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I think I've said it here before, bs is not something I was familiar with, certainly not on the radar when I was a kid. At that time, in my world, bs = juvie, or something out of the old Harold Robbins glitz and glamour novels, I thought they were fiction.
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<p>Having seen several threads pop up about prep/boarding schools, I was curious, read a few of the threads, and ran into the above quote on a thread about the prep school decision, by (I believe) the parent of a BS student. This basically describes my lack of familiarity with prep or boarding schools, and I imagine many others know about as little about these schools....my question is...NOT what made you decide to send your kids, but how did prep/boarding school get on your radar?</p>
<p>From books and movies, I knew such schools existed. Then, in the early 90’s, we moved to N. Andover, MA with Brooks and PA practically in our backyard. I drove down Main street, alongside PA, almost every day for ten years loving the charm of the town and the old-world beauty of the campus though we didn’t have children at the time, and I never thought I would have any real connection to the BS world. We moved to the southwest thirteen years ago, and I am often frustrated by how far away DS is when, at one time, we lived so close.</p>
<p>We started exploring boarding schools about a year ago when my child expressed an interest. We went to the typical websites, boarding school.com, etc, for general and statistical information, but then we discovered CC. The practical information from parents (and kids) was invaluable. I learned more lightweight, teen info from the kids but solid information from parents. We are visiting two schools that were not on our radar but were spoken about consistently by two FREQUENT contributors. Not that these frequent contributors speak the gospel truth about schools but merited enough interest to check out the two schools.</p>
<p>After going to public school through 7th grade, we moved and my folks sent my brother and me to a regionally known (but never mentioned here on CC) private HS that was at the time mostly day/some boarding. I was a day student and my wife was a 5-day boarder. Brother did a summer at Choate…I will ask him how he got the notion to do that. I’m pretty sure that it was NOT my folks’ idea…we are an immigrant family and private school in our native country meant Catholic school or military academy (though both are viewed in a very positive light in that culture). </p>
<p>At college, I met a lot of BS grads…including my two best friends (exonians).</p>
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<p>Hah, just got an answer from my brother: He found out about Choate (and I guess BS in general) from The Preppy Handbook of all places.</p>
<p>For us, it was all about timing. We were all familiar with boarding schools, and for the most part the impression was not favorable. But when our DD began her freshman year at local public it became clear that it was NOT a fit. So when a friend came home from BS with favorable reviews, the BS seed sprouted. </p>
<p>Now, with two kids in BS, there is no question that BS is a better fit for both. Easy? Hardly! And now that it is August – the “Sunday night of summer” – my anxiety about impending goodbyes looms large. But that sadness is still not enough to outweigh the benefits: class size, rigor, breadth of EC opps, caliber of peer group… No comparison.</p>
<p>We moved about 11 years ago and became good friends with two families where one of each of the parents had attended BS. If you had asked me when my daughter was 2 whether we would ever consider BS, my answer would have been an emphatic No! Well, never say never. I couldn’t be happier that my DS is attending BS this year. It is not the one she had hoped for, or even on the radar on March 10th, but it seems like a really great fit and she is excited. As many on this board often say, “love the school that loves you”.</p>
<p>BS was not on our radar until S reached middle school. We live outside the U.S. and have made several, successive int’l moves because of job. The international schools in the different countries ranged from good to adequate. As the parents were so internationally diverse, their opinions about the quality of the education were equally diverse, so the school administration had no compelling consensus from the parents to change anything.</p>
<p>As S was to enter high school in the following academic year-- critical for entry into college-- we started looking at other options, and discovered BS. Besides the objective of getting a better education, we were concerned that he was loosing his connection w his home country, as he had lived most of his life abroad.</p>
<p>S loves his BS, and loves being back “home” and can’t imagine being anywhere else! When he goes to visit his former school, he is taken aback by the much lower academic standard.</p>
<p>When I attended Harvard decades ago, I was shocked to see how many of my classmates were grads of NE BS’s, including one of my room mates, and, more interestingly, how well they did in school, especially our freshman year. Within weeks of that school year, it became clear to me that if you go to a top prep school in NE, the chances of getting into Harvard and doing well there were better than going to any other school in the country. Such put NE BS’s on my “radar”. </p>
<p>With this buzz in my brain, I told my younger brother to go to PA. He did, he got into Harvard, and he always found Harvard easier than Andover.</p>
<p>Yes, I know: going to a top prep school these days doesn’t assure you that you will go to a top college tomorrow. Still, I think these prep schools help here. With that in mind, I sent my son to a top NE prep school. He graduated this spring. He is going to an Ivy League school this fall. </p>
<p>New Engalnd boarding schools remain on the radar at my house.</p>
<p>My wonderfully intelligent son has an atypical learning profile.</p>
<p>The public school he attends is, by many measures, excellent
for ‘neurotypical’ students, but has been unable to implement
effective academic supports for him.</p>
<p>Investigating educational options put boarding schools on our radar.
