Does attending Prep School help with college admissions?

SportyPrep
Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:18:36 +0000

Momtofourkids:

I do know that for athletes schools appreciate those who have successfully boarded as that is one less, big thing that coaches do not need to worry about for a first year student to become accustomed to. Some new college students can’t hack being away from home or rooming with another student. A BS student has already mastered this which is a plus.

We have met and spoken to a lot of college coaches across various sports. It may depend on the sport, but we still haven’t met a coach that cares about boarding school vs. parochial vs. independent day vs. public, or thinks that BS is superior. They care about talent, upside, fit with the team, if a kid will stay on the team for 4 years, and whether a kid can pass the pre-read/admissions. Admissions may care about/prefer BS in the context of rigor of classes, but they usually need “enough” rigor, not “maximum” rigor, and this can usually be achieved outside of the BS route. I don’t think coaches go as far as to ruminate if a kid has experience living away from home.

So if the sport is a very big deal with your kid, often the important issue is continued athletic development in high school, which may at times be best achieved by staying home. As others have pointed out, there are many other good reasons to attend BS, but sometimes (increasingly?) BS is not the best athletic route.

In our mind, BS can be a great “hedge” if athletics/recruiting doesn’t work out for some reason.