Private School to Boarding School

ChoatieMom
Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:22:23 +0000

Yep, I agree with @classicalmama. There are more ways to experience diversity than allowing your child to more or less permanently leave home at 14 and spending >$200K in the process. We wouldn’t have made this choice for any reason beyond academics even though all the other extras are nice. I can’t think of anything critical DS is getting from Choate that couldn’t be handily supplemented at home for way less than $200K if our local schools were academically solid. Also, don’t get too misty about diversity. Even though these schools boast students from almost every state and culture, they all arrive on campus and try their best to be as homogeneously American as possible (just read the what-should-I-wear threads to see how badly these kids want to fit in which is kind of ironic when you consider how hard they tried to stand out during the application process). Your child would have a much deeper diversity experience through a study abroad program or getting involved in community service projects that provide exposure to the elderly, handicapped, and underprivileged pockets of diversity that exist everywhere. It’s a big world out there; it doesn’t all have to be experienced in high school.