@jwalche Which BS has your child chosen?
@CindyLWho She hasn’t even applied yet 
Her top choice for 2016 application is Emma Willard. We will even visit it in the Fall even though it’s a bit difficult. She will apply a few more all girls school and bunch of co-ed top schools too since we have a very low hope for admission at Emma, or any schools, being a not hooked Asian girl with FA needs. She might also apply Interlochen, if she get a good impression there. She is there now for Summer camp .
Actually, her artwork will definitely be seen as a “hook” by some schools. Just make sure to send a portfolio of her work and reach out to the head of the various art departments (first by email, then when you go for interviews).
@ProudLoomisDad while I agree on some aspect with
There is a big difference between I and Chua. Unlike Chua whom I despise, I strongly believe that people learn best when they are happy and can’t learn well when they are stressed. So I focus on keeping daughter’s happiness level high enough while learning. If, for any reason, she gets upset or stressed, I simply let her quit and call it a day, regardless of my feeling, undesirable positive reinforcement, or whatever Asian work ethic demands.
@Daykidmom Thanks. I will do that. Sadly it seems arts is generally a pseudo hook at best, according to many postings on CC. But hopefully there are a few schools that can really use better ceramic/sculpture photos on their student works page. Daughter has been working on couple of pretty advanced sculptures to be completed this Fall.
I’m reading this as I’m about to take my HS junior daughter to start Interlochen Academy of the Arts BS today - a unique sort of BS. Would have selfishly preferred to have her at home on the West Coast, but she is passionate about Interlochen and the arts, and Interlochen offers an arts environment that her current academically excellent PHS can’t match. This is her decision. She is ready to be away and I’m excited for her and for the educational and growth opportunities she will have. So, in our case, that’s why BS. I’m “all about” education and learning. Two older children are also passionate about learning and are in top ranked private colleges, but honestly, after going through that ridiculous top college application rat race, I’m over that. I don’t know whether a year or two of HS at Interlochen will help her “top college” prospects and I don’t care. She will learn a lot and grow, and that’s what I care about. Plus, I went to a 4-year college at 16 and she’s 16. Soooo … she’s not much younger than I was when I went away.
@Hoyaparent Thank you for the post and good luck to your daughter!
@Hoyaparent I’m a parent of an IAA graduate. Absolutely, the best decision we ever made. It is a magical place!
Very, very well said. Thank you. We are on our way home from visiting our son, and it was a tough separation this time. I needed a reminder of why we opted to let him go away. You nailed it. It is without a doubt a tremendous sacrifice, but we, too, are ineffably grateful amidst our pain.
Conversation I had with my son recently:
We were discussing someone in his dorm, an incoming freshman boy that isn’t getting along with the student population thus far.
Curious, I asked why?
“He really isn’t that smart, and he’s got an ego - thinks of himself as a player. That just doesn’t fly around here.”
Intellect, hard work, sportsmanship, humility, service. That’s what makes you popular at his school. DS is immersed in that environment 24/7, and already his personality and character are stretching.
His teachers, counsellors, coaches and peers all support each other in those pursuits at all levels - it’s peer pressure in the best possible sense.
No matter how hard I try, I just can’t imagine that same situation in any public school.
Best decision we ever made.
You will become even more confident of that, PLD, as you and your son continue along the BS journey. I found myself saying or thinking that so many times along the way for so many reasons: the independence, the quality of teaching, the increase in confidence and maturity, the diverse and supportive community, the opportunities to stretch and try new things, the honor code, the ease of interaction between adults and kids, the simple beauty of the place.
And I’m continuing to say it now as I listen to FormerCK describe his first weeks at college. He is so well-prepared, and the culture of service and support he lived in at BS is just part of him now. He knows how to organize and prioritize his work; he knows where his focus should be; he knows how to tune out distractions; he knows how to work and play hard; he knows how to ask for and give help; and he knows how to make a bed. He chose a college with a strong honor code and a culture of cooperative competition, so he is slipping rather seamlessly into his new home and loving it.
BS enabled him to hit the ground running at college. Best decision we ever made. Amen.
I sent mine to boarding school for junior high because she needed the social environment and emotional supports available there. We had weekly meetings with her and home-visit weekends/holidays/breaks. It was the best decision we’ve ever made to support her development and the health of our family. She loved it there, too.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned the financial sense of BS for families who are already sending or are set to send their kids to private schools. For my kids, BS among other things was also the option that made most sense financially. We did get “preferential packaging” and merit-based scholarships from local day schools, but none of them were as generous as their BS, and let’s just say after visiting all the schools my kids were a lot less impressed by the day schools. So it became clear that BS was an all-round better choice for us. Not to mention, both kids and parents saved a lot of time (and gas money) from the car rides to ECs while school was in session. The generous FA we received from BS allowed us to be able to spend more comfortably for kids’ summer activities and more importantly money became a much less concern for their college choices.
