want to be near my parents that much. 
Therefore, the idea of boarding school was born. I didn’t actually act on it until the summer before 8th grade, when I started taking SSAT prep classes. Then, I did research and went to receptions, etc. :)</p>
<p>I first heard about BS through a book, when it mentioned one BS’ name. I looked it up, and I fell in love with the idea. The independence, rigorous academics, and wonderful ECs. It was SO much better than the current options I had in my public school. I didn’t get in, but I’m not going to give up. I know I want this.</p>
<p>I have thought about boarding school non-seriously since second grade, when reading a certain book about a wizard. I then read lots of other books with boarding schools that were in the U.S and got hooked with the idea. However, I seriously considered boarding school after the summer of 7th grade. CTY kind of opened my eyes to all the options out there, and I learned that boarding school was no more exclusively for super wealthy people. I heard about actual (nonfictional) schools from friends at CTY, and began sending inquiries in August. The reality of high school coming up and my hatred of 7th and 8th grade kind of fueled me along too.</p>
<p>My utopian boarding school would include kids who are all super motivated to learn and yet were all just (for lack of better word) NICE to each other. I wanted a CTY all-year-round. Now I realize that doesn’t exist. Disappointing, but I’m still all for boarding school.</p>
<p>I had gone to a private day school for elementary and middle school. When I reached 8th grade, my parents and I thought I would go to my local public high school since it was ranked one of the best in the state. My 8th grade advisor, seeing my grades, was surprised I wasnt applying to boarding schools and urged me to do so. As soon as I started visitng campuses, I knew that this was the way I wanted to go.</p>
<p>A teacher recommended a boarding/day school for me. From there, I researched boarding schools as much as I could and discovered how awesome they were.</p>
<p>As the local ps is under major construction/renovation and I have always thought my local public school, which happens to be one of the top in the state, to be extremely easy. Ever since 6 grade, I have looked. I wanted to find somewhere the kids wanted to do their work, weren’t completely immature, and understood the value of academics. This year made me want to try even harder, as we have so much testing, teachers who should be fired/retire, and other problems. For goodness sake, there are kids in my grade who thought that Mexico was a state. (probably about 30 of them out of 200 kids)</p>
<p>My D had been thinking about going to a boarding school when she started to go to middle school (6th grade). To test the water, she went to a boarding school’s summer program to see if the experience matched the hype. She was hooked. </p>
<p>From that point forward her plan and actions were directed to that goal.</p>
<p>I’ve gone to private school all my life, first Montessori and then private day. As I skipped a year, I was unable to fit into the public school system around my area. So private high school was both a necessity and a great option. While we have great public schools around, the private schools have more to offer.</p>
<p>I was staying with my sister at college and met someone who’d gone to exeter at a frat party…I went home and googled phillips exeter academy and from there I found boardingschoolreview.com and looked into others.</p>
<p>My school has an annual poetry slam in which the 8th graders who are about to graduate read poetry about their life’s at school (seeing as most have been their for K-8) I went last year, and saw an eight grade perform a poem about having to leave her mom in order to attend boarding school. She began crying on stage…and then her mom began crying. One would think that I would be turned away because of this…but I thought that if both this girl and her mom are willing to sacrifice their last four years together before college together–there must be something to it. I told my mom right after the poetry slam and the rest is history! :)</p>
<p>It was mostly just from all of the books and movies I saw, and I already went to private school so it’s a pretty common thing for people I know, and I did more research and was hooked on the idea! I also found a blog (boardingpov, now dead) that I was obsessed with reading.</p>