<p>Why are you all applying to prep schools?</p>
<p>I've always wondered why parents spend 20k on secondary education.</p>
<p>20k? That would be a bargain. :) My school technically cost more than 30k a year. And my boyfriend attended one of the major prep day schools in a major East Coast city, which cost his parents nearly as much as my boarding school cost my scholarship fund. (I think about a third of prep school students are on financial aid like I was, at least at boarding school. At many schools with good endowments the average grant is the full cost of tuition, which means that a significant plurality of students don't pay a cent. I was fortunate enough to be one of those students.) I have another friend who took out loans herself (as a high school student) to attend the National Cathedral School. We're in our mid-20s now and she has a fantastic job that takes her around the world and pays well. She's still paying off her loans from high school, and plans to be doing so for at least another few years.</p>
<p>Why do some parents and students make so many sacrifices just to go to a prep school? Because going to a school where you're happy and challenged makes a difference, not just for your high school education but for your entire life. And while some people feel that way in regular high schools, many do not. The right prep school can provide an intellectual and emotional community, greater opportunities to interact with faculty, a cohort that is more focused on academics, and (in the case of many boarding schools) the chance to expand your horizons by living with people from a more diverse collection of backgrounds. When I was a freshman in high school I wanted to go into research medicine, travel to developing countries, work in Africa, go to a top college, learn languages. I used to read books on infectious disease and epidemiology in my spare time, and started an AIDS peer education network in my area. At my regular school this made me an outsider--someone who cared too much about learning and about volunteering. At my prep school this made me just another passionate student.</p>
<p>Be aware that by 'prep school' I don't necessarily mean private school. There are many terrible private schools out there, and there are many very good public prep schools out there. Two of my siblings attended IMSA (a public magnet boarding school) and had a wonderful experience there. Now that I go to Duke I am acquainted with a number of people who attended NCSSM, most of whom speak glowingly about their experience there in the same way many people who attended private boarding schools talk about theirs.</p>
<p>The prep schools I'm looking at are about $40,000 per year;. Thank God for financial aid.</p>
<p>Naoka was very eloquent in answering your question. If you are still wondering, take a look at study conducted by the Association of Boarding Schools (TABS): <a href="http://www.schools.com/theTruth/truth2.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.schools.com/theTruth/truth2.html</a> . Here is an article on bs also outlining benefits: <a href="http://www.schools.com/article.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.schools.com/article.html</a> . The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) also articulates the benefits of independent school: <a href="http://www.nais.org/admission/index.cfm?itemnumber=435&sn.ItemNumber=142472%5B/url%5D">http://www.nais.org/admission/index.cfm?itemnumber=435&sn.ItemNumber=142472</a></p>
<p>Of course, that doesn't mean that prep school is the right choice for every student and in every situation. There are many great public schools! And not all private schools offer the advantages in the articles above.</p>
<p>Does going to a prep school help your chances when applying to the ivy league, or other colleges for that matter? i go to a "normal" public high school in a town with only one private, overrated school. i try and distinguish myself, so would that count?</p>
<p>snoopy, do not think of prep school as a stepping stone to the ivies.</p>
<p>its not that i think of them that way, i have absolutely no interest in going to one. im just wondering if an education paid for is actually better than one from a public school.</p>
<p>It is. With that 40k price tag you get the best teachers money can buy.</p>
<p>Plus, countless peer connections that are undoubtedly priceless. Your friends won't KNOW someone in the law firm they'll own the dang thing.</p>
<p>Snoopy, I think what you get from a prep school is priceless, an awesome education. Can you get this at a public school? maybe...........there are some very nice public schools in the nation, that offer an awesome education. However, they are few and far between, and definitely not in my city. I happen to believe that high school is where you get your education and college is where you work toward refining it. Without that education, imo you would be hard pressed to have a solid foundation for college/ professional school, etc. However, just because you go to a top prep school doesn't mean you're going to take advantage of it. I suppose slakers exist at all schools.</p>
<p>personally, i feel that it not only depends upon the quality of the school but the quality of the student. although i may not attend one of the best public schools in the nation, far from it, i think that what you take advantage of also counts. yes, you get the best teachers, best environment, best pupils when you attend a prep school, that doesnt mean you get anything out of it, so i guess i agree with you, prepparent, on that point. but when prep school isn't an option, taking advantage of the public school system can benefit you.</p>
<p>Snoopy, you got it! If you walk the talk, you're probably getting a great education where you're at. Good Luck toyou</p>
<p>snoopy, forgot one issue about bs's and their matrics. By and larger they do pretty well, I also think thatmany of the top schools are comfortable with the boarder because of their experience away from home. To me it's once less issue the schools have to concern themselves with. They know that the student has had experience away from home and there should be no issues of leaving school early or how a student adjusts to college life away from home.</p>
<p>I attend private school because my parents make me. My family has been very fortunate and we have been able to afford private education. They feel that it's worth it partially because of my sister's positive experience at the same school (which is why I had no choice over which school I attended) and partially because of the public school I would be attending otherwise.</p>
