2nd tier NE Boarding Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of boarding schools have better financial aid packages than day schools. I am thinking about looking into boarding schools that aren't too far away because I don't know if I would get enough FA at a local private school.

Same here. One boarding school I looked at had a financial calculator. I entered in our hhi and got an estimated contribution of $25k. That's cheaper than my local private highschool option so we will be definitely bring this up for discussion with or son as a possibility next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) Boarding school is a unique experience that cannot be replicated by a day school.
2) The "second tier" schools, as you call them, are still excellent. It's not unlike college. The NMHs of the world are akin to Kenyon, Wesleyan etc. Still fantastic places to get a great education.
3) Like colleges, each school has a unique profile and you want to find the school that is the right "fit." Exeter and Andover are huge. Groton is very small. Deerfield is very isolated geographically. Tabor is where you go if you want to sail competitively. Choate's theater program is incredible. etc. Miss Porter's is the most competitive girls' school. You get the drift.

NMH is a decent school but back in the day it was also where you went to party--and I mean PARTY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to one years ago. There was a combination of "old boys" whose families have gone there forever, students with parents working abroad or in remote places or places with poor schools, and "speciality" students who were there to do something (usually a sport but sometimes theater, language, etc.) on a higher level than their local schools could accommodate.

None of these situations applies to me now that I have school-age kids, and I also don't have $60k lying around, so we are not considering it at all.

Spouse went to boarding school, and I'd agree with this assessment and add two additional reasons to the list--some kids want to escape home and some parents have little interest in parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Boarding school is a unique experience that cannot be replicated by a day school.
2) The "second tier" schools, as you call them, are still excellent. It's not unlike college. The NMHs of the world are akin to Kenyon, Wesleyan etc. Still fantastic places to get a great education.
3) Like colleges, each school has a unique profile and you want to find the school that is the right "fit." Exeter and Andover are huge. Groton is very small. Deerfield is very isolated geographically. Tabor is where you go if you want to sail competitively. Choate's theater program is incredible. etc. Miss Porter's is the most competitive girls' school. You get the drift.

^^ yes. And Mercersburg is an incredible community with a commitment to diversity. Boarding school is an amazing experience - it's not about "tiers", it's about kids spreading their wings, and growing as a whole person. It is an amazing gift to give your kid, if he/she wants to go and you find the right fit. It is not, as a PP said, about parents who are abdicating parenting.

[Anonymous]

Given the stories out of boarding schools one has to wonder about abandoning the development of our children to employees of an organization. I'd rather spend the money, and yes we have it, to raise our children. But, then again, when you consider the quality of some parents, it's probably an improvement over their home environment. So if you're that "committee" serving momma running down to Bourbon Steak and if you're that scotch soaked daddy who lives at the Country Club go ahead, send them. They'll thank you.

[Anonymous]

If you weren't born rich OP you just wouldn't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you weren't born rich OP you just wouldn't get it.

Not the case at all. 1/3 of my school has some sort of financial aid, PP.

If you don't bother exploring it, you won't get it.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have considered the same question.

I knew someone who went to a second-tier boarding school and then on to a third-tier state school.

A little hard to comprehend.

[Anonymous]

I guess it's a cultural thing in some subsets of the population. Frankly, I think it s un-American. Public education is a foundation of American society. To me the popularity of boarding and private schools shows a divestment of public education on behalf of the upper class.

[Anonymous]

Many boarding and private schools predate the establishment of public education in the United States. Scores of great American leaders and ordinary people went to private schools. How can they be un American?

Each to its own. But let's not resort to such silly statements. No one is any more or any less American for going through the private or public school route.

Anonymous wrote:I guess it's a cultural thing in some subsets of the population. Frankly, I think it s un-American. Public education is a foundation of American society. To me the popularity of boarding and private schools shows a divestment of public education on behalf of the upper class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have considered the same question.

I knew someone who went to a second-tier boarding school and then on to a third-tier state school.

A little hard to comprehend.

I don't understand why you would subject yourself to knowing someone like that! You must be very brave.

[Anonymous]

One of the foundations of American society is that we are a country that has always cherished the freedom of the people to make choices and decisions on their own and not follow a state mandated direction. Celebration of the free will and one could argue that the evolution of American society throughout history is one of moving closer towards a more applicable state of free will (the extension of civil rights to many previously discriminated groups, the growing acceptance of homosexuality in today's society are two good examples). I'd say the ability to chose between schooling options is to be more cherished as American than the notion that public education is a foundation of American society.

Last but not least, your claim would have more merit if we all lived in completely integrated (racially and socially) communities where rich and poor kids go to school together. But our public education sector hardly reflects that, outside of small towns and certain charter/magnet programs. Good luck in telling Americans their local schools are un American.

Anonymous wrote:I guess it's a cultural thing in some subsets of the population. Frankly, I think it s un-American. Public education is a foundation of American society. To me the popularity of boarding and private schools shows a divestment of public education on behalf of the upper class.

[Anonymous]

I'm with you OP. One of the things that shocked me the most when we moved to the Langley district was that people went to lower tier boarding schools. Langley is one of the best public schools in America. Why do you feel the need to go to
Mercersburg or Suffield Academy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. One of the things that shocked me the most when we moved to the Langley district was that people went to lower tier boarding schools. Langley is one of the best public schools in America. Why do you feel the need to go to
Mercersburg or Suffield Academy?

Perhaps to look more competitive than they would look coming from top competition at Langley.

[Anonymous]

I'm from England where boarding was once very common and is increasingly less so - many of the famous boarding schools are now filled with foreign students (which is obviously fine but just different to the previous student body) and some have shut down.
For older kids I can see how it could be great, for the right personality. I have often thought that American summer camps, where kids go away for 2 months, aren't that dissimilar - that is equivalent to a boarding school term in England.
For younger kids, assuming they have a happy home life, it just seems a bit sad. I once read an article by a writer who had boarded since around 7 years old and he said that he was well-looked after and teachers were kind, but still, he lived for most of the year in a place where nobody loved him. That is what I now mainly think of when I think of boarding school - that however nice the school, it means your child spends every day without the people who love him/her.