<p>I've decided that I'm applying to Andover, St. Paul's, and Choate. Right now it doesn't look like I'll be able to visit schools, so I will have to have an alumni interview with Choate and a phone interview with St. Paul's, or with an alumni rep. I already had my Andover interview while I was at Summer Session. Do alumni and phone interviews hold less weight than on campus interviews? Is this a good list? Should I apply to more schools?</p>
<p>I had a phone interview with SPS. I never visited the school before I got accepted.</p>
<p>Sounds like an AWESOME list, esp. the part about Choate. :D</p>
<p>What about my list : Andover, Middlesex, Peddie, Loomis, Williston and The Masters ? I am an international student</p>
<p>Jonathan1, what happened with the prep school you were going to attend? School hasn't even started yet - how do you know you won't be perfectly happy at the school you will be at?</p>
<p>nns91 I don't know much about Williston or The Masters but, Andover, Middlesex, Peddie and Loomis are all great schools. Hopefully you'll be able to visit each school because they are all so different.</p>
<p>Can you tell how are those schools different from each other ?</p>
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Jonathan1, what happened with the prep school you were going to attend? School hasn't even started yet - how do you know you won't be perfectly happy at the school you will be at?
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<p>I already love the school I'm going to next year. I've met some really cool people and school hasn't even started yet, it's just that I really want to board and schools like Andover and St. Paul's is exactly what I want.</p>
<p>Don't make the mistake of sabotaging your current school year while you seek supposedly greener pastures. It will be very hard to remain fully invested in this coming year -- and it will be hard for others to get very invested in you -- if you are going to divert some of your attention to making a successful application to these highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>Remember, you have to rely on that bird in the hand because the 2nd term of George Bush ends in 17 months...or something like that.</p>
<p>Anyway, I know you think you can be fully committed to your school this coming year as you go through the application process. I doubt it, but even if you're right: will the teachers and classmates be as fully committed to you if you're preparing to bail out on them?</p>
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Anyway, I know you think you can be fully committed to your school this coming year as you go through the application process. I doubt it, but even if you're right: will the teachers and classmates be as fully committed to you if you're preparing to bail out on them?
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<p>I applied to prep school (not boarding) last year and I still managed to get straight A's. My application was completed over my free time so it didn't affect my schoolwork at all. I plan to complete my boarding school applications the same way, even though this coming year will be much more intense and challenging than my last. </p>
<p>There are some other kids that apply to boarding school at the school I'm going to next year, so I don't think they really see it as bailing out on them. They see it as a great opportunitity, not a punishment or a bail out. I already noticed this through their responses when I told some of my friends at my new school compared to my old school. My old friends viewed it as punishment and torture and my new friends thought it would be a great experience.</p>
<p>Yeah, and while I fully expect the teachers to support your applications and your new friends to be happy for you, I doubt that you're the person that they're going to invest in as mentors or develop those ties that bind for a four-year HS stint. Your dreams don't include them. Why should their future plans include you?</p>
<p>Obviously plenty of people make the switch. But you just made a switch. In fact, you haven't really even yet made it. There's something to be said for letting the plant (or bush) take root where the seeds are sown. I'm not saying you shouldn't apply. I'm just saying you're selling yourself short by engaging your new school as your fallback. If you get into a BS my point is all moot anyway. But if you don't, then no matter how good you are at keeping the two worlds apart, understand that one year from now you're likely to find that your relationships with students and faculty at your current school aren't quite as cemented and fast as your peers' relationships with each other and the faculty.</p>
<p>This is not a directive to you or even a right v. wrong thing. It's just a reality check and a heads up for you that applying for BS for next year won't come without a price if you don't end up going to one of them. You won't be just continuing as if you hadn't applied to boarding schools. You'll be catching up -- in subtle, yet important, ways.</p>
<p>About half of the freshman class is new, so I don't feel like I will be behind most other other students when it comes to student-teacher relationships. </p>
<p>I'm going to be fully committed to my new school. Boarding school is just another possibility. I love my new school and would be conctent with staying there for the rest of high school, but it's just that with boarding school, it's a whole different atmosphere.</p>
<p>Careful....the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence (did someone already mention that?) </p>
<p>You may actually find it surprisingly hard to leave your school. New friends, getting settled comfortably, etc. </p>
<p>Of course, you should always apply just so you can have an option/alternative, but don't assume you will really really want to leave your new school......if it is an excellent school, then I think you might find similar atmospheres. After four or five months at my school, though I had considered re-applying to Hotchkiss, after awhile I realized I had absolutely no intention; I was having such a wonderful time.</p>
<p>Sorry to ask again, I have quite a terrible memory - what happened last year when you applied? Something to do with financial aid, had it not?</p>
<p>Nope, SSAT is was really low (40 or 50 overall, I think) so I didn't see a point in applying, but I wish I would've retaken the SSAT, anyway.</p>