What's the best Boarding school for me?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

<p>So summer is nearing and I am currently working on my Silver Award for Girl Scouts and I continue to submit poems for publication.</p>

<p>I have heard much wise advice on E.C.'s on here. So thank you, I will continue to work with my current activities. And my parents are still bothering me, especially my mother. Everytime she sees me blogging or watching TV she always asks "do you even still want to go to boarding school?! You're never going to get in!" So she is being annoying, which is one of the main reasons why I want to go to boarding school, to decrease the fighting going on with my mother.</p>

<p>So yes, I'm still very worried about whether what I have is enough for boarding school criteria. I will be extremely busy this summer, (I am going to CTY and many other camps, not to mention studying for the SSATs and my Girl Scouts.) </p>

<p>I will be retaking the SSAT in October, fingers crossed I get in the 95 percentile or above. </p>

<p>What I want to find out now is, what boarding schools should I be looking into?
Here are some examples of what I am looking for: Phillips Andover, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, St.Paul's, and Choate. So yes, mostly GLADCHEMMS. Please do not try to tell me about other "hidden gem" schools. I wish I could explore more but my mother said she will only pay for what she deems as "the top". There is no point in trying to change her mind either, but honestly, I am fine with what she wants, now it's only time to see what suits ME the best.</p>

<p>I would like to attend a school that has friendly people, and the students aren't all "rich and spoiled preppy kids of buisnessmen." I feel that if I went to a school like that I would feel really horrible because my family is not as wealthy as other boarding school student's, and I would hate to be treated differently because of my social class. A fencing team would also be nice, and a good Literature program. </p>

<p>Oh, and like said before, I am still worried about whether I am "special" enough so that the admissions can tell me apart from other applicants. I feel that I need a special hook...</p>

2

<p>Don’t worry about that “special hook”. Even kids with a hook don’t get in.
Since you are only looking at GLADCHEMMS and like fencing consider applying to Lawrenceville. I’m going to definitely tell you to consider Hotchkiss :slight_smile: I had good feelings there and if you like a somewhat rural area Hotchkiss is nice. If fencing is something you’d like to continue see if the GLADCHEMMS schools have fencing facilities near by. If they do you could ask the schools if they’d be okay with you continuing your sport there. In the end it’s going to up to you because the feelings I had for hotchkiss and st.paul’s might not be the ones you have.</p>

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<p>Cate and Thacher are worth a look. They’re GLADCHEMMS level, it just they’re on the west coast and some aren’t willing to explore both east and west. Both have acceptance rates in the teens, so it’s not like they’d be safety schools. But yeah, visit their websites and such just to make sure you want to fly out. Again, not really hidden gems, just in the west as opposed to east.</p>

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<p>Because I’m biased, I have to recommend Choate to you. :slight_smile: The campus is great; everybody was very nice and welcoming when I visited. I guess you could kind of tell which students were probably wealthier, but as I said, everyone was extremely enthusiastic and friendly. From what I could tell, their English program is fantastic, but I’m not sure if Choate has fencing.</p>

<p>If you are really into fencing, I believe Exeter offers it. I could be mistaken, but I have a friend who goes there, and she did fencing as one of her sports and enjoyed it. I personally did not much like Exeter when I visited it, but I know it’s a wonderful school!</p>

<p>The only other one I visited is Andover, and I would highly recommend that you consider it. It is most definitely a top-notch school, and although I went in the summer when school was not in session, I had a great experience meeting my tour guide and an AO.</p>

<p>All the schools you listed are great options; if you live nearby, I would recommend visiting to get a feel for the school. I never got the chance to see it myself, but I second confusedonhades suggestion, Hotchkiss is another great school! At one of my interviews, the alumni told me that with these schools, like GLADCHEMS, you basically can’t go wrong!</p>

5

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<p>At any selective school, the kids may be nice, but don’t kid yourself that there is not significant class consciousness. At all the schools you’ve mentioned, 2/3 of the kids will be full pay, including some “rich and spoiled preppy kids of buisnessmen.” </p>

<p>Among the 1/3 of the kids receiving FA, many will try to hide that they are receiving FA. </p>

<p>The kids are not in-your-face about their family’s wealth, but it comes out inevitably when they mention what they will be doing during school breaks, or in what they clothes are hanging in their dorm room closets, or the fact that academic buildings have the same name as their last name.</p>

<p>Here is a relevant article about income disparity at elite prep schools:
<a href=“For Minority Students at Elite New York Private Schools, Admittance Doesn’t Bring Acceptance - The New York Times”>For Minority Students at Elite New York Private Schools, Admittance Doesn’t Bring Acceptance - The New York Times;

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<p>I would recommend you to consider schools such as Cate and Thacher, as ThisOnekid has mentioned. Probably they are not on your parents’ list of GLADCHEMS. But the main reason is that they are in the West Coast and thus not mentioned as often as their peers in NE. We found they have probably the nicest and most humble students. They are as competitive to get in, if not more, as top schools on your list in the East (14% at Thacher this year) and definitely not hidden gems.</p>