<p>The following New England Ten School Admission Organization boarding schools certainly have diverse student bodies coming from dozens of countries and a majority of US states. But what percentage of their student bodies hail from the New England vicinity? Those with access to this year’s student directories are requested to respond. </p>
<p>Hotchkiss:
Andover:
Deerfield:
Exeter:
St. Paul’s:
Taft:
Choate:
Loomis:
Lawrenceville:
Hill:</p>
<p>Having just returned from Parents’ Weekend at Hotchkiss, I have checked that school’s directory and have calculated that 25.46% of the student population comes from NE. Also, it appears that 22.63% of the student body is from NY, and 19.63% of the students are foreign.</p>
<p>About 50% for Andover, and more than 40% are from MA. I was a little surprised at those rates. It’s so “local” after all…</p>
<p>When you consider that 27% of Andover students are day students, it’s not that big of a shock. Perhaps the large student body offsets that percentage and it isn’t as noticeable. Also, I believe that students living in surrounding towns cannot even apply as boarders. (But I may be wrong.) Then, consider how densely populated the area around Boston is, and you’ve got the remaining 13+% that I imagine comprise the remaining Mass students.</p>
<p>Andover had a very diverse feel to us when we visited. Even with a relatively high day student population, there are still over 700 kids from all over as boarders.</p>
<p>Currently 291 day students and 814 boarders. About 15% are local (MA) boarders. So maybe you are right. It’s not that “bad”.</p>
<p>I took a quick look at SPS and approx. 37% are from New England.</p>
<p>BSchool – Please note that the New England states are Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Lawrenceville and Hill are not in New England, but in an area often called the Mid-Atlantic states, consisting of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and usually Washington DC and Maryland. Often the New England states and the Mid-Atlantic states combined are called the northeast. </p>
<p>I just wanted to clarity that for you, so you understood. Some of these schools have large populations from New York, especially NYC, but that is not a New England state. It is likely that Hill has a small New England population, but a large Mid-Atlantic population.</p>
<p>As someone pointed out to you, the schools with large day numbers will also have large numbers from that state. For example, Loomis has a CT population well over 50%.</p>
<p>There are many families in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states who have a boarding tradition in the family. Other than some pockets in the south, you won’t find this in most other areas of the US.</p>
<p>…and then, NYC and Long Island skews the statistics from NY even more. NYC and Long Island might as well be in a different country compared to my part of NY. I looked at one directory (can’t remember which school) and all but 2 of the over 75 NY students were from either NYC, Long Island, or Westchester County. NY is an incredibly diverse state; yet the overwhelming majority of NY BS students come from the area around NYC.</p>
<p>Even though NY is technically considered a Mid-Atlantic state, my part is much much closer to New England in both geography and culture - maple syrup, covered bridges and all.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your input. Corrections accepted, I definitely worded my question poorly. A more to my point question would have been, ‘How many students at these schools live within a three hour drive?’ I was initially shocked at the percentage of students that seemed to live nearby. At schools that advertise (boast) number of countries and states, it is amazing that a majority of their students still live in the Northeast. It is a statistic that is not readily available. Not that it is bad or good, just not what someone new (me) to boarding school could have discerned from the view-books.</p>
<p>The fact that such a high percentage of student body lives within 2-3 hours of the school can be significant and should be a factor that parents consider. We live far away and have found the school (which boasts its national and international admits) does not do a great job of with its “far away” parents because they have so many parents who can come to games, concerts, pick up their kids for the weekend, etc. We have had surprisingly little contact and information from the school and it’s hard to develop relationships with the school community. And while our D doesn’t mind the empty campus on weekends, she surely notices it.</p>
<p>erlanger, I’m sorry that the campus feels empty on weekends. I’m sure there are others like that. </p>
<p>But not all schools clear out at the weekend because of a large local contingent. My daughter’s school (50% New England) is 45 min away, and she came home just once—from 10 pm Fri until 6 pm Sat, so she could do activities at school both evenings! Some day students’ parents tell me they hardly see their kids, even on weekends. </p>
