<p>My brother has been accepted to a number of schools, but right now he is torn between the Hill School (Pottstown, PA) and a very good private day school. The thing is, he won a scholarship that covers literally all of the tuition at the day school, and at Hill he got around 30,000 in financial aid. These are both great offers, but he is leaning towards day school because the scholarship would be a good thing to have on his CV, and nearly all of his friends all there. He likes Hill because of the in-depth intruction in classical language, and, unfortunately, the day school does not offer latin. However, he was not impressed by Pottstown. If anyone could give an opinion on what they would do, that would be great 
Thanks!</p>
<p>If it’s a strong day school AND he has a free ride (not to mention the friends are there)? Bank those bucks. Latin & Greek ARE great for HS language skills, but not the be-all or end-all. With the money you save he can take summer language immersion programs at a place like Middlebury if he’s so motivated…if he LOVEs Hill, cool then go, but the way you’re describing it, he’ll be served fine at home, and ECON 101 is all about “opportunity cost”…assuming Hill is about $45K a year, that’s $60K you and your family can allocate elsewhere.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice TheBig5! We’re pretty sure that’s the best option. Do you think it would be worth his while to apply to other boarding schools next year? He only applied to two this year, and he did not do a lot of research before applying, so I think he might have applied elsewhere if he had had the time…</p>
<p>Would totally depend on how well his academic, athletic, and EC needs are being met by the day school, or elsewhere in your environs. BS are great because they have the “one stop shopping” for all of these things, but I think college AOs certainly look favorably on merit scholarships and students who spread their wings beyond their (day) school offerings to further themselves through ECs beyond what their school can offer. BS does not hands down trump a strong day school…it all depends on the family and the student.</p>
<p>Your brother could ask the day school if he could independently study Latin. I would be willing to bet that they would say yes.</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>Your folks could try asking the Hill School for more money.</p>
<p>My only reply is to address Pottstown - yes, it is not the most attractive town, although I don’t know how often students actually go into town. Be aware that the largest mall on the east coast is 15 minutes away, and of course Philadelphia is not far at all, and I believe Hill offers trips to those places pretty regularly.</p>
<p>Otherwise, yes, you have to crunch the numbers. I don’t think BS is inherently better than day school at all, they are apples and oranges.</p>
<p>One last thought - isn’t it rather unusual for a strong private school to NOT offer Latin? I am not aware of any private schools in my area that do not offer it. Are you sure the education at both schools are of the same caliber?</p>
<p>It is very difficult to find Latin teachers.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that your brother attend the revisit day at Hill and then make a decision.
The difference between attending each school is probably less than $15,000 considering that your parents will have a lower food expense at home, transportation costs, extracurricular costs, etc. If Hill is more than 100 miles away from home, they will also pay lower auto insurance once he starts driving.<br>
When I read that your local school does not offer Latin, I assumed that it must be a very small school. Very small schools are great for some high school students but too small for others ready to expand their social networks.
I’m sure there is an appropriate but important-sounding name that he can put on his CV to describe his Hill financial aid award.
Having friends at hand eager for him to attend high school with them is a big draw. During the revisit he can meet current and prospective Hill students to feel how comfortable socially he would be.
Congratulations to your brother for having 2 great choices!</p>