<p>My daughter is waiting for 3/10 like everyone else here. While she waits I've read through many of the posts on this site. Some of the posts reinforce my concerns that boarding schools are filled with privileged kids with credit cards and iPhones who can't wait to go shopping for a new boarding school wardrobe. </p>
<p>Obviously this an overstatement, but still, as a parent it concerns me. My daughter works for her spending money and is pretty grounded. </p>
<p>So what do you all think? Are there real people at boarding school who care about what's inside as much as what labels you wear and what sheets your mom bought for your bed?</p>
<p>Of course!! I mean, there are always a group of people who care how they look and stuff more than others, but they don't chose you to be their friend because your wearing lacoste. Those are things that they may or may look at after they become friends based off of personality. This may or may not always be the case.</p>
<p>My daughter is at boarding school and watches her money very carefully. Obviously there are some very wealthy kids at boarding schools who pay the full ticket to attend. But there are just as many families who struggle to give their children this opportunity.
Regarding credit cards, my daughter has a debit card attached to a no fee for students checking account. I transfer her spending money to that account electronically. It has been very helpful especially when she is booking a train or bus ticket home.
Good luck to your daughter on March 10.</p>
<p>It's no question that any prep school that costs more than the average amount of money for enrollment will have those kinds of people, because obviously, there are people who turn sour with wealth, and they couldn't know about or help it because they were just born with it. But for the most part, unless they make up 90% of the population, I doubt they're going to influence a student like that. And there are also those people who even though they fly their money away like balloons, they're pretty grounded themselves, and they use money well for them, but because it goes up to their standards the idea of how much a dress could cost differs.</p>
<p>What's inside definitely shines through after a year or so, and then the personality stamp is pretty much marked on your daughter's forehead until she graduates. She might get a little sensitive over the abundance of J. Crew and LaCoste, but for the most part I doubt any of us can really handle being so preppy 24/7 ;) so expect some complaints about money, but don't expect your daughter to actually change herself.</p>
<p>Obviously BS is very expensive, and the majority of kids attending are not receiving financial aid, so your child will certainly have wealthy classmates. However, the diversity at most prep schools is significantly greater than it is at most public high schools - which by definition draw kids from the same geographic area.</p>
<p>Although they are in the minority, a significant portion of the kids at BS are receiving financial assistance.</p>
<p>Moreover, in some ways being at BS tends to minimize differences in wealth. Borders can't have cars. There's only so much you can do to upgrade your dorm room. For the most part people dress pretty informally/comfortably so even the clothes differences are kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>That's not to say that from time to time gross disparities in wealth will become apparent - i.e. kids who are skiing in Austria/Switzerland for spring break vs. those who are going home and will be expected to help shovel the walk, clean their room and perform other household chores (like my son).</p>
<p>This is pretty reassuring. We parents did not attend BS and this whole thing is our daughter's idea. I can't believe we told her she could go ahead and apply so long as she does everything herself. We figured she'd lose interest. If anything it's increasing. I still thought the idea was foolish until I took her to her first on-campus visit and interview. Then I thought, hmmmm...this place is pretty nice. $45,000 nice, maybe...</p>
<p>I think it’s important to note that the kids on this site who fill the majority of threads are not actually at a boarding school. Most are still in middle school and are therefore around 13. I think that their age plays a big factor into their wanting to go shopping for a new wardrobe, etc. Yes, in freshman year (the closest year to them) clothes mattered. But that wore off fairly quickly for most. People are generally pretty well dressed, but it’s not in the forefront of everyone’s minds. I don’t think it’s fine in the eyes of most students to blatantly display wealth. Most kids, despite how privileged they may be, seem to have fairly tight restrictions regarding money.</p>
<p>Yes, there are real people. There are also ‘fake’ people. But I think the real people vastly outweigh the latter. Just to give you an example: When I toured colleges, many student guides would emphasize what an intellectually oriented place their school was by mentioning impromptu debates and conversations students have about politics, literature, ethics, etc. This happens a lot at my high school. It happens among my friends, and I’m sure it happens with other people here as well. You are among students who are genuinely interested in learning. So I think despite that there are some materialistic students, an intellectual, ‘real’ majority makes up for them.</p>
<p>My daughter did the Taft Summer School program, and with the exception of one person, she found everyone to be very down to earth and unfocused on material items (more so than at her present private day school). She made lots of great friends!</p>
<p>One of my son's best friends has an iphone, and my son covets it greatly! He won't be getting one any time soon!