I’ve been at BS for almost two weeks, and I love it. Teachers have so many fewer students than at public school that they’re able to write detailed comments on everyone’s work. They’re around for help all day. My classmates are insanely smart. Not to mention how fun it is to have my friends just a few minutes’ walk away.
P.S.I feel like I’ve been here for a month—in a good way.
We live in New York City and my children had the great fortune of attending a small, nurturing N-8 private school that is academically rigorous at a developmentally appropriate level. My son is now in 7th grade and we have begun looking at boarding schools for him. The reasons are many and include those posted by others. I would add: 1) to get away from the social culture of the local independent school community 2) he is a gregarious child who thrives on the presence of other children including when they are study buddies 3) to be able to play high school sports on a “thirds” team rather than being blocked out by the number of kids who have been playing at a high level for years 4) to have a manageable level of homework 5) to be at a school that academically is at a “just right” level of challenge in a community in which the schools my husband and I attended have ramped up expectations to a level not consistent with still being a young adult. (My daughter’s 9th grade high school history textbook was more challenging than what I had in AP courses or at Williams College, for example). My husband recently commented that selfishly he wished our son would be staying home for high school and quickly added that of course he wanted to do what was best for the child and not for us. I get the question of Why Boarding School often. I have thought of replying Why are you sending your child to a day school?
My son is at a boarding school because he wanted to go there. We live in a small town in the Midwest where everything revolves athletics. My son loves to learn. He wanted to be challenged. He wanted a more diverse group of friends, which his particular boarding school has. He wanted amazing international travel opportunities. He wanted to be at a place where it is cool to be smart and be a leader.
I miss him like crazy, but as a parent, it is my duty to do what is in his best interests. Letting out the kite string is tough, but isn’t that our goal as parents? I didn’t “ship him off” to boarding school. I listened to his dreams and helped him make them come true.
Many people in my town are shocked I “sent him away.” But these are people who have never seen how much a boarding school has to offer, people who can not or will not think outside the box.
I’m a single mom and I know my son interacts daily with educated, compassionate, ambitious, role models. This gives me peace of mind. He’s like a sponge-- soaking up every opportunity he is given in CT.
Is boarding school the right thing for every kid? Nope. But it is the gift of a lifetime for my son.
I am not a parent, I am a former boarding school student. I did not ‘get sent’ there like a parcel, but me and my parents talked the thing through and decided that was the best thing for me. Good academics, great sport and music opportunities, and an amazing feel of community that you simply don’t get at a regular high school. Personally, I loved it, and most of my friends there did too. Every child is different, and for some boarding is the best thing to do. One of my best friends come from an army family so to give her stability, she boarded since she was 7, and now her parents want her to go to a local day school for Junior and Senior year and she is totally against it!
Catching up on this thread, and want to add for any other NJ families, that imho most parents who say “Why would you send your child to BS when you are in a top public school district?” Or “Our public school is just like a private school” need to actually visit the BSs. Because they are not in any way comparable. Our top 10 NJ high school may have “similar” college placement stats, but the PS’s average GPA for accepted students at an Ivy is a full grade point above my child’s boarding school class. (We have access to both school’s Naviance accounts) In other words, colleges recognize and account for the additional rigor of a boarding school education and the lack of grade inflation and do not equate the two systems. My daughter was in all honors and pre-AP classes freshman year at our public high school, and she was well liked and a solid student but not a standout. At her BS, the smaller discussion based classes play to her strengths. Her first month in boarding school, she said to me “Mom, I never realized I wasn’t REALLY learning at my old school.” Common core and standardized testing has made it nearly impossible for public schools to teach subjects in any meaningful way. We entered BS with the knowledge that her college options might actually diminish slightly at BS but happily that has not turned out to be the case. Because her BS is such a great fit for her and she has been successful there, she is applying to more competitive schools than she likely would have had she graduated from our public school. Some students who get over looked in a large public school class and on the town athletic fields, thrive in a small, dynamic BS where every student has the opportunity to be heard and to try new things without having to be “expert” at them by the 4th grade.
Parents that believe boarding schools give an advantage over good public schools think that way to justify the cost. We have several friends and our kids have dozens of friends that went to NJ boarding schools and there doesn’t appear to be any difference where they go to college. The idea that a boarding school kid can have a 1 point lower GPA on a 4 point scale and still get in the same school is ridiculous. My older son’s all boys Catholic school has already had 3 Princeton acceptances, 1 Penn, 1 Cornell and 1 Chapel Hill.
The boarding school differential is a very well nourished myth.
I’m just a youngin, but the point of boarding school @TurnerT is not to get into a better college. It is to get a better education, to grow in character, to become independent. The college counselors also really help pick THE RIGHT college for students, not just the ones on top of a list. I think if you read through the thread, it is obvious to see why people go to boarding school, and the reasons really don’t connect with what you have said. I would encourage you to read it though!