Anonymous wrote:It’s not an easy admit. My son applied to 2 boarding schools, Episcopal and Woodberry Forest. He was waitlisted at Episcopal and admitted to Woodberry Forest. I liked Woodberry better. He also applied to a local day school where he had a sibling, which he ultimately chose.

Episcopal admit rate is about 33% WFS is around 55-60%

Episcopal has gotten more competitive in recent years because many northeast families are applying there as a backup for the top northeastern boarding schools. They also do test optional, and like 60% of kids are admitted without a test, which makes their decisions pretty random and unpredictable.

I've actually noticed some kids admitted to schools like Exeter or Groton pick EHS despite the drop in prestige. They usually note that EHS has a more relaxed and joyous atmosphere while still providing rigorous academics. The top east coast schools are huge pressure cookers, and EHS is certainly not that. It's a balanced, chill vibe and the kids are not academic grinders.

It’s not an easy admit. My son applied to 2 boarding schools, Episcopal and Woodberry Forest. He was waitlisted at Episcopal and admitted to Woodberry Forest. I liked Woodberry better. He also applied to a local day school where he had a sibling, which he ultimately chose.

We live locally and send our son to Episcopal. He absolutely loves it. That is actually fairly common - there are about 20 kids in his class who are from the surrounding area.

Why do it? (And note that neither of his parents went to boarding school, so it is not because of family tradition.)

(1) It allows for a degree of academic focus that is hard to replicate in a day school. He has an incredible amount of resources to draw from.

(2) He plays a sport at a high level. While that requires him to be off campus a fair amount, it also gives us plenty of time to see and interact with him.

(3) For him, it is the best of all possible worlds. He has a lot of independence and gets to be surrounded by friends all the time. But he also can easily come home on the weekends, see his local buddies and his dogs, bring school friends along, do stuff in DC, etc.

All in all, we would do it again. But, of course, every kid is different.

I'm not sure I would do it as a local, just because there may be other options that are a better fit. I'm also not sold on my child going to a boarding school. (I did, and boy do I have stories.) That said, it's worth as much of a look as you would give any other school you're considering. As far as tuition, the 100% boarding component obviously affects the cost, but their financial aid packages seem pretty generous. Check the financial aid page. They actually do a breakdown of family contribution by income level.

It’s a really expensive investment if you’re local

Out of curiously for those of you who are local, how did you choose Episcopal over boarding options elsewhere and other day school options? What other schools did you consider?

My kid has cousins in a different state that may attend in the future which would be a draw for us.