How does the setting (urban, rural, suburban) affect the school?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I was just reading a book that suggested that the setting where a boarding school is located has a big effect on the experience of the students there:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>rural settings can offer the beauty of the outdoors, but also offer lots of places to hide for those with something to hide. Boredom can also lead to trouble.</p></li>
<li><p>urban environments can be enriching, but there is also easy access to drugs, alcohol etc & safety issues/crime.</p></li>
<li><p>suburban settings were described as being similar in problems to urban settings.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>What is your experience and take on this? What impact did a school’s environment (middle of nowhere, small town, etc) have on your feeling about the school or decision to attend?</p>

2

<p>To me, a suburban setting is ideal - nice town, safe neighborhood, no hustle and bustle of the city, but not in the middle of nowhere either. Good for our kids who spend 24/7 9 months a year.</p>

3

<p>This is very interesting. I think this will most definitely affect the boarding school atmosphere, but not necessarily in a concrete way. For me personally (though it may not affect most students in this way), rural setting = inspires a studious tone, considering it’s very quiet and there’s not much to do, urban = creative, considering there’s lots of stimuli around, and suburban = in between/balanced.</p>

<p>Though it may not be this way, as rural/suburban/urban areas do vary and many other factors go into the atmosphere at suchandsuch boarding school.</p>

4

<p>Perhaps the influence of a school’s setting on any particular student might depend a lot on the student’s home setting - urban, suburban, or rural. Am I the only one who remembers and loved “Country Mouse, City Mouse”?</p>

5

<p>Psychogeography - great term, Intrinsically! I know one kid who did not handle Oxford well because of all the lures of pretty much being in the city. I also know one kid who went home after being at a rural college with lots of snow - he said the kids had nothing to do but drink. So it can cut both ways. But of course these are colleges, with college-age students. I’m trying to get a handle on this at the boarding school level, where maybe there is more supervision & guidance. Or not! To take one example, I hear a lot of people on these boards that talk about St. Pauls and Deerfield being in remote areas, but I can’t recall any actual student of these schools complaining about it.</p>

6

<p>I think it really depends on the school. There would be the potential for less trouble at a rural school which offers many varied activities for students to participate in during the weekend versus a rural school which offers less things to do. </p>

<p>**Am I the only one who remembers and loved “Country Mouse, City Mouse”? **</p>

<p>Haha, I vaguely remember this story from like 5th grade.</p>

<p>A country mouse invited his cousin who lived in the city to come visit him. The city mouse was so disappointed with the sparse meal which was nothing more than a few kernels of corn and a couple of dried berries.</p>

<pre><code> “My poor cousin,” said the city mouse, “you hardly have anything to eat! I do believe that an ant could eat better! Please do come to the city and visit me, and I will show you such rich feasts, readily available for the taking.”

So the country mouse left with his city cousin who brought him to a splendid feast in the city’s alley. The country mouse could not believe his eyes. He had never seen so much food in one place. There was bread, cheese, fruit, cereals, and grains of all sorts scattered about in a warm cozy portion of the alley.

The two mice settled down to eat their wonderful dinner, but before they barely took their first bites, a cat approached their dining area. The two mice scampered away and hid in a small uncomfortable hole until the cat left. Finally, it was quiet, and the unwelcome visitor went to prowl somewhere else. The two mice ventured out of the hole and resumed their abundant feast. Before they could get a proper taste in their mouth, another visitor intruded on their dinner, and the two little mice had to scuttle away quickly.

“Goodbye,” said the country mouse, “You do, indeed, live in a plentiful city, but I am going home where I can enjoy my dinner in peace.”
</code></pre>

7

<p>2kids-We are from the great city of Chicago, and my d selected DA. I was somewhat perplexed by her decision to pick the most rural school of those that accepted her. I thought she would miss the “big city”. Just the opposite. When questioned she said, “I am a city girl, I want to look out of my window and see stars”.</p>

<p>Fast forward 2 weeks: “Mom, it is sooooo quiet and dark, when nite comes, but I havent heard a gun shot or an ambulance, it is beautiful here.”</p>

<p>Fast forward parents weekend: Mom, you cant even walk to the walgreens or cvs, but it is ok…I use drugstore.com.</p>

<p>I am not sure what surroundings she will desire for college, but right now it is just right for what she wants and needs. The decision was hers, but I made sure I asked all the right questions and only accepted answers that I knew she had thought about.</p>

<p>0</p>

8

<p>My daughter goes to Mercersburg which is definitely a rural campus. One of the benefits of a rural campus is that the students seem very unified as there are fewer options to draw kids away form campus.
zp</p>

