POLL: Is boarding school on the table for your rising 8th grader?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the 24/7 peer pressure front, do any of these schools have a particularly anti-materialistic culture?

Possibly a place like Olney Friends Boarding School in Ohio----
but that's not the interest of so many posters who are looking for the killer edge in this world.

[Anonymous]

Many thanks, PP! DS is well-rounded. He's basically an "A" student, but isn't jaw-droppingly brilliant; he works hard at school and is competitive about grades (and pretty much everything else, really). He's probably somewhat stronger in math than in other areas--he had an easy time with Algebra I last year as a 7th grader and he quite enjoyed it. He's also a strong athlete, but not an amazing one. He plays soccer, basketball and baseball competitively, and typically is the 2nd or 3rd best player on his team. He is truly a team player on the field and puts team success ahead of personal glory to an extent that seems unusual for a kid his age (and really makes DH's chest swell; I'm not sure DH has ever been prouder than hearing DS say in a timeout during the third quarter of a tight basketball game, "Let me take [the other team's star player] so that [DS's team's star player] can save his legs for offense"). DS likes music, but doesn't really seem to have much natural talent for it. He's not really into other fine arts. He likes science/computers quite a lot. Socially, DS seems fairly popular with both boys and girls, and he cares about that popularity more than I would like (but that might not be out of the norm for a middle schooler). He's generally a sweet kid, although not as proactively thoughtful as some of his friends (especially the girls). He interacts well with adults.

Anonymous wrote:I personally don't thi k the local consultants will have much of a clue on boarding schools and would instead recommend you save your money. You can look at www.collegeconfidential.com and go to prep school admissions and do some homework yourself. Also, i would highly recommend the Ten Schools Admissions Association presentation as you will learn a lot from going to one of the local receptions:

Prince George’s County, MD

Sunday, October 24th (3:00-5:00pm)
The Westin Washington National Harbor
171 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745
[phone]

Alexandria, VA

Sunday, October 24th (7:00-9:00pm)
Hilton Alexandria Old Town
1767 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
[phone]

All of the BS have catalogues and web sites and you can look at things at www.boardingschoolreview I think as well. This may help narrow your search as you might want "top" academic schools, only NE schools, schools with perfoming arts, etc. You could also describe your son (without any personal identifiers, such as great at math, plays an instrument, travel soccer, goes to public currently, etc) and I am happy to help suggest some possible fits! There is also nothing better than a visit too, if that is in the cards as the kids do have to interview at each place they apply. You do not have to go there as there are usually local interviews for the bigger, stronger schols with a presence here, or my DC also did one interview by phone too. The phone in school actually accepted him, so it was not a disadvantage at all. But seeing a school up close and personal helps to know if it is a good fit much more so than some highly paid consultant here who may have good insights into the local independent schools but probably is not as close with those not here (Madiera, Episcopal, maybe even Woodberry Forest, G Prep and St Albans excluded).

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

This is neither here nor there, but your kid sounds like a nice boy and I really like the way you describe him ... you sound nice too. Sort of rare on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

You should definitely go to the presentation in Alexandria or PG County. Your son sounds like a well rounded kid that would flourish in any school environment, whether private or public or here or there.

Depending upon his SSAT scores, essays, recs and interviews, he will also be a very strong candidate for the top boarding schools too. If he does well in math, then the SSAT quantitative section should be easy for him. Interacting well with adults is also a plus as there are required interviews.

My DC looked at most of the top boarding schools, coming from one of the "big 3" here in DC. We looked at sizes of the school (they vary greatly and those over 1000 students were less appealing to us, but might be better for others), locations, reputations, college placements, acceptance rates, teachers with advanced degrees, policies (ie internet on, or off at night for example, mandatory study hall, etc), strength of sports programs for the sports DC plays and facilities for those sports/league the school played in, number of Post Grads the school took (will there be a bunch of 18/19 year olds to compete with for spots on teams), curriculum and AP classes offered including how kids are placed into classes (one school where we almost went has little differentiation, all freshman take this class and that class, with differences in language and math only whereas the school we ended up totally allows each student freedom to be where they fit best (so freshman might be in classes with sophomores or juniors or even seniors in some instances)...and much more to compare and contrast as well.

It is hard to know for sure about these places that have these beautiful "view books" and brochures and sound so idyllic. The admissions office people are all polished and articulate too. We looked at it like car salespeople on a lot, they are all trying to make a deal and get you to buy into their school and apply. But that presentation in Alexandria was invaluable and gave us a good starting point to knowing much much more about the whole process.

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much, PPs!

[Anonymous]

didn't read all 27 pages of this post but FWIW, here is my 2 cents. my brothers and i went to Maret from K up until my parents sent us to boarding schools in NE. my brothers are crazy bright and i am not, but we loved our experiences at boarding school. on other words you don't have to be a mature genius to benefit from it. different people can learn different life skills, as w/any life experience. boarding school taught me to manage my time, my studies and interpersonal relationships at an earlier age than most. so by the time college came i didn't freak out and go crazy partying, etc. and we weren't sent away to boarding schools bc we did something bad, it was bc our parents believed it was an incredible opportunity. i think that ideology is really dated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:. . . Also, i would highly recommend the Ten Schools Admissions Association presentation as you will learn a lot from going to one of the local receptions:

Prince George’s County, MD

Sunday, October 24th (3:00-5:00pm)
The Westin Washington National Harbor
171 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745
[phone]

Alexandria, VA

Sunday, October 24th (7:00-9:00pm)
Hilton Alexandria Old Town
1767 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
[phone]

