Reply to Questioning boarding school...mother's dilemma

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Questioning boarding school...mother's dilemma"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here. Do you think local private schools are comparable up Andover? I'm not from this area and would consider saving a ton in order to send dc to a local private. This might be a compromise for dh in terms of dc getting a great education but not going to his alma mater.

Dc is open to the idea. We toured a few years ago when in the area and he was excited. Now that it's more of a reality, he seems excited but nervous about being on his own. Dh says totally normal at this stage and I say keep my baby home!![/quote]

I am the former boarding school teacher, and I've taught at good day schools as well.  Yes, the local private schools are comparable in many ways (particularly the ones seen as the strongest academically, such as Sidwell, GDS, St. Albans).  Here are some points of similarity and difference:

1.  Because of its large size (1000), Andover is able to have broader course offerings than the smaller private schools here;

2.  From what I've seen, the quality of the teaching is virtually identical at Andover and the top private schools in this area -- quite high in both places and similar in style (discussion based, student-driven, lots of writing, focusing on critical inquiry) -- although Andover may have more PhDs on its faculty (if that is important to you);

3.  Andover undoubtedly has a top cohort of superb students, and again, because of the size, that means there may be a larger critical mass of top students populating the highest level classes.  But the top kids at the local privates are indistinguishable in talent/achievements.  The percentage of National Merit Semifinalists is fairly similar between Andover and the top private schools around here, for example.  The "spread" from top to bottom is fairly similar between Andover and the more selective schools around here (and anybody who went to an Ivy league school for undergrad knows you'll see that same spread) -- not everyone is a superstar by any means.

4. For college matriculations, when you adjust for size, Andover is more comparable to your Sidwell/St.Albans type school than you might think, although they still send more students to Ivies even as a percentage (some of this is attributable to sports programs like ice hockey and to legacies, of which day students have a lot as well).

5.  There are more opportunities to play varsity sports at the smaller day schools.  There are of course programs that don't cut at Andover, but there's more of a feel of a public high school where there are athletes and non-athletes, and less of the "everybody is playing a sport" thing that you tend to see at a lot of the schools around here, including the very academically oriented ones.

6.  The performing arts around here compare well, although it can be more of a burden for day students to juggle the schedule than kids who live on campus as at Andover.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics