<p>I know that where I live, no one goes to boarding school. Most of my friends wouldn’t dream of it. In WI, there is one boarding school, but it’s no that great (trust me). Additionally, Wisconsin and Minnesota are often considered to have some of the best public schools in the U.S. However, due to politics, there has been some severe cuts for schools, and even students have noticed in the last few years. Consequently, more people are looking at private options. When I spoke to the AO at Exeter, they said there has been a great bump in interest from the Midwest. Like has been said before, boarding school is seen as a last resort for juvenile delinquents or as an option for elitist families who have so much money that they have to spend it somewhere.</p>
<p>There’s a pretty strong private school culture in MA, particularly in the communities that ring Boston. Kids who are already primed to attend an independent school often end up expanding their searches to what I think of as “local boarding” schools, i.e., schools that are just outside the geographic range for an easy commute. A kid from Wellesley, originally looking at Nobles or BB&N, might also apply to Andover or Groton. In many cases these kids are coming from independent K-8/9 schools like Fessenden, Pike, Meadowbrook, Fenn, DCD, Belmont Day, Nashoba Brooks, Shady Hill or Shore.</p>
<p>There’s also the phenomenon of kids applying as boarders to their very local private schools because they’re under the impression that getting in as a boarder is easier than getting in as a day student. In some cases it’s true, in others it’s not. I know a few kids in my town who board at a schools in town. Add in faculty kids and local day students and it’s not surprising that a sizable percentage of the populations of MA BS’s is local kids.</p>
<p>Another hook-faculty kid. We often have kids at my kids’ middle prep school who apply to only one school, the one at which mom or dad teaches. These are GLADCHEMS schools. They’re kids who have the chops to do well at the school, but in all honesty their applications are considered outside of the general application pool.</p>
<p>At many schools, it’s a given that faculty kids will attend… Tuition is free but they do have to go through the application process. Last year, Hotchkiss faculty were informed that their kids would not be able to assume they’d be accepted… The number of faculty kids has really grown. They now had to have applications that fit the profile and stats of a typical admitted student. One of my kid’s pals is a faculty kid there… And he applied to several other schools because he truly didn’t know whether he’d make the cut at Hotchkiss. As a faculty member of a prep school, having your kid attend, tuition free, has been one of the most valuable benefits of the job.</p>
<p>I think the entire east coast has a boarding school culture because a lot of kids in the south go to private and boarding schools.</p>