Experience with Prep Schools??

That's like asking about East Coast colleges. There are all kinds, of varying qualities.

I was once in a position to work with a lot of high school students, from both private and public schools--and I'll definitely say that ones that seemed to stand out the most were the ones that had attended some of the more respected prep schools, while the ones that had gone to mediocre ones were pretty mediocre. I'm a product of the public school system--and one of the best non-magnet schools, I like to think--and yet, I would definitely love to send my kids to some of these prep schools. Worth the money? Hardly anything "private" is, in terms of strict ROI, but there's definitely a difference.

However, I think 12 might be too young. Why not wait until high school? I'm assuming boarding school, right? Generally I'd be against this.

I have no kids old enough for school, but I went to a classic NE prep school (boarding starting in 6th grade). Feel free to PM with any specific questions.

I also went to a classic NE prep school. Went to a feeder college. You could tell who went to prep school and who didnt, although the public school kids had the credentials as well as smarts to get into the same college I did. However, all of my prep school friends went on to be lawyers, bankers, consultants, and a few entrepreneurs sprinkled in while public school kids kind of fell off a bit there. Just my experience. My kid will go to prep school for sure. Oh also make sure its a reputable prep school. This is pretty damn important as well if you decide if you want your kid to go or not.

I went to a public high school and am currently at a college in the northeast that has a very large population of kids that went to prep schools, and I have to say that I would recommend sending your kid to a prep school if it's within your means. That's not to say there's anything wrong with public schools, but in terms of connections and how to carry yourself, prep schools give you a huge leg up. The one major reason I do wish I had gone to a prep school is for the alumni network - from what I can tell, it's a more intimate and tight-knit community as opposed to a college network simply because of the sheer number of students.

My only advice would be to make sure your son/daughter has a level head and doesn't catch east coast prep ego disease... but other than that I think it's definitely a solid move.

Send your kid as a day student if possible. Not all prep schools offer this option, though.

I would strongly disagree with this.

Same for me. It's hard to put into words, but there seems to be an approach to life among my group of friends from prep school which doesn't allow settling for anything less than a high level of success. Not only financially necessarily, but simply excelling in whatever it is they/we choose to do. I think prep school hammered into us that we're going to be leaders in the future - in business, politics, whatever, and people truly believe it. Sounds cheesy, I know, but when I look at what the group has accomplished in 5 years post college I'm astounded. Edit: I also started in 7th grade.

This is based entirely on people I've met at school, and is in no way scientific, but I have an extremely good impression of Phillips Exeter. I've yet to meet someone from that school who wasn't an incredibly intelligent, interesting, and all around amazing person to be around.

Is there a specific reason you left out Hotchkiss?

I went to Deerfield, and had a brother at St. Paul's and another at Choate. It was an excellent foundational experience, after which both undergrad and grad school were fairly easy. I would only advise against the day school option, as most of the social interaction is in the dorms and I found my day peers to have missed out on arguably the most enriching aspect of prep school.

Feel free to PM with any specific questions.

I attended Deerfield Academy and it's a very solid school. You can PM if you have specific questions. The good ones spread out all over the country so don't just look at East Coast. All these schools are very diverse, with so many different races and nationalities that your children will learn much about the world.

Roxbury Latin is all boys, so that might be a stretch for her.

Also, unless your daughter is truly exceptional in some way (i.e. Olympic-level athlete, has cured cancer, daughter of a billionaire), you're probably going to want to consider some schools beyond the first tier. Every school in that group has acceptance rates in the mid teens - and the quality of the pool that's applying to prep school is generally pretty high. You probably want to add one or two in the Loomis Chaffee range to have something as a backup.

I've also always wondered about the ones that are not in the Northeast and how their reputations are. We have one right near our house, Cranbrook Kingswood, that has had some big names go through its halls in the past and even now I know that they attract students from all over the country. There's always articles in our local rag about some of the stuff their students are doing or places they are studying, etc. and it always amazes me. They also list their graduates each year in our paper along with activities they were involved in and where they are headed off to college and I've never seen so many kids from one school going to the Ivies, Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT, Duke, the Service Academies, etc. The lowest ranked schools listed are always a few kids going to Michigan State or Ohio State and I would imagine many of those are probably because they are following in mom/dad's footsteps.

If I could afford it, I'd definitely send my daughter there when she's old enough. Sadly, unless her grandpa wants to shell out for it, it's not going to happen on my low level local government bureaucrat salary.

Can't go wrong with any of these. I attended one of them.

The upside of boarding is that you get the full experience, probably end up with more lasting friendships, etc. It's near college level freedom much earlier in your life. It's great from the student perspective.

The downside is that as a parent, you're effectively relinquishing control to a bunch of radical liberal educators who don't pay enough attention. Outcomes range from your kid becoming a stoner to a gangbang receptacle.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/articl...659616,00.html

If it were me, I'd never send a daughter to boarding school.