nhfootballer

ibftw reminds me of someone i know who went to kent. he did not want to go away to boarding school. kent was a prison for him. it makes sense that some people have a bad time away from home. this is just one point of view.

crickett2324

This thread is making me nervous about boarding school.
Thank you, lbftw, for putting *that much more* unnecessary stress on my life.

lbftw

it's nothing to be nervous about; it's not like you're gonna get beaten or executed because you're out of dress code. there really isn't even very much hazing anymore.

you people are making me feel bad. i'm not trying to scare or depress anyone. but i honestly feel like most of you'd be better off going to your public high school and just trying to learn as much as you can both in and outside of class. the education aspect is the only thing you'll probably find better about boarding school. and again, if you really wanna go, go as a junior; you get the college prep experience without having to deal with all the bs for too long.

NeLLyRaE

okay, i'd like to respond to the whole not believeing that a kid would initiate the whole boarding school thing. maybe for most people, parents force their kids to go. But that's how it is for me. my parents at fist said absolutely not and there was no way they'd even consider it. I worked for months and months writng letters, gathering information and doing eveerything possible to convince them to let me go. two months ago they finally said i could apply and i couldn't be happier. I WANT this. my parents don't. (altho they're all supoortive and stuff now) i think they'd be pleased if i didn't get in. You are alos only one person. This was your experience, not everyones. My cousin goes to the school i'm applying to and he loves it. I've talked to other people who love it to. maybe you just weren't right for boarding school. id you even want to go in the first place? you also might have gone to a school that was a horrible experience for you, but not all schools are like that and things change everyday. i appreciate your opinion, but it's not going to change my mind. what school did you go to, out of curiosity?

D'yer Maker

Boarding school is definitely not for everyone. However, it's one of the most researched high school education choices. Few people actually explore their local public -- let alone private day -- school options with the vigor that even the least-prepared BS applicant musters just by getting through the tour and interview steps.

If, after researching boarding schools, you think it's for you, then fine.

Most boarding schools take steps to ensure that both the parents and the students are on board because it is a monumental decision. And, even then, there will be students like lbftw who have buyer's remorse and yearn to graze in the greener pastures that he thinks are on the other side of the fence. Sometimes it's the parents who reconsider their decision.

It's just as preposterous to contend that boarding school is for everyone as it is to contend that boarding school isn't for anyone.

lbftw, if you want to make the case that boarding school isn't for you, then well done. You've given a one-sided, unbalanced view of the world. Hyperbole tells us much about how badly you and your parents chose and is extremely unpersuasive when you use it to tell others that they will make the same mistake that you did. Most people at this stage have a better sense of self-awareness than you did. And, yes, some will still discover that they're not quite prepared for boarding school.

It's your universal warning and the unflinching stereotyped caricatures you paint for us that suck all credibility from your position. Try explaining why you think boarding school doesn't measure up overall -- after giving us some of the plusses and minuses. (You just give us the negative side.) Try comparing boarding schools to other options available to students. (Apart from a matriculation analysis that most boarding school advocates here point out repeatedly, you don't use comparisons. Are all boarding schools worse than all other options?) And, finally, take some personal responsibility for choosing boarding school when it wasn't right for you. (You're a square peg blaming the round hole because you don't fit...as if the hole has to do all the changing and growing and adapting while the peg remains static.)

If you actually believe what you're saying, you're doing a crappy job of persuading anyone.

And, please, have a long talk with your parents. If you're making half an effort to adapt to boarding school and are still this disaffected, then you're not communicating so well with them either.

NeLLyRaE

I agree with d'yer, i'd really like to know why you didn't like bs at all? and also, why did you even go to this website in the first place?

inspiration08

my experience has been totally different. im from the rural south, where few people go to private school, much less boarding school, so its not like all my friends were rushing off to top prep schools. i totally, 100% initiated the process of looking at boarding schools and applying, and had to actually talk my parents into letting me go.

no, it wasnt easy learning to be responsible for myself at 14, or how to live with a roommate, or how to manage my time, but it has prepared me for college more than i can even begin to tell you. i have made lasting friendships and the girls from my dorm are like my sisters.

boarding school was the best thing that ever happened to me. so, ibftw, maybe you can get into HYP from just about any school, but think about how much more prepared for college students who did go to boarding school are.

disclaimer: i did choose an all-girls school, which i think is a very different environment from many coed boarding schools. also, i am not trying to invalidate ibftw's experience in any way. i am just trying to present a different point of view to show some of you confused 8th graders/parents that everyone has a different experience at boarding school, just like everyone has a different experience at a private day school or public high school or whatever.

inspiration08

oops, forgot to mention that im currently a senior. (that would be why i am lurking on CC instead of doing my AP government paper...)

lbftw

you can't know what it's like until you go. it's as simple as that. you want real research, read prepping for power or whatever its called. two sociologists do a survey of a few hundred boarding school kids. that's about as close as i've seen to it. reading the school's website or boarding school review, or going on the official visits isn't research. it'd be like buying a car based only on what the dealer told you.

i understand there are a lot of parents reading this, and i understand you're putting a lot of time and money into the whole boarding school thing because you think it's the best thing for your child; it's a commendable sentiment and i applaud you for it. but i'm also telling you that if you knew the type of stuff that your child was going to be subjected and exposed to over the course of their time you'd think twice about sending them. just remember that all the sex and drug and hazing scandals that you hear so much about on the news aren't made up, and they really aren't isolated incidents either. that stuff happens at every high school, but at least you can keep an eye on your kids if they're still at home.

inspiration08

nellyrae, i see you're from the west coast- what schools are you looking at? haha sorry, im curious, and i just love hearing about people's boarding school searches.

lbftw

maybe an all-girls school is different. i could believe that.

as far as kids asking their parents to let them go, aren't there a bunch of popular books/movies/whatever aimed at pre-pubescent girls where the main characters go to boarding school or went to boarding school or something?

McskittlZ10

lbftw. BS will most of the time give you a better more full education and make you a better candidate for college and life. True there are a bunch of pencil pushers, snobby rich pricks, and that of the sort. Quite on the contrary though there are genuine nice people. It's a lot like the world. There are good people and bad people wherever you go. The only difference is at BS is that you live with them. May you please name a few specific things that you really did not like?

inspiration08

for me, it was more about opportunity. like i said, i'm from the rural south, and i consider myself to be very mature and independent as well as adventurous. i was simply looking for a bigger experience than anything where i am from could offer me.

yes, granted, there is a lot of media (the it girl novels...anyone?) geared towards middle schoolers, girls especially, glamorizing boarding school. but i think that most 8th graders smart enough to get into top prep schools are aware that boarding school isnt really like that.

NeLLyRaE

inspiration: HI! i'm applying to andover, exter, st. pauls, loomis chaffe and the hill school. you?

lbftw: sure. there are books like that. There are also books about canabalism. But just because i read something in a book does not change my outlook on decisons as important as this. I can assure you that i'm not applying to live on the other side of the country where i know noone because i read a stupid little book.

lbftw

if you say so. how did you hear about boarding school exactly? either you read about it or somebody told you about it.