By the way....this boy is very nice and down to earth. We have met his parents and there is nothing about them to suggest snootiness or excessive materialism. Just because a kid might have high end "gadgets" or a nice wardrobe, does not mean s/he is not as good a kid as the less privileged child. Lots of clothes sharing and borrowing goes on, anyway, even with the guys (you probably would not do this, Aussie) so you get an extended wardrobe anyway!
Seriously, though, laxtaxi....I think the days of bs filled with the privileged few are a thing of the past. We have met so many wonderful, real, people, as have our two sons.</p>
<p>i know your probably referring to one of the threads that i wrote in too. i can tell you that i definitely don't have my dad's credit card, i DON"T even have a cell phone, and i'll be working a jobs this summer in order to get that new wardrobe i was talking about. my allowance consists of five dollars a month. </p>
<p>so i really really hope taht i won't be surrounded by teh type of girl your talking about because that would be a NIGHTMARE!!!</p>
<p>but also, the girls going to these schools are SMART!!!! it's not easy to get in! i remember talking to my tour guide at andover and she said she didn't even know which of her friends were ons cholarship and which weren't! from what i've heard tere are a couple of righ nigtmare-girl snobs (but there's those at every school) but the rest of them are smart, athletic, down to earth girls.</p>
<p>NeLLyRaE - Lucky! I don't have any allowance.
And I agree. I don't have a credit card and I don't get the clothes for free. I'm looking into getting a summer job and I'm buying my clothes on eBay! LOL!</p>
<p>hahaha, well, five dollars, nothing, not much difference is there? i can buy like, a starbucks drink with that money. LOL. i'm hoping that this babysitting place will take me, but i dunno, i might still be too young.</p>
<p>hahahaha oh dont worry about my posts earlier about going on a shopping spree with mburg and everyonee! haha ive gotta work for my money and am not handed luxeries from my parents. just a little joke between us=]</p>
<p>i know i wrote here before but i'd like to post again :D</p>
<p>just because a student is NOT on scholarship does not mean that they are rich. my parents aren't exactly drinking red wine every night while I work on homework for my 25,000 dollar school (no FA, either.) we like to afford the good things while we can, but we plan out how to balance it so that the good things won't be the reason for future losses. I have quite a few friends here who are the same; not mega-rich, but just enough to live and enroll their kid into a school as expensive as this. </p>
<p>but the difference between this school and boarding school is that boarding school is where the smart people go. That doesn't really mean that they can't be snobs, but it means that there sure are a lot less of them. Not only does boarding school offer a sort of financial opening for people who find their houses filling with bills, but want their kid to have a good education with a better environment around them (with the scholarships and financial aid) but it means these are people willing to spend around 200 something days a year without their power-tapped fathers or chanel-shopping mothers, so usually people who are from richer families tend to have more down-to-earth qualities.</p>
<p>but that's just me. as stated before, I am a 13 year old. I do go to middle school, and I haven't gone to boarding school yet. But I am a prep school student, so I know a thing or two about wealth.</p>
<p>most people I met at interviews and receptions were pretty chill</p>
<p>although some seemed overly excited to go to boarding school (not unlike many on this forum) none were obviously absorbed with material items. That's not to say they weren't well dressed (except one boy I met who came in sneakers, he obviously already had admission before applying though).</p>
<p>There is always going to be someone who will have more money than you, and you will always have more money than someone else. At boarding school there is a lot of economic diversity. Some people will be wearing true religions every day and most won't. The diversity is mainly what has people going to bs instead of day, and if a percentage of people weren't richer than god and another percentage on complete fa than it's the same as going to a rich day or a very poor public. The fact that these 2 "groups" come together in an equalizing environment is the whole point</p>