lbftw

apparently, i'm expected to give a full name, social security number, and 3 signed and sworn affidavits to substantiate every claim i make. how dare i want to protect my own privacy.

all the problems are those of any high school, but keep in mind, it isn't any high school; all the druggies, jocks, rich snobs and other people you couldn't stand are your room, dorm, team, classmates and you interact with them whether you like it or not. the school basically forces you too, and most of these schools are fairly small too. no going home at the end of the day, no doing what you like on your own time: you have no choice but to join the fray.

lookingformore

well. the greatest part is, you dont have to go there if you dont like. you dont have to like it if your forced to attend. but, you also dont ahve to hang out with the druggies jocks and richies, because you can make other friends. normal people attend private boarding schools as well. i guess you didn't notice that?

D'yer Maker

It seems like most everyone else here can provide examples and articulate points without resorting to giving out their SSNs, on the one hand, and making broad-based, overgeneralized and highly conclusive claims on the other.

You joined the fray...because you had no choice? So since I assume you couldn't become a rich snob, did you become a druggie, jock or one of the other people you couldn't stand...since those seem to be the only types of people who populate the boarding school in your head. No, you couldn't say, "I had to work hard to find down-to-earth people whose company I enjoyed." You have to create a laundry list of "types" of students that excludes people you would regard as decent. Once again, you overstate your case and undermine it, while -- paradoxically perhaps -- convincing me that you were definitely poorly served by your choice of boarding school.

lbftw

i said there were down-to-earth people in previous posts. but there aren't enough of them that you can surround yourself exclusively with those types, and a lot of them will end up getting sucked into all the bs as well.

NeLLyRaE

lbftw, like i've said in previous posts, i'm glad your saying what your saying, but i would also really like to know what school you went to. I'm not asking for your SSN, address, name for even what state you live in. i'm just curious and cautious as to whats chool you had such a bad experience with.

Linda S

Nelly - I think you will find students at every school that don't like it. A friend of ours had a tour guide at Loomis who had transfered from Salisbury. We toured both and all of us - including my son the student - felt Salisbury was head and shoulders a better place for my son. I'm sure Loomis is a fine school, just not for us. Obviously, this one young man felt otherwise.
A young lady I know absolutely hated Deerfield and transferred, yet I know several others who love it.
I say this because where lbftw went is really less important than it might seem. You will find miserable, snobby, grade-grubbers, jocks at every school (public included) and it is up to you to not "give in" and become a person you don't want to be. I bet if he/she told us the school, we'd get a whole bunch of replies disputing his/her claims that nearly all the kids are as he says.

prpdd

Exactly LindaS. I think all lbftw's criticisms are fairly generic and apply to most boarding schools. You going to find rich, preppy kids at most of these schools - they are after all expensive and it's kind of naive to expect there to be no preppy kids at a prep school.

As for scandals - it seems to me anytime you put together several hundred to a thousand horny teenagers getting their first taste of freedom there's bound to be a scandal or two.

MBP

Nelly, it is good that you are listening to lbftw (granted, it's with a well deserved grain of salt).
Not everybody likes boarding school, and it's not the worst thing in the world to have somebody challenge you to really think about the negative sides of attending a boarding school.

I'm currently a first year at a boarding school (it's only for high schools juniors and seniors, though, so first-year/ hs junior). I'm not at a prep school, but it is boarding (and, from what I can tell, they are EXTREMELY different experiences). There are students that really don't like it.
I'm not trying to scare you out of it, because I think that (from what I can tell by reading your posts), you have enough initiative to make a decision for yourself, and you're smart enough to make the best of your situation.
However, if lbftw worries you with something he says, it would be wise to ask more about it from other people.

NeLLyRaE

oh no, i didn't mean to give you guys that impression at all. Nothing that lbftw said is new at all and it doesn't change my decision at all. Boarding school isn't right for some people. it doesn't sound like lbftw even wanted to go in the first place. I am definitely still applying and still as excited about it as i ever was. In fact, i've got a phone interview with st. pauls coming up pretty soon. any tipd for phone interviews? i've had a couple face to face ones already but i know the phone is going to be a lot different.

Kate13

I am thirteen years old, and I started the whole boarding school idea. I would love to go to boarding school, and not necassarily one 20 minutes away like you suggested. I know I am replying to one of the first posts, but I had to point out that I am honestly thirteen and in the eigth grade, and I want to go to boarding school. I'm not a parent pretending.
That would be weird.

shelley14

Kate, welcome to cc. I'm a parent. How can we help you in your boarding school search/application?!?!

Kate13

Hi. Oh, thanks. I know this is a little off topic from the thread title, but what schools do you have an experience with and has it been good or bad? Deerfield is my top choice right now, but I'm not sure because though I do have mostly As, and take an upper school class, I also have a C in Algebra. I think I can pull it up, but my math is pretty weak. What schools do you know about and what do you think of them? Thanks, by the way.

Vaizard

all i want to say is
i felt like choosing boarding school u know.
im 13.
no joke.

lbftw

i'm not saying there are no kids who come up with the idea to go to boarding school. but it is rare, and also might be a very tough sell if your parents aren't on-board. you read some of the posts here, and you would literally have to be the most thoughtful, well-spoken thirteen year old in human history to write them.

good luck with your applications, and i mean that seriously. i hope you like it better than i did. one thing you should try to do (that i didn't) is go on a lot of second visits and ask good questions of as many kids as possible: not stupid stuff like "how is the food" or whatever, but more along the lines of "do you like it; do most people like it; what specifically do you like/dislike; should i come here/would you come here again?".

keylyme

My son "chose" bs on his own. He found out about it at a young age from me, though. I am the one who introduced the idea to him. Once the seed was planted, it becase his thing. He looked forward to it all through middle school. His best friend was also going, and the friend and his mom actually brought my son on several early visits....as the friend was moving (we were already living in New England) and it would be difficult for him to visit after 7th grade. These visits are what definitely convinced my son that he absolutely had to go to bs.
HOWEVER, 4 years after my son graduated, he did tell me that he feels it would have been better to wait a year. He feels that 14 was really too young (at least for him) to go away from home. No one who knew him would ever have though that. He was always extremely mature-acting. He was supportive of his younger brother attending the same bs, but encouraged us to wait a year (which we did).
On another note....my daughter, who is a college freshman, tells me that the word is to stay away from the hockey team as they are "scummy". I am certain there must be some "un-scummy" guys on the team, but I guess this is the reputation they've garnered at this university. I thought it was an odd coincidence, since lbftw indicated this about bs hockey players.
A disclaimer....I have nothing against hockey players and am sure if one of you out there has a son who plays hockey or you are a (male) hockey player, that he/you are a true gentleman. I am just passing along something I was told (which does sound a bit exaggerated).