[AsianBamboo]

I'm a junior at a public high school that doesn't really... well... we don't have a reputation for getting students into highly ranked colleges. Most of the school is focused on helping lower level students get into community college or state schools.

I am considering applying to a boarding school for my senior year of high school, but I am not sure whether this would be a smart move in the long run.

I have a few questions, and if anyone has answers, I'd really appreciate them.

A. Would attending a boarding school put me in a better position to attend an Ivy League School?
B. Would switching to a boarding school as a senior be a bad move? Is it a hard adjustment to make?
C. Do boarding schools have a good "environment"?
[^Sorry I can't work this properly... my thoughts are floating around my head tonight]

Any information would be highly appreciated! =]
Thank you!

[Squirrely]

well, i don't know anything about boarding schools haha =__=
but, from what i know of colleges in general, i would probably just stay at your current school.

your grades from sophomore and junior year are the most important, so i feel a couple months at boarding school before applications are due wouldn't help that much.

colleges tend to enjoy accepting students from 'feed' schools, but if you rank high in your current hs' graduating class, that looks good, too !

i don't think it would necessarily put you in a better position to attend an Ivy (but as i said before, i don't know anything about boarding schools lol) because it's really up to how the colleges see you as a person. obviously, your grades and stats must be on par, and then you've got to do something else that let's you shine. going to a boarding school isn't going to do that. the only advantage is that maybe the boarding school is a feed school, but then you also have a lot of competition with the people in the boarding school applying to Ivies, right ?

i think if you do go to a boarding school it would be kind of a tough adjustment to make, but it depends on what kind of person you are. one of my friends switched into my hs his senior year (public to public) and though there was no dramatic lifestyle change, he was really down for the first half of the year because well, homesickness and missing friends and the like.


okay i'm not sure if any of that makes any sense.. wrote it in a hurry haha ^^ hope it gives some more insight though.

[truexskills]

I'm a junior at a public high school that doesn't really... well... we don't have a reputation for getting students into highly ranked colleges. Most of the school is focused on helping lower level students get into community college or state schools.

I am considering applying to a boarding school for my senior year of high school, but I am not sure whether this would be a smart move in the long run.

I have a few questions, and if anyone has answers, I'd really appreciate them.

A. Would attending a boarding school put me in a better position to attend an Ivy League School?
B. Would switching to a boarding school as a senior be a bad move? Is it a hard adjustment to make?
C. Do boarding schools have a good "environment"?
[^Sorry I can't work this properly... my thoughts are floating around my head tonight]

Any information would be highly appreciated! =]
Thank you!

i actually attend a new england boarding school, and its one of the schools that in the "ten schools" that include places like exeter, andover, choate, lawrenceville, etc..
and i dont really feel like telling where im at, but its in lakeville, ct so you can just google that and it'll tell you what school i attend

also, i wouldn't know what range of schools you would be looking at, but with some of the better ones, it would DEFINITELY help you get into a better ivy. the top prep schools have tremendous name value, and one thing thats sort of interesting is that colleges have lower expectations for things such as clubs and extracurriculars and volunteer hours, because they know that the system in which boarding schools are set up...it's actually quite difficult to find time to do things like that consistently..and where as if you go to a public school, you can travel and do all sorts of ECs around your area...but we're locked up on a campus and our neighboring towns are usually very rural/dont have that many opportunities

there are always people who come in as seniors/juniors/sophomores, and the atmosphere is very welcoming..i transferred from public school after my freshman year and i made a near perfect transition extremely quickly.

and the environment is pretty similar to what they advertise it to be....studying and diong well is a huge priority here, and the quality of work/attempts and being successful are on a completely different level than public schools...even some of the better public schools. if you come as a senior, i would say you would have a MUCH greater chance of going to a respected college than attending a bad public school. whether you have a chance at an elite school/ivy league, that's really up to how you've done for the past 3 years

[iMMA D0Rk XD]

Honestly, its too late now to switch high schools. If you`re only going to switch during senior year, its useless. Just be number one and take as many hard classes as you can at your school. Have killer EC's and essays and you`ll get anywhere you want to go to.

[tanyatipc]

hello
I go to Choate.. also part of the 10 schools as mentioned above, im a senior
kind of embarrassing that I'm on soompi
anyway, boarding school.. its a handful

if you've got specific questions, just PM me.. I think mr/ms. lakeville CT covered most of whats important..

[truexskills]

yea, im pretty sure that im heavily biased towards boarding schools, but what i said before is relatively objective and i actually think transferring wouldn't be a bad idea
i just no longer even see why anyone would want to go to public school after being a prep school student..
and, i guess there acutally is no point in revealing the town but not the school...i go to hotchkiss haha..
you can pm me as well if needed

[*beccas]

I think that it wouldn't matter if you changed schools your senior year.
because anyways you have to apply to schools in the first semester of your senior year, so nothing
you do at the new school in ssenior year will help you get into a better college. (except the classes you are currently enrolled in)

but i would recommend you to stay at the school you are right now and get good grades.

i had a friend that went to a school just like yours where the students practically go nowhere, but he tried and was above average,
and actually stood out in his class because everyone else was stupid. he actually went to UCLA.
so if you excel right now in your current classes, it might be better for you.

I also attended boarding school during middle school and I loved it. It was so carefree and relaxing without parents.
the environment is nice too. you will also get to meet a lot of ppl. i think more than in regular high school because everyone lives in dorms
so you will easily meet new people where ever you go on campus.

its your decision though good luck.

[KateLove]

Boarding schools suck.
Sure they'll make you focus more on studying, because they don't allow you to do anything else!

My Ex-BF went to a boarding school, he couldn't even go out on weekends, and he was 18.
Partly why we broke up.

So . are you sure it's what you want?

[cielle]

It seems like a BAD idea. What if you can't adjust? What if your classes are so much harder your grades start failing??

I rather be #1 at a bad school than last at a great school because with certain really great high schools, I'm pretty sure colleges don't really know which high schools grades harder/work harder etc.
And alot of people from public high schools get into ivies too =_=;;; Someone at my high school got into Harvard but he turned that down and went to NYU instead because they gave him a full ride (NYU is known to be horrible with fin aid btw) so lol whatever.

[kikkie.kl]

^ Au contraire, they kind of have an idea of what kind of HS you come from, judging from API scores.


But I don't think it makes that much of a difference. As long as you're on the top ranks of your school with outstanding extracurriculars, you should be okay.
I.E. my highschool is an "okay" highschool. It's not smart (like Temple City or Arcadia) but it's not stupid either. There was a fair amount of people who did get into UCBerkeley and UCLA.


Honestly, transferring senior year might be too late.

[truexskills]

hahah we actually party much harder than public school kids can imagine
perks of being friends with rich new york/boston/greenwich kids...meh.
and in terms of stats in terms of transferring, my school gets about 15-20 new seniors in each class and most classes have about 130-150 kids so its a decent percentage