<p>My niece decided to apply to boarding school recently. She is in 8th grade now, so will apply for 10th grade. She’s a solid A student, has been in student government 3 years, is on the school track and cross country team, local tennis, and volunteers for local food drives, Habitat, etc. She’s self-driven - it’s all on her own. </p>
<p>In her words she wants to be around kids who are, “serious about learning, not just partying.” Plus, she wants a challenge academically, which she’s not getting in public school. </p>
<p>She quickly picked out St. Paul’s and Kent as places she wants to attend. Governor’s Academy and Lawrenceville appeal to her too, though different aspects. More structured and formal seem to appeal to her (right now). However, strong as her determined and competitive streak is, she’s also very playful and caring about the world around her (community service is important to her, as well as environmental isuses). Her family wants to make sure she considers these aspects about herself too. Does this description raise any red flags to those of you who attend or have kids at these schools?</p>
<p>I’ve been really impressed by the comments parents have made about NHM. Interested in more thoughts around it too.</p>
<p>Why is she going from 8th to 10th grade?</p>
<p>And, to answer your question, i encourage you to look OUTSIDE the TSAO and ISL.
Ferquent the Tabs and Boarding School Review websites. There are a lot of top-notch schools out there that would be perfect for your niece.</p>
<p>9th grade (Fall 2008) is closed already. She’s talked to SPS and Kent about wait list, but because she’s late in the process she understands that it’s not likely. She can attend the local high school for 9th. </p>
<p>When you say look outside the TSAO and ISL, are you thinking of specific college prep schools? Is it because of a particular experience with the schools I mentioned? But yes, she does want to consider other schools too. The local charter and private schools are for kids with special needs, so not an option. Closest city is a few hours away, so day school is not an option.</p>
<p>Northfield Mount Hermon sounds like a good match – your niece sounds very much like my son and he decided to attend nmh this coming year.</p>
<p>Other schools to take a look at: Peddie, Blair, Mercersburg, Fountain Valley School, Thacher, Conserve, Asheville, St. Andrews Delaware</p>
<p>Community Service and Environmental emphasis were very important to my son – as well as a casual environment where the kids have fun, academic challenge without the cutthroat environment, kids who are really engaged – both in the classroom and beyond.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “structured?”<br>
St. Paul’s does not fit my personal defination, but if you could be more specific, that would help.
Do you have a specific geographic range? </p>
<p>We were impressed with Westminster.<br>
Would she consider all-girls?</p>
<p>NMH is pretty structured, especially for freshman. The academics are strong, environmental sustainability is really a focus as is community service. The entire school recently had a day off and all went out into the community to perform service of one type or another. The freshman all stayed on campus and worked together in the kitchen to help prepare a special community meal. My son loved it…he got to work in the bakery all day. He made over 700 eclairs, as well as other goodies. And…they set up the dining hall to look like the Harry Potter hall.</p>
<p>St. Andrew’s-Delaware.
Environmental issues are a big thing with them. Community service is a big deal, and the academics are challenging.</p>
<p>Most of the BS are more structured than the middle school she’s been going to. 
She’s seems to be picking up a difference between the east and west coast schools. A few of the west coast schools talked about horseback riding and trips to the beach almost more than academics and that was a turn off for her. Right now her main academic interest is history and sciences next.</p>
<p>Regions: New England and Mid-Atlantic</p>
<p>She says no to all-girls. She loves to compete and at the school she’s been to the only ones to compete against have been the boys, so she’s very comfortable with that. </p>
<p>Love the sound of the NMH community day. Will definitely share that with her. Will have her take a second look at St Andrew’s DE.</p>
<p>In terms of interest in the environment and community service, SPS would provide many opportunities for students those interests.</p>
<p>St. Paul’s is fairly un-structured in terms of study time so I’m wondering how that would be for a fit (which is why I asked what her defination of “structured” is).</p>
<p>Hi Auntie -
My D is going to attend St Andrew’s-DE in the fall and I second (or third) the suggestion to check it out. I also think looking at schools is a tough business.</p>
<p>I found I had to look past PR materials from the schools because some schools do a better job at marketing directly to the kids. My D didn’t like St Andrew’s materials as much as some other places - it seemed too formal and stuffy to her. But on closer examination and after visiting, we saw that it was indeed a warm and friendly place with a 1:4 faculty/student ratio, a small size and 100% boarding. Therefore the community feel is very strong. They also have a 2000 acre campus and an environmental sustainability project that the whole campus takes part in.</p>
<p>When it comes to courses, I think you should get the course guides for the schools you are interested in and really compare the course offerings. At first it seems like the are all the same: English 9, English 10 etc. But in the course descriptions you can get a better idea of how much material they will cover and what the level will be. At St Andrews I expect that my daughter will move from seminars with 10 or 11 kids to tutorials with 1-3 students. I know she won’t run out of math classes.</p>
<p>As you do your research, PM me if you want any more info about SAS.</p>
<p>When Grejuni mentioned the materials being directed at the kids it reminded me of Millbrook. They have a zoo on campus! But, their materials wer very MySpace like. I couldn’t even read the view book - but the kids could. In any case, my son thought it was a very environmentally concerned school and a girl from his school is there now and likes it. THat’s all I know about it though.</p>
<p>My son is a St.Andrew’s-De alum.
