Boarding School in MidAtlantic area

[Anonymous]

We want to look into the possibility of boarding school for our son.

We would prefer all boys but open to coed also. We want to limit the search to somewhere driveable so maybe no more than 3 hours from DC. DS is above average, happy, social, independent kid. He does best being around a structured schedule. We are looking for 9th so high school but open to starting earlier in 8th if there is a 6-12th school.

I would love to get some recommendations of schools you know or if you have a child currently at a boarding school close to this area and what their experiences have been like. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Woodberry Forest in Orange, VA or St. Andrew’s in Delaware are the top 2 that come to mind

[Anonymous]

Georgetown Prep in Rockville MD is a great school and has a very structured schedule if you are open to Catholic/Jesuit schools.

[Anonymous]

Good a I nswers so far.
Serious question- what would be a reason parents want to send their kids to boarding school? I don't know any kids that go so curious for the reasons if you don't mind.
Thank you

[Anonymous]

Might be slightly too far but in central NJ there is: Lawrenceville, Hun, and the Pennington School. All very different, with Lawrenceville being the most rigorous and hard to get into. They are all about a 3-3.5 hour drive. Amtrak plus uber also possible.

[Anonymous]

I went to boarding school. Here's a quick pros/cons from my POV:

Pro: one of the most intense and rewarding academic experiences I ever had. My first two years of college were easy compared to what I had experienced at boarding school.

Pro: Made a lot of friends and still keep in touch with many of my classmates to this day. A lot of people think boarding school is just for snobby rich kids. While there were some kids came from wealthy backgrounds, there were also a lot of kids who were on financial aid like me (and a fair number of my classmates who were on full scholarship). There was way more economic diversity, not to mention international diversity, at boarding school compared to my prior high school and I never had anyone make me feel that being on FA made me second class.

Con: Paradoxically, I'm going to cite the rigorous academics that I mentioned earlier as a Con. Shortly after I arrived to start my 10th grade, I realized that my prior school's curriculum hadn't really prepared me as well as I thought it did. Went from having all As to barely managing a B- average that first semester. Fortunately I learned to step up my academic game with a lot of help from my teachers, but that first semester, I was convinced I was one step away from flunking two of my classes. It was a very humbling experience, but ultimately I learned about resilience and how to bounce back. And I'm thankful that I learned that lesson in high school vs college.

Con: not going to sugarcoat the fact that there was hazing that went on in some of the dorms. Boys dorms were more physical hazing, while in the girls dorms it was more emotional/mental hazing (mind games like singling out one girl for silent treatment by majority of her dorm for weeks on end until she ended up withdrawing). The dorm I lived in was relatively tame, but I definitely heard stories from other kids about hazing incidents that were more egregious. My junior year, a bunch of senior boys were expelled at the beginning of the school year and the school began adopting a no-tolerance policy.

I'm often asked if there was a lot of drugs or alcohol. There was some but frankly I know for a fact from my hometown friends that there was a lot more of that going on at my old school with weekend parties, something to which boarding students can't do. Kids at boarding school would try to sneak back alcohol or marijuana when they came back from break. But given the intensity of the academics, if you tried getting drunk or stoned on a regular basis, you likely ended up flunking out.

Would I do boarding school over again if some fairy godmother came down and offered to wave her wand and give me the chance for a do-over? On balance I would make that choice. Can I say that every single one of my classmates would do so as well? Probably not. There were lots of kids for whom boarding school was not a good fit and hated their experience. But I'm profoundly grateful that I was given the opportunity and if my own kids wanted to go to boarding school, I would support them in that choice.

Hope this helps.

Anonymous wrote:Good a I nswers so far.
Serious question- what would be a reason parents want to send their kids to boarding school? I don't know any kids that go so curious for the reasons if you don't mind.
Thank you

[Anonymous]

Boys Latin in Baltimore has a small boarding program that's new, and from what I understand, it's mostly domestic boarding. Just providing info, but I'm sure someone will come here and say BL is the second choice school to Gilman and only for lax bros.

[Anonymous]

Tell us about your kid OP. Recs could vary depending on your account.

[Anonymous]

I went to Lawrenceville a lifetime ago. It is very well resourced, and had small classes, nice dorms, and good faculty. The only downside for me was that it was very sports- focused and I was only slightly sports focused. Also, the tuition is exorbitant compared with when I went.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to add a few other reasons for going to boarding school. Reclassing and entering as a freshman, sophomore or junior is not that uncommon at boarding school and its no just for incredible athletes who are not very academic. It offers a real boost to kids confidence - socially and academically. Boarding school is like college lite in terms of independence... there is a dorm parent checking you in and you must attend all of your classes, but no one is going to make you use your time wisely in terms of studying. Many schools double in size sophomore year, so it's not odd to come in as sophomore. You get a ton of time back (to sleep, socialize, study or train) if you do any sports because almost everything is on campus, so you aren't getting up at 4am to hit morning swim practice or driving for 45+ minutes through rush hour traffic to get to afternoon club practice. The lead time for applying to boarding schools is long... you've got to realize you have want to make a change about 10-12 months in advance. Its tricky to figure out where you want to go, miss days of school locally to tour and interview at schools. Demonstrated interest in a boarding school is impactful for admissions. All to say, if you have an 8th, 9th or 10th grader and their current school doesn't feel like its the right fit for them, see if it still doesn't feel right next September and give it a real look. If your kid is invested and wants to go, it could be a reset and life changing in a really positive way.

[Anonymous]

If you are looking for all boys sounds like Woodberry would be the best fit. If you are willing to go a little further north, people love Avon Old Farms

[Anonymous]

Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Episcopal in Alexandria?

[Anonymous]

Many all-boys boarding schools are pretty small (<200 students). For schools that are about the size of top boarding schools (400-800+), Woodberry Forest is the only all-boys one that's mid-Atlantic. Georgetown Prep and St. Albans offer limited boarding options and are all boys.

If you're looking at coed, Episcopal is local and part of the Mid-Atlantic Boarding School Group, along with St. Andrew's (DE), Mercersburg Academy (PA), Peddie, and Blair (both NJ). EHS is boarding-only, while the others have day students as well as boarders. The group will do an area info session at Episcopal likely in the fall. It's a great opportunity to talk to each of the schools and see if there might be a fit without having to go to NJ, DE, or PA. As another posted mentioned. Lawrenceville is also in NJ and is the southernmost member of the Eight Schools Association (Choate, Deerfield, Andover, etc). None of those schools are all-boys, but they are all among the top-ranked high schools in the country.

[Anonymous]

Agree that Woodbury Forest (all boys) and St Andrews are the best options that are drivable. I have a DC at one and they love it. Go and tour. I was not impressed with any of the middle school or 8th grade options. Wait for 9th unless there is a family situation where this would be the most stable option.

[Anonymous]

Search this forum for a recent thread about St Andrews- it has some great information. We are a SAS family and it has been transformative for our child. Our kid really wanted to go and — DC has always been the type to want to try new things and be independent and SAS is the perfect warm environment for that. Plus it’s only 2 hours away so it’s easy for us to get there for games or parents’ weekends.

For the PP who wants to know why kids go- I went to a very rigorous boarding school in New England and, while it wasn’t always a picnic, it helped me to figure things out for myself, bond very deeply with the kids I lived with, and certainly probably over prepared me for college. Unlike the other poster, I did not see or experience hazing, though it doesn’t totally surprise me to hear that. I enjoyed my experience and I understood why my kid wanted to give it a try. The decision has worked out very well for our family.