<p>I know it may sound ridiculous, but how popular are bs to the public. I mean like in Canada, Quebec to be more precise, 1 out of 10 people may know what boarding schools are! Let's say I go to NYC or Boston and they ask me what school I'm attending and I answer Lawrenceville, will they know what I'm talking about? I asked maybe 10-15 people if they knew anything about L'Ville or Andover or Exeter, not even one of them knew what I was talking about. </p>
<p>Ridiculous, true! But I'd like to be informed on that matter.</p>
<p>Yes, NYC top private schools regularly send kids to BS. Even if you don't go to BS from an NYC private school, it's normal for them to send dozens of kids a year. Or maybe just a dozen, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>My dad lives in Ottawa, Canada and when I went up there for Easter and told people I was going to Andover for a summer program they all knew about it...</p>
<p>I live in Kansa (I know) and no one knows about bs. All of my friends except one think its for children who are expelled or their parents dont want them. I have just stopped mentioning it:(</p>
<p>As I think you're seeing from the other posts, it depends on where you live. Boston, New York, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut a lot of people are familiar with the better known boarding schools. Kansas - not so much.</p>
<p>Even in areas like NY and Boston, it depends on your social circle. Kids who go to private schools and their parents are much more likely to have heard of BS than kids who attend public schools. Same is true for people living in affluent suburbs. </p>
<p>Finally, I suspect there are a couple of BS that are well known simply because they have famous alumni. For example, lots of people have heard of Andover because both President Bush's attended, so did John-John Kennedy. John Kerry went to St. Pauls. President Kennedy went to Choate. FDR went to Groton. So people may be familiar with these schools because of their famous/prominent alumni.</p>
<p>colorado here -- the only thing that people here know about boarding schools is that there is a local one (fountain valley) and other than that, no one knows any names -- just that they exist. And many people think they are for rich kids who have "problems" and were expelled.</p>
<p>It seems like my family is well acquianted with prep schools (even ones that live in France, Texas, Singapore, etc. as well as the NE), and most of my friends, but every now and then I have to explain something to someone I meet (family friends get it, but when I meet someone new in a class or something). When I told one of my best friends that I was applying to boarding school, she laughed and asked why, whereas some other friends asked me which ones I liked most.</p>
<p>hsmomstef -- same seems to hold true for regions. My father/uncles grew up in the oil country of texas, and the boys went to fountain valley or thacher (and not cate, usually), not exeter or andover. When it came time for them to go to school, they weren't interested in east coast schools, because they wanted to stay close to home (my uncle said all his friends went to fountain valley, so it seemed like the natural thing to do). (Although they did know the names, etc., I think they really just wanted to keep their crowd of friends, and be closer to home.) So it's prob all about what you identify with -- or what applies to your life.</p>
<p>The names of the big schools are mentioned in books quite often though. I just read one that mentioned Exeter, and a few months before I read one that mentioned Andover... so I think that many people (def not all) do know the names, and what they are, but not really about the schools as a whole, etc.)</p>