Boarding school wasn’t an option that he or I ever wanted to consider –
but push has come to shove.</p>
<p>Living temporarily in a house where three children had gone to boarding school and seeing all the stuff on the walls led to a curious look at the school’s website…which led to the startled realization that it might just be possible, with grants, to afford something we had thought before was strictly for the very wealthy.</p>
<p>In middle school, representatives from a very prestigious boarding school came and gave a presentation about their school, after hours, to interested students. This particular school has an all-expenses-paid 4-year scholarship for two students each year from our geographical area, an area where almost no one considers boarding school, so in recent years they had had very few applicants for this scholarship. They were out trying to drum up applicants (I don’t think this would happen today).</p>
<p>My son went to the presentation of his own accord and got very excited at the prospect. As I learned more about the school, I got very excited too, seeing they had 13 foreign languages to choose from for instance.</p>
<p>My son applied but was not selected, but that started our interest. I did a lot of research and found about financial aid and he applied to several schools the next year. Even though I had very little money, I felt it was worth a small investment. I bought him a suit (his first) and we personally visited and interviewed at each school. Some schools (or all?) wanted a photograph and I had professional ones done. We have relatives on the East Coast and I planned a trip that involved us flying to my hometown, then driving a rental car to New England for school visits.</p>
<p>The one school we did not visit personally was the original school with the scholarship. He applied there again but still didn’t get in.</p>
<p>My son’s experience was so life-changing for him that he was the impetus behind my much-younger daughter getting ready to go off to BS now. For her, it was not her idea, although my son and I both felt it was for the best. My son emphasized to her how wonderful it was for him and paid for us all to fly out and tour four schools, a year ahead of time. One school in particular really turned the tide for my daughter and that is where she will be attending.</p>
<p>we live outside of US and kids are US citizens. I want to know on my kids application form, which category do they belong to: US applicant or international applicant?</p>
<p>Rajriarup. I’m not GMT+7 (In reality, we are GMT +2 but that’s a different story), anyhow, we are US citizens who live outside of the US. We will be applying as International. However, if we decide to apply for financial aid, we will do that because we are US citizens. Check your school for specifics.</p>
<p>@rajariaup,
Some schools classify int’l students on basis of residency, some on basis of citizenship-- we’ve encountered both rules in the application process. You need to check w each school separately.</p>
<p>Our public high school would have run out of courses for her (she is accelerated) after 10th grade, and early college from home was not the best choice because the transportation would have been too difficult (both parents working and she is too young to drive) and she also likes sports. </p>
<p>Boarding school was a great choice for her…time to grow up, sports, challenging classes, no transport problems. </p>
<p>It worked out well for us. Glad I thought of it after hearing about prep schools from friends in Boston long ago.</p>
<p>We are in a rural area in a state with a small population, where there is not a culture of kids going to boarding school. But as forward-looking parents of what teachers repeatedly referred to as “an unusual student” (asynchronous in the extreme) it began to be clear at the end of the elementary years that, aside from homeschooling (which we’ve done on and off over the years), there were not going to be local options for high school, either public or private. </p>
<p>I had grown up as a scholarship student at prestigious (and expensive) independent schools and colleges, and had had friends who went off to boarding school “back in the day”—so I knew not to let finances (or lack thereof) stand in the way of widening the search beyond our local area. </p>
<p>When we started our search, the only schools we really had on our radar were the ACRONYM schools—remembered from my long-ago school years, and considered because our dc is a. As we delved into the process, our search broadened to schools that would offer the academic opportunities our dc needed and some additional EC criteria dc (and we) considered non-negotiable.</p>
<p>So far, so good! DC is now a freshman at a school that seems to be a perfect fit.</p>