I tho k it’s one of those imprecise terms that means different things in different circles or to different people. I’ve never heard anyone say prep school and mean boarding school, but I’ve never known anyone actually attending or sending their kids to a NE boarding school, either. They may well refer to them that way. While most of the private schools in DC are technically prep schools in the original, “college preparatory” meaning (and several do have that as part of their names), most folks don’t call them prep schools either, just private schools.

Anonymous wrote:If you are saying Johhny goes to "Prep School" you probably mean a boarding school in New England.

This. I went to a DC Big 3 day school and then I went to a New England prep school and I would only call the latter a prep school, though they are of very similar degrees of WASPiness and academic quality. Not the same as "a college preparatory school," which is accurate for either but not a term anybody uses. "Prep school" = boarding school, though many have sustantial numbers of day students.

If you are saying Johhny goes to "Prep School" you probably mean a boarding school in New England.

Prep is short for college preparatory. So no, it does not mean boarding school.

Also no, not all high schools exclusively prepare students for college. Many high schools have vocational tracks, and job after high school tracks, and prepare some students to transition to adult disability services.

Anonymous wrote:My kids private school does not have prep in the name but considers itself a college prep school. They went from boasting that “100% of grads went on to a four-year college” to 99%

Now it’s “99% to a 4- OR 2-year college” and have also added “or armed forces”. And from the last graduating class of close to 200… 2 were listed as gap year, 1 to the military, 1 to cosmetology school, 1 to nanny school, and even 1 recruited athlete to the Naval Academy prep school.

I’ll add that also in that same class sent one enrolled to Harvard and another 10 or so to the other Ivy

My kids private school does not have prep in the name but considers itself a college prep school. They went from boasting that “100% of grads went on to a four-year college” to 99%

Now it’s “99% to a 4- OR 2-year college” and have also added “or armed forces”. And from the last graduating class of close to 200… 2 were listed as gap year, 1 to the military, 1 to cosmetology school, 1 to nanny school, and even 1 recruited athlete to the Naval Academy prep school.

No

Prep school refers to a selective school that rejects non college bound students.

So even a school like WPHS that sends students to Harvard would not be a "prep school" if it also offers a path to graduation that doesn't meet 4-year college standards

Prep school means waspy.

Traditionally, a prep school was a school that had a basically guaranteed pipeline to an ivy. That doesn't exist anymore, so it's a meaningless term still used to refer to the schools that used to have a guaranteed pipeline.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does it mean then? Isn’t sny high school prep for college?

No. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College-preparatory_school

Meaningless.

Anonymous wrote:What does it mean then? Isn’t sny high school prep for college?

No. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College-preparatory_school

*any

What does it mean then? Isn’t sny high school prep for college?

No

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