<p>What is the purpose of attending a prep school if all colleges claim they evaulate you in the context of your school?</p>
<p>Getting in the top 10% of Andover, Exeter, etc. is much more difficult than at a public highschool. In terms of the college admission process, how do the prep schools help? Will the prestige of Andover take a kid who is in the top 30% at Andover to an Ivy League university?</p>
<p>Here’s my take on it:
The purpose of going to prep school isn’t to get into an Ivy League school. Nor has it ever been, even up through the late 21st century. Most of the students at the elite boarding schools who ended up Ivies didn’t go to boarding school to increase their chances at Ivies. Due to family status, their heading to an Ivy was a foregone conclusion as long as they didn’t mess up too badly, and perhaps even then.</p>
<p>The point of prep school, for me at least, was to receive a strong, unique education in an environment in which people were at school because they wanted to be there. I went so that I’d be better prepared for life and college in general, not because I thought going would get me into my college of choice.</p>
<p>It is much harder to get into Andover’s top 10% than the local high school’s (usually). So being at the top at a boarding school might would probably make it easier to assess you as a strong student than being one of 17 valedictorians with 4.45 (/4) GPAs. It says more. The prestige of Andover will not take a student in the top 30% to Harvard, however. These things are hard to quantify, but school prestige isn’t going to make a solid B student with two weakly attended ECs a compelling candidate.</p>
<p>As senioritis said, most people do not go to prepatory school merely to be sent to an Ivy League school, though some do. Though it most certainly helps in some ways (the statistics are undeniable), the competitiveness makes it more difficult. People go for many different reasons. Though not as many as it used to be, some do still go for family tradition and the prestige, which is all right, in my opinion. Some attend because they are overachievers and want more opportunities (and, yes, because they know it will look great on applications). Then, also, there quite a few very smart or gifted children who struggle in typical public or private day school and need an enviornment that is more demanding and to be around peers who they can communicate and get along with, and more oppurtunities to exercise and experiment with their talents. I would consider those the main three reasons, though I’m sure a few people will know others and correct me, which I wouldn’t mind.</p>
<p>I think Prettyckitty has it right, as usual. The ‘best’ reason for going to prep school or any elite private school is a desire to learn and to associate with people who are eager to learn, if that desire can’t be adequately met in your local public school. All the other reasons have a cynical flavor to them, IMHO. Wouldn’t it be a dream world if all the kids who are highly motivated to explore the world of the intellect had an opportunity to participate in a high quality and challenging education!</p>