Reply to Considering Elite NE Boarding Schools for Son (Taft, Choate, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, etc.) Any advice?

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Reply to "Considering Elite NE Boarding Schools for Son (Taft, Choate, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, etc.) Any advice? "

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[quote=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. 
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