<p>International students can get officially paired up with a day or local boarder student for a host family, so perhaps it’s harder for some US students from far away on long weekends when kids tend to go home. </p>
<p>One way to connect in your own area is to volunteer for the Parent’s Fund at your school, if they do that (maybe more relevant for places like SF and NY where there’s a concentration of parents), and volunteer with the Admissions Office if they do local visits. Also, for what it’s worth, high school doesn’t generally foster the same kind of parent community that you get in the younger grades (and as the parent of an elementary schooler, with a ton of PTO stuff to do, it’s not all a bad change!)</p>
<p>For us it was a consideration. One of the schools we were looking at had a high percentage of local kids and on our tour we asked students about it…despite what the school had told us, the kids said it was dead on the weekends. We ended up choosing a school that is 80% boarding (although many of the students are from NE I am not sure how many). Weekends are fun according to my son. We get a weekly newsletter from the school letting us know everything that went on during the week. Additionally they videotape many events so that you can watch them even if you were not there. Very good communication with parents who are far away even though there are many close by too! So far so good!</p>
<p>erlanger & cdnhockeymom- your kids are at the same school, but your experiences seem to be very different. Is it because of the advisers assigned to each kid is handling things differently?</p>
<p>Wow, that is surprising, I did not realize our kids were at the same school! I can only speak from what my son, a junior tells me about his weekends…he is loving it! As for me, I have not had a ton of contact with our advisor. It is the weekly newsletters from the school, skyping with my son, emails from teachers, info letters in snail mail from the school and the school website which keeps me apprised of the situation. Also Despite being far away I have had the opportunity to go to the school twice since leaving him there, which has allowed me to feel connected as well.</p>
<p>Emdee, I don’t think Erlanger’s child is at St. Mark’s School. </p>
<p>My child is at St. Mark’s, and I feel that we’ve been kept up to date by the school. We get the weekly newsletters, we’ve had conversations with the advisor, and we were able to attend Parents’ Weekend. </p>
<p>My child also reports that weekends are fun. The activities keep students on campus, or they want to rush back. I also have met parents who live in Southborough, but whose children are boarding. The Saturday classes, weekend athletic events, and Sunday evening study halls also cut down on the time available for boarders to leave campus.</p>
<p>One thing that I’ve noticed that I find very itneresting, is from scanning honor roll plaques every day on my way to class, a HUGE majority of the students that make it (in every year from about the '60’s to present) are from connecticut. then a few from other NE states, then a tiny bit of international.</p>
<p>My son’s school does not have honor roll; they have cum laude society (which I think might be a bit more difficult to make?). At my son’s school, it seems like a lot of the Asian students make cum laude, although only about 2% of the students are even named at all.</p>
<p>His school = 50% from New England; 40% from MA (school is in MA). 85% boarding students.</p>
<p>I’ve heard and read that the top students at many schools are more likely to be day students. I don’t know if this holds true for all schools.</p>
<p>That’s really interesting, periwinkle. I wonder why. Maybe it’s because they have daily, face to face parental involvement with both student and school? Maybe students more likely to stay the course when Mom wakes them every morning. Hearing your parents’ disapproval over the phone is one thing, looking them in the face when you haven’t given your all is another.</p>
<p>Interesting.</p>
<p>I think starz27 goes to Loomis which has over 40% day. The school is also located in the middle of CT, so there are many CT boarders as well.</p>
<p>Some schools that are close to an urban area and that also limit the number of day students to a small percent, might have a more competitive day population because those applicants face a very competitive situation. Does that make sense? St. Marks School is 81% boarding, but it is close to Boston and its heavily populated suburbs. I’ve heard from a variety of sources that it is very difficult to gain acceptance as a new high school day student at Milton which is very close to Boston because the majority of their day high school students move up from grade 8. While Peddie is not close to a major city, it is situated in a heavily populated area. A few years ago I heard that it was easier to get into as a boarder than as a day student. I don’t think the same can be said for a school that is in a rural location.</p>