He loved it there. The size is unusually small (I think still under 300 students). One of the main attractions to me is that fact that it is 100% boarding. The other main attraction is that it doesn’t feel like a fancy NE boarding school It’s very down to earth.
What was great which I didn’t discover until he got there was that it didn’t have any ‘hidden’ costs. Trips to the mall or to the doctor, the yearbook, lab fees, etc. is already included the the fees. So were the washers and dryers! My friends’ children at other NE boarding schools paid $10 per mall trip, $20 for transportation to the doctor, $200 for lab fees, $700 on the laundry plan (no laundry plan offered at St.Andrew’s).
Oh…no sales tax in De at the time. These things are not important in choosing a school, but just pleasant surprises when the choice is made.
It’s been awhile, so I don’t know if anything’s changed.</p>
<p>Linda S wrote, “St. Paul’s is fairly un-structured in terms of study time so I’m wondering how that would be for a fit (which is why I asked what her defination of “structured” is).”</p>
<p>Good point to clarify. She is good at time management.</p>
<p>Auntie - if she has already matered time management, than St. Paul’s may be a good school to consider. That seems to be key there (in fact, in our interview, the admin told us more than once that it WAS key). </p>
<p>Mom0809- those hidden fees can be a killer! I just had to write a check to our day school for $300+!</p>
<p>We choose Hill School for many of the qualities you have mentioned. It is a little more structured than many boarding schools, and has a dress code. The teachers are excellent and the classes get progressively more difficult. In my daughters AP and Honors classes three of her professors are PH.D’s and I am thrilled with the education she is receiving. (Right now, spring of her junior year, she is groaning about the amount of work, but I think that is true in most good schools in junior year.)
Hill School has focused on environmental sustainability, and reducing their environmental impact was the theme this year of the Charterhouse Challenge, the contest they have with Charterhouse School in England. They have continued programs on the environment all year with various speakers.
All the kids do community service of one kind or another, and they help within the town community.</p>
<p>I am glad that you are considering a range of schools instead of just the most competitive. Even with all her qualifications, she might not be able to get into the most competitive schools because they have more qualified applicants than they have places for them. There are many that meet the criteria you suggested. If it is possible for her to visit a few schools now (some will allow you to do that without an interview), she may be able to narrow her criteria. Some students begin to feel strongly about criteria like school size, religious or not, formal dress code or casual, athletic commitments, rural/town etc. </p>
<p>She might consider Blair Academy which has a strong girls cross country team [Blair</a> Academy - Athletics](<a href=“http://www.blair.edu/Athletics/Crosscountry_G/ath_t_cross_country_g.shtm]Blair”>http://www.blair.edu/Athletics/Crosscountry_G/ath_t_cross_country_g.shtm). Academics are strong, and students who get top grades are encouraged to take the most challenging courses. In addition to time for academics, sports and the arts, there is also time for fun, but it is not a party school. There are many opportunities for community service, and I think their history department is especially strong. They have a weekly speaker series The Society of Skeptics [Blair</a> Academy - News & Events](<a href=“http://www.blair.edu/News_Events/news_ev_recent_speakers.shtm]Blair”>http://www.blair.edu/News_Events/news_ev_recent_speakers.shtm) that creates some lively discussion. Science is good with the standard offerings including AP and honors plus some courses not usually offered by a smaller school like Biotechnology, AP Environmental Science and Marine Biology. </p>
<p>Good luck to your niece!</p>
<p>We’ve looked at Peterson’s, boardingschoolreview and some other places for retention rate information. It’s a bit hard to tell, but it looks like most of these schools accept about 10 to 25 10th graders in the Fall (depending on the size). Is that about right? Seem about average? What source did you use to understand retention and graduation rates at these schools?</p>
<p>Thanks, again.</p>
<p>I believe SPS adds around 30-40 new 10th graders each year.</p>
<p>NMH might be more…not sure how many, though. They generally start with 100 freshman and end up with a total student body of around 625. They are in the process of decreasing the PG, but not the overall, enrollment.</p>