<p>We are considering two schools that have a substantial number of day students (~30%) . I was wondering how it might affect overall quality of boarding school experience. (DC will become a boarder.) Let's say, in one school, day students leave well after dinner around 9 or 10, and in another school, they typically leave before dinner and only occasionally stay for dinner. I would assume these schools try to accommodate day students' departure and schedule various EC and other activities accordingly. I would definitely try to better understand this during revisit, but I would like to hear the experience of fellow CC'ers first. </p>
<p>At your school, what time do day students typically leave and how it affects evening campus/student life?</p>
<p>My kids’ school (Concord) is about 50% day. The day students leave between 5:30 and 10 on school nights; many stay for dinner and leave by 7:30. The number of day students doesn’t really affect scheduling of ECs and other activities. One of the reasons the day students attend the school is precisely because of of the extra opportunities and activities it has because it’s a boarding school, and they expect that they may need to stay after dinner. There is really no difference in day/boarding participation in any activity. Many day students stay for dinner and beyond solely to hang out with their friends (both boarders and other day students).</p>
<p>The school has study hall between 7:30 and 9:30, so there are few activities planned during that time. The only one that I can actually think of at the moment is that rehearsals during tech week before a theatre production run from 6:00-10:00 pm. Day students involved in the production will typically stay overnight at school with a friend that week. The late times don’t deter day student participation; one production my kid was involved with consisted primarily of day students (not typical, that’s just how things worked out).</p>
<p>My impression is that day students are treated no differently than boarders. I like the way @skieurope put it, that the only difference is where day students put their heads at night. At Choate, parents pick up and drop off, so when students leave at night is entirely dependent on them and their parents, not the school. There is no “day students must be off campus by X:00” policy, and they do spend the night when they need to or just for fun. I suppose it depends on the size of the school whether or not 20-30% of the student body living off-campus affects the BS experience. At Choate, it doesn’t seem to be noticeable as the day students are on campus more than not, even on weekends. Our son’s best friend is a day student, and CK says he doesn’t see any distinction. His friend sleeping at home is no different from his other friends sleeping in other dorms that he is not part of; he sees his BF the same amount of time.</p>
<p>My son is a day student and his departure time really varies-- some nights he stays for dinner and into the evenings, some nights he goes home before dinner. He usually is on campus at least some on the weekends. His school is only 12% day students, and I have not seen ANY decisions concerning scheduling with day students in mind. That’s actually mostly fine-- we don’t live too far (20 minute drive) and the school is ALWAYS welcoming for day kids to stay for any meal and to sleep over. Some day kids are almost boarders-- don’t just stay every night until 9:45 or 10, but sleep over several nights a week. All this is fine. A friend of my son’s is a boarder at a BS with about 40% day kids, and he is happy there! but does feel like the campus gets very quiet on weekends-- with even a fair number of boarders going home with day kids, and fewer organized activities than at some school. A friend of the family also has a daughter going to a different BS as a day student ,</p>
<p>Thanks @photodad, @ChoatieMom. At your schools, where do they stay after sports and dinner? I vaguely remember seeing a large shared lounge (?) for day students at Choate, and thought it could be tiring without having a private space during such long hours at school.</p>
<p>Sorry-- hit the wrong button. Anyway, this friend’s daughter is a day student at a different BS, also with about 40% day kids, and says they DO change schedules for meetings and ECs to keep them during daylight hours for the day kids (which makes her perfectly happy, but means there’s less going on on evenings and weekends for the boarders). So I think it really depends on the school–not even just the percentage of day kids. It’s a really good question to ask kids at the school and experienced parents at revisit day-- don’t just rely on what the school says.</p>
<p>Echoing @ChoatieMom.</p>
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<p>It probably varies by school. We have club meetings/rehearsals after dinner until study hours begin at 8:00. After that, day students, if they are still on campus, are wherever the boarders are - library, computer lab, dorms, lounge.</p>
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<p>At Concord, it will be the same places as the boarders. After dinner and before study hall, if they’re studying, it will be in the library, the public library across the street, an empty classroom, a lab, or a boarder’s room. If they’re hanging out with friends, it could be anywhere: a lounge area, the gym, a boarding house common room, a boarder’s room, an empty classroom, or walking around town. </p>
<p>At DS’s school, there’s a day student lounge, but it’s used by just a small group of both day and boarding students who are interested in the same activities (robotics, computer games). They also give day students each a locker in a classroom building and an open study carrell in the library, and every day student is assigned a dorm for affiliation, meetings, get-togethers, or overnights. My son’s friends are mostly boarders, with one or two day students. They leave their stuff in their carrell or dump it in a friend’s dorm room-- and, as at skieurope’s school, hang out wherever boarders hang out. There’s a 7:45 PM curfew for underclassmen, so underclass day students will either be in the dorm or the library after 7:45. Before that, they’re often at one of the student cafés/grills,or in a lunge or classroom doing homework with buddies (boarders and day).</p>
<p>Ditto all the above.</p>