Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:South Kent School in Kent, CT. (Definitely not to be confused with Kent School across the river. Kent is one of the elite New England boarding schools.)

Because it's known to be a hockey mill for the not-so-bright players who can't get into: Hotchkiss, Govs, Brooks, Deerfield, Tabor, Lawrenceville, Choate, Exeter, St. Paul's, etc.

South Kent is a hockey mill?

Anonymous wrote:Some of these suggestions are way off base!

Of the hundreDS of accredited boarding schools in the US, ony 31 have an average acceptance rate under 25%. Blair, Brooks, & Peddie (all mentioned by PPs) are among them.

Also Governor's, Hotchkiss, Groton, Choate, and St. George--I mentioned those as DS applied to them and goes to one of them.

Anonymous wrote:South Kent School in Kent, CT. (Definitely not to be confused with Kent School across the river. Kent is one of the elite New England boarding schools.)

Because it's known to be a hockey mill for the not-so-bright players who can't get into: Hotchkiss, Govs, Brooks, Deerfield, Tabor, Lawrenceville, Choate, Exeter, St. Paul's, etc.

I checked out Mercersburg on a recent trip to Whitetail after getting the kids set in their ski lessons (campus is about a 12-minute drive away from Whitetail). Wow, what a huge and gorgeous campus. I want to check out St. Andrews (in Delaware) too -- keep hearing good things about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Andrew's, Middletown, DE. Two hours away.

How selective is it? Do you need straight As to even be considered?

No, but SSAT over 82 I'd say. And the interview is the crucial part.

South Kent School in Kent, CT. (Definitely not to be confused with Kent School across the river. Kent is one of the elite New England boarding schools.)

Be careful about the advice you get here in terms of minimum test scores, GPAs etc....

Speaking from experience....a kid can get into a big three in DC or a good boarding school with average or below average ssat scores. It is just one thing they consider. What else does the kid bring to the table?

They will look at the quality of the school from which you are applying. Are straight As a dime a dozen or very, very rare. They will consider how rigorous the coursework is and which classes the child took. Talent goes a long way whether academic, artistic, musical, or athletic. Grit matters. They want kids used to working hard and not giving up easily. The interview matters... It is always a total package they look for and what that means varies year to year based on a the applicant pool and current student body. Do they need more athletes in a specific sport? Are they low on artistic talent that year? Etc.. A kid could be great at everything and still not get in because of very competitive year of applicants who have similar traits.

Apply to a reach, a safety, and two or three other great schools in terms of fit. I think an applicant can get away with one (and occasionally more) of the following weaknesses: meh ssat, meh interview, non-athlete, no artistic/musical talent, a GPA below 4.0 but not below 3.0.....at least from the acceptances to good schools I have seen from my own kids and friends' kids. But again....take this with a grain of salt as I am not an expert on the stats.

There are dozens of other great boarding schools not mentioned in this thread. Dozens.

Anonymous wrote:St Andrew's, Middletown, DE. Two hours away.

How selective is it? Do you need straight As to even be considered?

St Andrew's, Middletown, DE. Two hours away.

Anonymous wrote:Some of these suggestions are way off base!

Of the hundreDS of accredited boarding schools in the US, ony 31 have an average acceptance rate under 25%. Blair, Brooks, & Peddie (all mentioned by PPs) are among them.

And contrary to the multiple mentions it received upthread, Berkshire is actually more selective than the vast majority of Us boarding schools (& extremely close to being as selective as the 31 most selective schools). It's average acceptance rate is only 25-30%.

Some of these suggestions are way off base!

Of the hundreDS of accredited boarding schools in the US, ony 31 have an average acceptance rate under 25%. Blair, Brooks, & Peddie (all mentioned by PPs) are among them.

Anonymous wrote:tip: take a real SSAT now that won't count for admission next year to know what the score may be. That will give a good idea if the range of schools to target. Some of the schools mention here are in fact rather tough admits, my straight A kid with SSAT in the high 90s, full pay was WL at one. Boarding is a great experience under the right circumstances but cast the net wide, as you seem to do.

This is good advice.

But all bets are off if your kid excels (and I mean really excels, as in is recruited) for a sport. My DS is a decent student (SSAT scores in the 80s) but is a two sport athlete, varsity every year of high school. He was accepted at 6 of 7 schools, WL only at Groton. All of the schools are mentioned in this thread, all are in NE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Express that your full pay and very interested in their endowment and xyz projects and you will be welcomed.

This isn't true.

Some boarding schools are quite exclusive and they have more than enough rich people who can pay full freight. They are looking for diversity not more rich white people

Again, not exactly true. Most of them could fill the school with "diversity" in the form of international kids from India, China, Middle East. They cap that. Most are needs blind admission.

Anonymous wrote:Within a 6 hr drive of DC try mercersburg, Hill (slightly harder to get into), Blair. which all are all true boarding schools. Pennington could be on your list but its more a day school with boarding. in New England there are a ton of easy to get into schools that are still academically decent - brooks, Portsmouth abbey, pomfret, governors, tabor (slightly harder).

Tabor: Acceptance Rate 43%
Governor's Academpy: Acceptance Rate 23%
Brooks: Acceptance Rate 23%


Check your facts before you post.

Brooks.