<p>Our public school system has been declining for years. If you look in the local paper, 50% of my former grade (I went to public elementary school) is on high honor roll. 40% are on honor roll/honorable mention. And the other 10% are most likely doing drugs.</p>
<p>Bottom line? My parents made me.</p>
<p>I just want to say to those who have a choice as to which school they attend: you are very lucky to have that choice. I never had that choice, and though it turned out to be a very positive experience, I still wish I had had the chance to look at other schools and perhaps choose one for myself.</p>
<p>Remember that private school does not always equal good. There was a recent New York Times article about how many parochial schools are falling behind public schools in math and science. Not all private schools are prep schools.</p>
<p>Why a boarding school education?</p>
<p>When you look at public education carefully, it has always been about training a student to perform to a standard on a stnadardized test - sit the student in the classroom; lecture; test; repeat until age 18. It turns out functional people for a functional world.</p>
<p>To the extent that a child bucks the system of their own will and seek knowledge and wisdom, they will find it. But nobody helps lead them to the truth (which is more than the bunch of facts taught in public education).</p>
<p>However, the typical product of a public education is a student who learns to earn a credential (HS Diploma) that is used to get yet another credential (BS)until that leaves them allegedly qualified for work in the real world. They are on a treadmill where learning is a tool to get some material reward they are currently looking at. They are not learning because it is intrinsically interesting, nor because they are curious. That has been systematically drummed out of them (along with much of their native enthusiasm) because they learn exactly what the teacher lectures and have little input as to the direction of the learning.</p>
<p>Your better boarding schools are structured in a way where the smaller classroom can allow open discussion of a subject progressing in a way that the student (through their interaction in the discussion) can relate to creating real meaning to the student. This creates more student enthusiasm to learn. And a motivated student works harder and learns more.</p>
<p>These schools seek to create an engaged partner in learning as opposed to a passive client. Learning becomes a more intrinsically interesting activity, with real social engagement. Yeah, off in the distance, a measuring stick (high level college admission) awaits. And yes, grades and test scores are always there and on the student's mind, but these are badges of honor as these students are confident in their knowledge and their ability and desire to learn more. They are not on the public education treadmill where the speed and direction is set for them. They are running as fast as their heart desires in a direction only constrained by basic fences defining the subject area they are exploring. The public education model measures how far and fast you completed your cycle on the treadmill. The better boarding school model asks the student what they found exploring the field they were exposed to.</p>
<p>And beyond the classroom, the better boarding school model educates the whole person which public education is not programmed for nor is allowed to do. Residential life allows the integration of classroom education with social education in the boarding community and sports team environments, assuring that a complete person is being built. The teachers/coaches/house parents can better know a student and what motivates him/her when they spend more hours of the day with them. Yes, you can get that kind of social integration in a small town school where everyone lives close together, goes to church together, plays sports together, etc. but that is the exception these days, mostly limited to rural America.</p>
<p>I only hope for my daughter that all of the years of mind-numbing indoctrination to the standard passive learning model in public education hasn't completely paralyzed the native curiosity about the world that every child has when they are young and don't know better.</p>
<p>Boarding School Tuition ---> $35K - $40K per year.
Other related costs (travel, spending, etc) ---> $3K - $5K per year.
A child who wants to learn for a lifetime and contribute to the community ---> Priceless.</p>
<p>^I like that thought GoalieDad! Personally (quite new to this whole world as i am) i think Prep School is an experience filled with learning in a supportive and enriching environment, not so much as a passageway to Harvard etc. Possibly you don't need a Prep School to do that, but for many (including myself) it is the right thing to do. Basically Goaliedad said it perfectly....</p>
<p>ok, first of all, don't go to a prep school if you think it'll look better for colleges, because it doesn't. trust me, it's better to be the top student at an overcrowded public school that it is to be top 50 in a prep school. that really shouldn't be a concern, all that matters is the education and life experience.</p>
<p>why i chose prep school:
1)smaller class sizes. the hs in my town has about 25-35 kids per class. blech.</p>
<p>2)teachers with degrees. most of the time i spent in middle school, i'd ask a teacher something, they couldn't answer me. or, they just wouldn't know their stuff [i.e., my science teacher insisted on pronouncing fungi as "fun-gee". no joke.]</p>
<p>3)smarter peers. even when i was in the top level class in public school, i felt weighed down by the other kids in my class, and i always felt every class was moving so slow and i wasn't actually learning anything most of the day. prep schools offer kids who i can look up to and learn from, which will help you more than any teacher can.</p>
<p>4)boarding experience. living with your friends, 8 months of the year? exactly. you will become close friends with everyone within the few months, and they will all be friends for life. plus, you don't waste time driving between school, soccer practice, music lessons, friend's house, etc. [which i know saves me at least an hour a day]</p>
<p>5)independence. you get to live out in the world, basically on your own.</p>
<p>why do kids go to college? seems to me that all i might need in life is how to work at a restaurant. why spend 40k a year at harvard anyway?</p>
<p>it's no different, you go to college for superior studies, and that's why kids want to go to prep school. it's for the kids who don't want to just cruise through hs, but actually get a lot out of it.</p>