Anecdotal "evidence"....

alooknac
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:37:01 +0000

“the student reviews on Boarding School Review should not be decisive” Did anybody suggest that? That would indeed be foolish. NO source of information should be decisive!

How is getting random information from unknown families at revisit day more reliable than from a student review on boardingschoolreview.com? Periwinkle suggests getting information from school parents the admissions office fixes you up with. Do you think a school will hook you up with anything but a very enthusiastic satisfied family??

I never said read the student reviews, they’re the gospel truth. They are one source among many. And frankly, having had 2 children at 2 different boarding schools 20 years apart, I think well-written student reviews actually are one of the better sources.

A person should never just use a source to rate a school from 1 to 10. Rather, read between the lines, pick up on little things mentioned in passing, and use that information to trigger further inquiry.

My advice was to seek out ALL sources of information, not to decide beforehand which sources are best. When you search far and wide and sift through enough information you begin to see the truth.

I don’t know if schools have to pay to be on boardingschoolreview.com, but I know from personal experience that the information can be out of date (thinking statistics here–a school we thought was a “safety” based on posted stats turned out to be much more exclusive).

I have to admit that I’ve never been to a revisit day, but I would personally put that low in ranking of sources for information. Everything about revisit day is geared to win you over. It’s like getting your free night at a timeshare and listening to their spiel. Now mind you, I’m not saying don’t bother going, but take it with as much of a grain of salt as going on facebook, reading reviews on cc or elsewhere, etc.