Considering Elite NE Boarding Schools for Son (Taft, Choate, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, etc.) Any advice?
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Anonymous
| I'm considering sending my kid to one of these schools. We know we can get our child in through connections. He's very smart, scores in the 95th percentile on the standardized exams. Does anyone have any experience at Taft, Choate, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, Loomis? Are they as rigorous as the top DC schools? How do they impact college admissions? |
Anonymous
| DCUM is notoriously anti-boarding. Prepare for people asking you why you hate your kid or why your kid hates you. |
Anonymous
|
The competition is more intense at these schools, and I think a lot of DC families don't understand this. These schools draw from top students across the world.
The top kids of these schools are entering freshman year familiar with calculus, physics, biology, and chemistry. They’ve learned to read and write at very sophisticated levels. Many of them hail from places with incredibly aggressive curriculums such as China, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. Even the rich white kids often transferred from the most rigorous NYC day schools such as Trinity, Spence, Horace Mann, or Collegiate. If your kid is the traditional "advanced" DMV kid (which means he took Geometry in 8th grade) then he will likely settle into the median at one of these schools and end up at a college like NYU or Northeastern. If you're worried about college matriculation results, then these schools are likely to hurt you if your kid doesn't graduate in the top decile. Competition among the top students in elite boarding schools is cutthroat. If your kid is ok with being in the median, then they'll likely be just fine. If you want your kid to graduate as a tippy-top student or cum laude, make sure he's already writing at an 11th grade level when he enters. Make sure he has a very solid foundation in Algebra II, Pre-Calc, and a few calculus concepts. These schools move at a rapid pace and there's an inherent expectation that they have mastered prerequisite material. There's very little "review" done in the classroom, and teachers aren't shy about giving highly conceptual "story" problems in the math and science courses. |
Anonymous
This sub is filled with out-of-touch people who don't understand that day school isn't a good option for everyone. Some families are divorced. Some parents travel a ton and can't watch over their kids constantly. |
Anonymous
Why have kids if you can’t spend a lot of time with them? |
Anonymous
Because people's life circumstances change. This is just an absurd question. |
Anonymous
Wow, no one considering boarding on this website has ever heard such an insightful question. Thank you for taking up our time. |
Anonymous
| It is laughable that you think your connections can get him in. I would love to see the surprise on your face when decisions come out. |
Anonymous
I'm OP. We have family members on the board of several of these schools and he's also a recruited athlete with coaches' interest at several of them. |
Anonymous
| A friend of mine has a recent Deerfield grad. My friend is from a very wealthy and privileged background and has raised her kids similarly. She’s from the Northeast and well acquainted with private school and boarding school culture. And even she was disgusted by the blatant wealth at Deerfield and how it really guided who ruled the school. |
Anonymous
If you have all these connections, why don’t you ask them instead of us? |
Anonymous
Truth hurts, I know. |
Anonymous
Go be poor somewhere else and let us talk about Deerfield without useless interruption from proles |
Anonymous
More rigorous. Will hurt college admissions. Same goes for every competitive boarding school. Only go for the education and experience. |
Anonymous
Good luck. I have seen these same connections fall through for a lot of kids. Does your family really like you? Is your athlete top tier? |