<p>One thing for sure, our child considering boarding school does not want a school that is 75% day studnets and 25% boarders. She is more interested in being someplace where most kids board so that the campus is not dead on weekends and so that time and attention are focused on the boarders.</p>
<p>We know that at Westtown School (Quaker school in PA with good rep.) ALL kids in 11th and 12th must board. </p>
<p>Are there others with large boarding percentages or required boarding that are on the east coast and more ‘earthy’ than alpha-male type of places?</p>
<p>T</p>
<p>This was important to us last year as well. For some reason, I recall that only 6 schools in the country are 100% boarding. </p>
<p>The two that I know of are St. Paul’s (NH) and St. Andrew’s (DE). Would be curious to know the others…</p>
<p>Westtown’s upper school boarding requirement is unusual - and a really good accommodation for students not quite ready to move away from home in 9th grade.</p>
<p>But virtually all the schools that are commonly discussed on his board have high percentages of boarding students, some higher than others (as noted by SevenDad), but almost all above 75%. The two exceptions are Milton Academy (outside of Boston) (50%) and Loomis Chaffee (in Connecticut) (60%). </p>
<p>If you want to do a search for schools with high percentages of boarding students, you can look [here[/url</a>] on Boarding School Review. There are, in fact, more than two dozen schools with 100% boarding students, but many of those are military schools and types of schools other than prep schools. Of the really good prep schools, it really is just St. Paul’s and St. Andrews.</p>
<p>But if you’re looking for an “earthy” school, that’s another discussion altogether. Putney might be an option to consider in addition to Westtown, or perhaps Asheville. As for “alpha male” types of places, I honestly don’t believe that description fits any of the prep schools these days, despite their 100+ year old traditions.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d start by doing a really broad search on Boarding School Review for the geographic region you’re interested in . . . and see what you find!</p>
<p>You might also want to check out [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1130908-hidden-gems-lesser-known-prep-schools.html]this”>Hidden Gems: Lesser-known Prep Schools - Prep School Admissions - College Confidential Forums]this</a> thread](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ranking.php]here[/url”>Sort Boarding Schools by Key Criteria) about “Hidden Gems.”</p>
<p>Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA is all boarders.</p>
<p>If u look at only 100% boarding, you will be limiting your pool quite a bit!</p>
<p>Here is a list of schools w at least 80% boarders, ranked by endowment size (important for ability to grant Financial Aid). Data source is BoardingSchoolReview website.</p>
<p>Phillips Exeter 81% $850 M
St. Paul’s School 100% $437 M
Hotchkiss School 92% $382 M
Deerfield Academy 88% $368 M
Culver Academies 89% $308 M
Groton School 84% $266 M
Woodberry Forest 100% $250 M
Taft School 85% $206 M
Mercersburg Academy 85% $182 M
St. Andrew’s School, 100% $170 M
Episcopal High 100% $153 M
CFS, The School at Church 92% $135 M
St. George’s School 85% $115 M
Northfield Mount Hermon 80% $112 M
Hill School 80% $105 M
Thacher School 90% $100 M
Berkshire School 88% $94 M
Cate School 85% $72 M
Blair Academy 80% $68 M
Kent School 91% $64 M
Brenau Academy 80% $50 M
Holderness School 86% $45 M
Salisbury School 94% $45 M</p>
<p>100% boarding sounds nice to me too, but it limits you so much, in the end I just decided to look at schools that have 60% or over boarding, that way you know the school is wired for boarders, even if things have to work out for day students too.</p>
<p>I think the original poster on this thread was inquiring on behalf of a daughter, so Salisbury would not be a fit - I think it’s still all-male.</p>