<p>I think it’s more difficult to win admission as a day student, which means it’s a more competitive pool of applicants. This effect may drop out for the most elite schools.</p>
<p>Also, at many schools, a significant percentage of the “day” students are faculty children.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s true of St. Mark’s. I have no idea who’s a boarder, and who isn’t. </p>
<p>I seem to remember that in Perfectly Prep, it was asserted or assumed that the day students at that school were more likely to be the scholars. </p>
<p>I would think that living with parents would help to keep kids on the straight and narrow. One of the skills boarding schools foster is time management. If you don’t have a parent looking over your shoulder, it’s easier to fall into the trap of fooling around with friends.</p>
<p>Sorry about that mix-up, I kept wondering why the experiences of erlanger and other St. Mark’s parents sounded so different…now I know its because they are at different schools, lol.</p>
<p>Right–our experience is not St. Marks. I will say that I think the “distance” factor is not just a function of % of day students but entrenchment in the school’s attitude. Some schools think more locally, others more nationally/globally. We just came back from Parents weekend, meet with the Dean of students, and talked to him about the lack of connection and he agreed it is something the school does not always think about this enough. I guess it becomes on us to try to forge a closer relationship with the school and D’s advisors, rather than it being initiated by the school (based upon years of forethought and experience).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Uh…who did you hear that from?
Gaining acceptance is hard, but the fact that it’s because most are incoming 8th graders is definitely not true at all.
Only about 25 kids are incoming 8th graders in each grade. One grade typically has around 170 kids, and about half are boarders.
Just clarifying things up.</p>
<p>The points I was trying to make are that:
<p>According to Milton’s website, there are 294 lower school students [Quick</a> Facts](<a href=“http://www.milton.edu/k8/about/quickfacts.cfm]Quick”>http://www.milton.edu/k8/about/quickfacts.cfm) . Assuming an even distribution in grades, there would be around 33/grade. By the way, in a typical independent school, class size increases in middle school so they may not be evenly distributed. There are 670 in upper school. The 9th grade entering class might be around 150, given that the number in each grade typically increases with each year. The 150 is split 50/50 day/boarding. If there are 33/grade moving up, that leaves 42 day spots vs. 75 boarding spots.</p>
<p>Here is the information on Milton’s class size in lower school [FAQ[/url</a>]</p>
<p>The projected class size for middle school is 42-47. </p>
<p>Assuming 150 spots for 9th grade which seems reasonable given the entry point numbers here [url=<a href=“http://www.milton.edu/admissions/How-to-Apply.cfm]How”>http://www.milton.edu/admissions/How-to-Apply.cfm]How</a> to Apply](<a href=“http://www.milton.edu/k8/admissions/faq.cfm]FAQ[/url”>http://www.milton.edu/k8/admissions/faq.cfm), then there would be a majority of day spots taken by 8th graders moving up – around 31 new day spots vs. 75 boarding spots for 9th grade.</p>
<p>Videotaping events is a great way to connect for far away parents. Can anyone lists schools that provide that…Be great if it were on the intranet as well…</p>
<p>St. Mark’s posts videos of some events on its website. Most are under “St. Mark’s Live,” which one can reach from a button on the home page. It’s a mixture of student drama productions, and presentations to parents. Some other videos and recordings are tucked away on other pages of the site. There are some videos of recent games available on a page linked to a button on the athletics page. I don’t think it’s by any means comprehensive–perhaps the parent of a current athlete would know more.</p>
<p>The school is very good about frequently posting photos. The most interesting new album posted is “the Mud Bowl,” shots from the recent 1-point loss to Groton.</p>
<p>As an overseas (American) parent of a St. Mark’s student, I find the video clips especially helpful in connecting with my daughter’s environment. (Were that her brother’s BS did the same.)</p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>The school websites are excellent tools to keep parents informed. In addition to the school website, my son’s school sends a very informative e-newsletter, “CommuniCATE”, to parents about twice a month. It’s full of news and other media that keeps us included. </p>
<p>Also, since we live a long distance from our son’s school the football coach kindly offered to send us DVD’s of the games. It’s a nice gesture and greatly appreciated. Now squash season is here, and I haven’t asked yet, but I sure hope the school videotapes the squash matches!</p>
<p>Personally, I think that one of the reasons why so many of the kids at coastal prep schools tend to be local is that most of us in the heartland have a very different set of values. We aren’t nearly as interested in society, and in many cases, are not only NOT seeking Ivy League admissions, but instead, scorn the Ivies. My husband is a physician, I’m an MBA both of us attended quality universities. We both hold high level professional jobs. We have the money for prep school education. We have the money to send our kids to an Ivy League school. Our kids are certainly bright enough. Both kids are NM Scholars/AP Scholars from large suburban blue ribbon schools. But we are Christians from the heartland and we want our kids to retain their Christian values. We want to retain our influence on them and we want them to love their country. Frankly, we hold the coasts in rather low regard. I don’t mean to be offensive, but I think you should understand why the heartland is not represented.</p>
<p>Interesting. So, your children would lose their love of country if they moved to either coast? I hate to break this to you but no part of the country holds a monopoly on love of country, or for that matter, any particular set of values. You are certainly welcome to keep your kids close and emphasize your values, but if you didn’t mean to be offensive you certainly failed miserably. Perhaps we can discuss this more later, but I’m off to my meeting in NY to plot the new world order.</p>
<p>I thought that pride was accounted a sin, in Christian theology. Perhaps I misunderstood?</p>
<p>Padre13, remember, I’m bringing the coffee to the meeting this afternoon.</p>
<p>Padre13 and Periwinkle, </p>
<p>Count me in for the meeting this afternoon too. Since I’m a native midwesterner (aka Heartland), I’ll bring a casserole.</p>
<p>I’ll bring chocolate chip cookies and the reading materials-the Communist Manifesto and “How to Get Your Preschooler into Harvard”.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, debrockman, why are you on a prep school forum if you have no interest in having your children attend a private school?</p>
<p>debrockman, please don’t act as if you can speak for the “Heartland”, and don’t just “hold the coasts in low regard” because you can find plenty of people with the same kind of mentality as yours. Frankly, it’s your kind of narrow minded and disillusioned people that I hold low regard on and scorn. I don’t even try to persuade you as the narrow minded people tend to be the most stubborn, but I feel sad for your kids. If they are as bright as you said they are, what a waste! And I PRAY that your “influence” won’t have such devastating effect that someday they’d get on this board and make the same rant as you did - what a nightmare that would be!</p>
<p>There are plenty of Christians on the “coasts,” and yes, even at prep schools- a good number of them were founded by churches and still have chaplains on the faculty. And I’ll bet that the soldiers from New England who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan- including a colleague’s son- “loved their country” as much as anyone from the Midwest.</p>
<p>What Christian values are you afraid of them losing? Most preps stress service to others, kindness,etc.etc.</p>
<p>I live in a community where the sentiment expressed by debrockman is predominate. I have had people say to me they could not allow someone else raise their child, like me. Each time I hear this I cringe. I am still raising my d. I have not abdicated responsibility for her. I am the first person she turns to when she has a problem, the first person she calls when she is happy, sad etc. I continue to give advice, unsolicited or otherwise and to impart my values, whether they are accepted or not. I am simply willing to allow her to explore the world without me holding her hand 24/7. I do not need a clone. We disagree on many social and political issues and I am not the least offended. I find it very healthy that she can form her own opinions, express them and defend them. My d attends chapel four times a week, far more than she would if she was at home.</p>