9

<p>Alexz825Mom & Zuzu’spetals, sounds as if your daughters have each found a great place. Good observation that it is important to see if a rural campus offers activities (and ones, at that, fit with what the kid would enjoy!) - as well as whether the students seem to have formed a cohesive group. It’s interesting that most campuses used to be rural, by design - until urban sprawl took over quite a number of them and changed the locale. Senior moment in my last post above - of course it is not St. Paul’s that is in a remote location - I was thinking of another of the often-mentioned schools.</p>

10

<p>Urban schools tend to have an easier time recruiting faculty of color.</p>

11

<p>I went to an urban prep school many eons ago. It was comprised of boarders and day students. The split then was about 50/50. Such an arrangment separated the students into two distinct classes, groups, cultures, etc. Such a division was unavoidable and unfortunate.</p>

<p>When I was looking for a BS for my son last year, one very critical element for me, and in turn for him, was finding schools with predominate, if not exclusive, boarding populations. As a rule, we found that the more rural the setting, the greater the number of boarders. Great examples of strong boarding numbers were SPS, Deerfield, Woodbury Forest and Hotchkiss, to all of which he applied and all of which are rural. Of course, there are some BS’s that are urban and have a dominate boarding population. One example here is Episcopal High School near D.C., which school has 100% boarding and to which my son also applied.</p>

<p>Because rural BS’s schools are more often than not dominated by boarders, then rural schools are generally, IMHO, more accommodating or welcoming to boarders than urban schools. Therefore, if you or your child will be a boarder in a BS, I think that you should give more weight to rural schools than urban schools in your application and selection process, all things be equal.</p>

12

<p>Son went to the one-year post-grad Bridgton Academy. Several years later, he credits the rural location to his success. At the time, he hated it. People prone to easy distraction might find it easier in a place with less temptations.</p>

13

<p>@2kidsnoanswers: While St. Paul’s is close enough to the town of Concord, its campus location and size makes it feel quite rural.</p>

<p>I’m with Mainer95 on this one…we live in a very rural area and have felt more a more instant affinity with campuses that were NOT in/short walk to a town.</p>

14

<p>G.K. Chesterton said, “All men can be criminals, if tempted; all men can be heroes, if inspired.”</p>

<p>I have found that there are less temptations, especially for young men and women, in the country than in the city.</p>

15

<p>Many more boarding schools are in a rural than an urban setting, and only a few are in a good suburban area with a nice main street and walking distance to grocery stores and restaurants etc., far enough from a major city to be away from the distraction on a daily basis but close enough for an occasional weekend visit, which is ideal to me. Then, location is just a nice addition to other factors that make a good school, which are often more important. I personally don’t like the “middle of nowhere” rurual location, but if a great school is located there and it happens to be the best school that accepted me, I’d go there. You can’t move the school can you? :)</p>

16

<p>From my family’s experience, I wouldn’t focus to much on location. These schools keep students BUSY between classes, sports, the arts, clubs, etc. There isn’t a lot of time to get off campus anyway. And it’s intentional - less time to get into mischief. :)</p>

17

<p>Sometimes the workload can get intense at these top tier schools and it’s nice to have the option of walking off campus to a nearby restaurant with friends for dinner as a mini-escape. Andover, Exeter and Chaote, all suburban settings allow for this type of easy getaway off campus. We thought Deerfield was too rural although I can see how some from the city would see it as a haven. It had lots of squash courts to keep kids busy, but still, we got the sense that mostly what was available was work, work, work and then more work. Then, there’s always a cab to get off campus for a little break. But overall I agree with the poster, what’s more important is the vibe from the school, not location. </p>

<p>Still, my son had such a gut negative reaction to DA, feeling he would be depressed just looking at the bucolic hills (yes, I realize for some it would be a dream), covered with snow, that he just said it was a no-go, no matter what. I would worry too without some means of easy escape off campus, that drugs would be another means of escape.</p>

18

<p>@rbgg: You had me at “bucolic hills covered in snow”. ;-P</p>

<p>This is another example of things coming down to fit. We felt Exeter was too tightly packed into its campus, and didn’t like all the streets that ran through it. Whereas places like Groton and St. Paul’s had us smiling as soon as we turned into each campus…</p>

19

<p>Kids are busy, but we are talking about their 24/7 for 8 months. They do get some free time and want to hang out with friends off campus sometimes if they can. It’s hard for me to imagine there is not even a CVS you can walk to - don’t like that at all, but that’s just me. And even me, I’d choose a great school in a remote location in a heartbeat if I don’t have better options.</p>

20

<p>My d let me know that she because you cant walk anywhere, 3 or 4 students will take a taxi into a close town, thus about 5 bucks per kid to get to a general store. It seems almost fun. </p>

<p>Since she cant get to Borders for hot coco, she spends more time hanging out with friends and doing stuff on campus. She tries to go to a sporting match on Wed and/or Sat if she is free.</p>

<p>They find things to do among themselves, fewer distractions for the rural setting schools.</p>

<p>IMHO</p>