<p>What is it like in an average boarding school (500 students+)?
Do they have some kind of social ranking or something?
Are most of the people shallow or spoiled?</p>
<p>Please don't feel offended, I was just wondering some things I heard.</p>
<p>What do you mean? There are a lot of different boarding schools. It is hard to say what they are all like.</p>
<p>like…PAA, PEA, Lawrenceville, Choate, Blair, NMH</p>
<p>it’s a combination of jesus and fergie</p>
<p>I think they’re asking about social life… I am really curious about that too, can you elaborate and give specifics?</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound shallow but in all honesty, boarding schools are extremely cliquey. I’ve attended boarding school for 2 years now and it didn’t take long for me to find my group who had similar interests. The hockey guys all hang together, theater kids, Asians, bball players and so on. </p>
<p>As far as social life, athletics and academics can take up alot of time during the week so on the weekends most kids either go out to eat or grab a movie to watch. Not sure if it’s similar in other prep schools but hockey is a major sport and brings together the entire school to watch games and support our team.</p>
<p>I suppose, like anything, it’s what you make out of it.</p>
<p>My daughter has found Boarding school fun, challenging and exciting. She tells me she is never bored, she has her friends right there at all times, she is never lonely. Like any community some kids are more popular, some are less, some are more sociable than others. But my daughter feels like she is part of a tight knit community, and so, despite the ups and downs of everyday life, she loves her school and could not imagine being anywhere else.</p>
<p>@prepschoolboy: If you don’t mind me asking, where do you go?</p>
<p>I go to Kimball Union Academy</p>
<p>I would suggest you visit a few schools, maybe even infomally, and go in the cafeteria, and walk around. </p>
<p>Perhaps prep schools had the “arrogant, conceited, elite” flavor in the 1960s, but at my daughters school, the MAJORITY are students of color, and on financial aid. She loves the other interesting students, and was very surprised by how friendly and kind people were (and she is from the Midwest). Her dorm is like a big family. She has many friends in various circles (nerd friends, artsy friends, sports friends), but there are no “cliques” and the “popular” crowd is about the only ones who think they are “popular”. Most others think they are silly. </p>
<p>So, go check out some schools, and hopefully you will find that the historical steriotype is a thing of the past.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would have to agree with prepschoolboy on this one. Granted that everybody knows each other and are pretty friendly, there does tend to be different groups of people (day students, asians, hockey/football/lacrosse/baseball players, etc.). Though this is the case, people do move around to different groups pretty frequently, so it isn’t a mean girls type of atmosphere.</p>
<p>@swimdudee006 hahahahahah the best combo everr!</p>
<p>Sit-down meals are a good practice that some BS have, that discourages cliqueiness and promotes a sense of community. At DS’s school, seating assignments are rotated every few weeks, so the kids meet and eat with a different faculty member & group of kids. The kids get to know and appreciate everyone else on campus, which probably wouldn’t happen if the kids always ate meals together in their clique.</p>
<p>All the kids also have to take turns as waiters- this also promotes a sense of community as all the kids have this shared grunt experience, no matter whether they are rich, FA-recipients, jocks or nerds.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 how does your DS like the boarding she attends? My son will be a boarder in the third form at a school with similar structure and responsibility. Is your child a boarder and is the school nurturing and supportive academically? Does the structure that the school employs foster camaraderie and friendship ?
Thanks</p>
<p>Oura54,
“DS” = Dear Son. </p>
<p>Our son loves the experience at his BS, and he loves sit-down meals. Yes, there are still cliques at his school-- kids of similar attributes/interests naturally gravitate toward each other; however, the sit-down meals are definitely effective in expanding the circle of friends/faculty that the kids would otherwise not have the inclination to mingle with. </p>
<p>DS’s opinion is that he would be missing out on a great tradition & important bonding experience if his BS didn’t have sit-down meals. When S2 starts looking to apply to BS, sit-down meals will definitely be a must-have activity.</p>
<p>Although all boarding schools are incredibly tight, they are also equally cliquey. Some of the above posts describe it accurately. Preppy athletically inclined kids hang together, and then there are theater kids, day students, asains, blacks, etc. At most prep schools, in my experience, the preppy jock type kids are on the top of the social ladder. This is not to say that there isn’t some mixing, but often groups don’t intermix very often.</p>
<p>in my experience, the preppy jock type kids are on the top of the social ladder…in life, too.</p>
<p>Weatherby,</p>
<p>I agree w you that in school, preppy jock types are on top. </p>
<p>But in life, nerds rule (e.g. Zuckerburg, Gates, etc…)</p>
<p>It’s a jock world.</p>
<p>95% of Fortune 500 executives participated in high school athletics (Fortune mag)</p>
<p>GMT…you gave two examples. Out of the hundreds of Fortune 500 execs that I have met, probably two were not at least sports enthusiasts and most played some sort of sport competitively.</p>