What Schools Am I Missing?

I have been shepherding the educational journey of my identical, 12 year-old goddaughters since they were 5 years old. They are now 13 and in 7th grade at a wonderful, private K-8 day school in DC. I am again responsible for guiding their admission’s journey to high school, which I’m gearing up for now. While they will apply to a couple of day options, the goal is boarding. I have begun assembling some targets and would be open to any advice about schools that I may have overlooked. Here are the particulars:

  1. First generation Americans (El Salvador), would be first family members to go to college
  2. Bi-lingual
  3. Good students but not geniuses, B+, A-, poor standardized test takers, incredibly hard workers - the type that make 110% use of their gifts to achieve positive outcomes
  4. Sparkling, engaged, warm, empathetic - tremendously positive community influence.
  5. Need 100% aid, which they receive now. (Single mother, very small income)
  6. Want to be within 2 hours of DC (although I think I can negotiate with their mom for a three hour radius)
  7. Open to all-girls and co-ed, with 80% or higher boarding ratio
  8. Looking for an inclusive, community feel with academic rigor that will push them but not crush them. Looking for strong advisory and faculty support. A more liberal arts focus per se.
  9. If they stay on the same trajectory at their current school, they will receive stellar recommendations
  10. They would not consider, not would their mother, being in separate schools

So far I have four on the list:

  • St Andrews DE - know a lot about this school from folks like @SevenDad
  • Mercersburg Academy - know a lot about this school too
  • Episcopal High School - know nothing about this school
  • Chatham Hall - also know nothing

Any other schools that I should add to this list? Thanks for any counsel you might give…

I would add George School (also an @SevenDad school.) I think it fits the mold of some you have on the list in terms of community (so ones that would value who they are.)

100% aid for 2 may be a bit of a headwind, so I would definitely continue on your mission of building out the list. Maybe Madeira or Grier for your geography? I haven’t known anyone at either personally for a while.

^ Agree with the suggestions above, and that 100% aid for both girls is going to be a challenge. There are several schools in the Maryland and Virginia area that could be options. Most are all girls, but they have boarding populations that are less than 80% and have higher than average international students. Trade off is that these schools have deep incentives to give generous financial aid to domestic boarders.

Schools to think about would be St. James (co-Ed), Foxcroft, St. Tim’s, Linden Hall (PA). Perkiomen and Solebury are co-Ed but in PA. Would be within 3 hours of DC.

@gardenstategal and @dramakid2 - thanks. Yes, 100% aid for both is absolutely the long pole. They applied to 10 different private day schools, rejected at 1, admitted to 8 with 50% aid, but 1 school did 100% aid - a gift from God! I am thinking similar odds here. The school will need to have a considerable endowment even to consider it.

I have always looked away from schools with low boarder populations because I perceive the campus is like an after-thought on weekends, BUT if it were full financial aid and low boarder population, I would still take it and be thankful. So maybe I’m looking at it wrong. I’ll study your suggestions with that mindset.

On the % boarding… There are schools that are essentially day schools that run a small boarding operation, largely to attract FP international boarders. While this could be an interesting environment for a domestic boarder, it most definitely is not what most people imagine when they think of BS. We have a few of those near us.

There are schools that have a larger percentage of day students than your cut-off of 20%. But the NUMBER of boarders is higher than at other 100% boarding schools. (I would put George in that group, btw.) I would strongly suggest focusing on the size of the boarding community at those schools because residential life is quite vibrant and not an afterthought. A larger percentage of day with an even bigger boarding contingent will probably be a somewhat bigger school.

Lastly, there are schools that have lots of boarders but the school empties out for the weekend. So definitely poke at that. To be part of a handful left behind can feel pretty lousy.

I agree, you only need one school to say yes to both! Of those, I think Mercersberg and George have the biggest endowments. But that won’t always correspond with FA results for a particular student, so don’t get too hung up on that.

You might look at VES in Lynchburg also.

