<p>One thing that I wanted to clarify was that I believed those rich, elite boarding schools were right on the money that they spend a big chunk of their cash reserve/endowment on extracurricular activities and sports. If you think about it, many boarding schools, richer or poorer, do reasonably well in supporting students academically. And as I have elaborated in [url="<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1550335-ssat-sat.html"]SSAT-to-SAT[/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1550335-ssat-sat.html"]SSAT-to-SAT[/url</a>], SAT performance of most students are “largely” determined even before they set their feet on the campus, regardless of the schools they choose. A smart kid with extracurricular/sports talent may look for opportunities for diverse enrichment activities, and rich schools can cater to their palates.</p>