We're still several years away from having to make a high school decision, but some of these boarding school options certainly sound interesting (although totally outside our personal experience). How early do parents (and kids?) start attending presentations like the ones listed above? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You should really go the year (or maybe one before) you might apply. That's why they come in the early fall, during that year's admissions cycle. The Admissions Director or someone else in the office comes and they make one general presentation about boarding school in general (how to apply, financial aid issues, what a day is like, benefits of boarding, sports/arts and extra currciular clubs etc, and the like). Then the rest of the night has tables set up, like a fair, where you can go and meet the various reps and talk to them about specific of their school. Some kids take the opportunity (who know they will apply) to interview that day or the next, when the admissions people are here locally. You only get one chance to interview though, so no need to do so if (a) you are not sure you are applying or not or (b) are not ready. As they ask things like what attracts you to our school, and the kid should have some sense of the school and what might make it a good fit.

It isn't something I'd do with a 6th grader or under. The kids can go too as it is informative for them and gives them a chance (on neutral ground without any cost) to see if they might like it.

For a younger kid there are plenty of internet resources to allow you to be informed about schools and processes for when the time gets a little closer.

[Anonymous]

I'd add that there are a lot of parents who went to boarding schools on this site, so feel free to post questions on this board and I bet you'd get good answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many thanks, PP! DS is well-rounded. He's basically an "A" student, but isn't jaw-droppingly brilliant; he works hard at school and is competitive about grades (and pretty much everything else, really). He's probably somewhat stronger in math than in other areas--he had an easy time with Algebra I last year as a 7th grader and he quite enjoyed it. He's also a strong athlete, but not an amazing one. He plays soccer, basketball and baseball competitively, and typically is the 2nd or 3rd best player on his team. He is truly a team player on the field and puts team success ahead of personal glory to an extent that seems unusual for a kid his age (and really makes DH's chest swell; I'm not sure DH has ever been prouder than hearing DS say in a timeout during the third quarter of a tight basketball game, "Let me take [the other team's star player] so that [DS's team's star player] can save his legs for offense"). DS likes music, but doesn't really seem to have much natural talent for it. He's not really into other fine arts. He likes science/computers quite a lot. Socially, DS seems fairly popular with both boys and girls, and he cares about that popularity more than I would like (but that might not be out of the norm for a middle schooler). He's generally a sweet kid, although not as proactively thoughtful as some of his friends (especially the girls). He interacts well with adults.

It's just a rule-of-thumb, so don't take it for anything more, but "they say" that well-rounded kids tend to do better in smaller schools and "pointy" kids tend to do better in larger schools.

[Anonymous]

Why would anyone have a child, only to send him or her away at the age of 14?

[Anonymous]

Okay PP you win the smarmiest nastiest post I have seen in a long time.

My child WANTED to go to boarding school and they LOVE IT. It was the best decision for them. No one is forcing you to think about what might be best for YOUR kid, if you even have one. We are still parents. We are still involved. We did not send our child away because they were some wild thing that needed discipline, or because we were too busy with out own lives to be parents, or because of any problems in the home (or drinking or drugs or etc). There is some persistent myth that boarding school = something out of the early part of last century where only wealthy parents too busy on the polo fields and eating bon bons send their unruly trust fund kid off packing. Oh my.

I have encountered other people like you. "Oh I could NEVER send my precious little Jason/Jessica away." "What went wrong that you picked boarding school?" "Oh it must be so hard for you." That last one is true, as it is hard, but it isn't about my education and experience it is about my child's. And at age 14 we felt they were ready for this kind of challenge. More importantly, our child felt ready and wanted the greater balance of being able to be in a top school, compete in their sports at the highest level and still participate in other aspects of school life (drama, music, arts, clubs etc). The school they choose is amazing, and I'm saying that coming from a Big 3 DC school.

Have you sent you child to summer camp? Why one earth would possess you to send a child to summer camp when the child has parents at home to take care of them? Some kids go to sleepaway camp at age 9 or 10! I suspect people would answer that camp is a great experience for them, and they love it, and it is only for a couple of weeks. Different from boarding school. Yes, but not so much that it isn't worth saying that it seems some parents feel similarly -- boarding school is a great experience, they love it, and it is only for a couple of weeks. They can come home, we can go there, friends can go, we can meet other places, we don't go much more than 4 weeks without spending time together. And from my friends with high school kids, there is a huge difference in the communication they get versus what we get (nightly calls/video chats/facebook chats/phone conversations/texts). Plus, no more fighting with the siblings (though the ones still home make up for it) but great conversations with them too.

I just can't believe you would read this thread and make such an uninformed comment. We love our child and are so happy that they are happy. Not that they wouldn't have been happy here too, but we have supported the decision to go away to school (reluctantly) and are so glad that we have given our child this opportunity.

[Anonymous]

I am in 7th thinking about going to boarding schoo[/url] in 8th but my parents cant afford it a have been though so many things in life and just want to get my life back on track.

[Anonymous]

There are huge endowments at many boarding schools, allowing many many kids to get significant financial aid. If interested PP, please look into it! Many kids even go for free to some schools if their families have documented income less than a certain amount (ie 75,000).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in 7th thinking about going to boarding schoo[/url] in 8th but my parents cant afford it a have been though so many things in life and just want to get my life back on track.

There are some great [url=http://www.teen-boarding-school.com]boarding schools[url] in CA like Thatcher and Cate. However, most boarding schools start in 9th grade. There are a few called Jr. Boarding Schools that would have 8th grade boarders. If you are serious about going for 8th grade, you need to take action now. Most schools will have application deadlines this month.