Chatham Hall is a fantastic option. Small, nurturing, high endowment per student, and high percentage of boarding students. I can connect you to a family there, if you’d like. Mercersburg is another good option.

Garrison Forrest in Baltimore might be worth considering. The percentage of boarders looks low, but I’m not sure if the figures on BoardingSchoolReview are the percentage of HS students or percentage of students overall (they start in pre-K or K).

I would look at not just George but maybe some of the other Quaker boarding schools in PA, too? Westtown, for example?

Ok so full disclosure- I’m a 4 year boarder alumna of Garrison Forest. The low percentage of boarders is unfortunately accurate. When I was there in the 90’s we had a robust boarding program, only a handful of international students. Since that time the school mismanaged it’s boarding program and did not invest in facilities. They essentially squandered the strong boarding population they had.

The school has finally recognized the err of its ways and has made a commitment to boosting their domestic boarding population once again. They have built a new dorm (desperately needed) and have dedicated a significant portion of financial aid to attracting domestic boarding students. It’s probably going to take a couple years before they successfully rebuild their program to what it was, but I am hopeful.

I didn’t add them to my list above due to the current low percentage and the fact that they are still in the process of trying to build it back up.

But I will say that my 4 years there were life changing, and I am always a cheerleader for all girls schools and the experience they offer to young women. We always had great weekend activities, plus I had great friendships with day students. The boarding population was not an afterthought during the years I was there.

Single sex schools are often overlooked by applicants, and struggle to get as many applicants as co-ed schools. But therein lies the opportunity to quality for significant aid when you are simply a domestic boarder who they desperately want to contribute to their campus culture.

@dramakid2 - the twins’ mother would love to send them to an all girls school. They are turning into beautiful young ladies and the boys are starting to glom onto them. It drives Mom crazy. I think she prefers single sex to co-ed for this reason.

Foxcroft? And maybe is it St James in Fredericksburg?

I agree with the suggestions so far, and welcome you to reach out to me if you have questions about Episcopal. I have heard some of my daughter’s friends at Episcopal mention that they also applied to St. Margaret’s. That may also be worth a look.

I believe Chatham Hall has the highest percentage of boarders of any of the all girls’ schools (~90%).

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Also: St. Tim’s near Baltimore? All girls, IB curriculum, 75-80% boarders?

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St. Mary’s School, an all-girls school in Raleigh, NC. A friend’s daughter attends and is very happy there.

The schools you are mentioning a competitive. I am trying to figure out why an institution will give 100% aid to 2 kids? What do you anticipate the kids will bring to the school? Any talents like sports: Arts or any unique activities? What do you mean by saying poor test takers? How did they score on the SSAT exams? Full financial aid is very competitive for single kid. When you put 2 at the same time would be even more difficult. I would need more information for realistic comment. I wish you good luck with finding a school that the kids will love!

@ThacherParent is pretty well-versed at the ins and outs of BS and aware of the points above. I think suggestions of lesser known/talked about schools in the area were all that were requested. They can take it from there…

Thanks for the suggestions, all. I’m going to look through these schools today.

The challenge is that the schools that most need the diversity these twins might bring… might also be the schools where they will feel the least welcomed and included.

Right now, this is the refined list:

St. Andrews
George School
Chatham Hall
Mercersburg Academy
Madeira
Foxcroft School
St. Timothy’s
Linden Hall

If any of my CC’ers have real-world pros and cons on these schools, please DM me. Some have very low boarder populations that concern me. I’ll have to figure out what that means for weekends. @CaliMex - I definitely don’t want the twins to feel ostracized or racially singled-out - that’s for sure. The other side of that coin is that such schools are particularly attracted to the diversity. @bantonov - very sensitive to the odds and think they’ll be the same as before - a 10% shot at best. BUT these kids are a dream to have on campus, have an incredibly compelling back story, and hold extraordinary promise as the first in their family to make it to college. I am hoping for a school that agrees with that assessment.