boarding school is not merely a form of education. It is also a distinct culture with underlying principles and expectations. In varying degrees, prep schools retain the Old Education, education based on the liberal arts, dedicated to instilling virtue, strengthening character, and leading the student forth to discover – or begin to discover - her/his true self. Success in admissions and the quality of the campus experience depends in part on understanding this culture, its underlying values and expectations.
To begin, we must make certain reasonable assumptions. You picked up this book because, for whatever reason, you have some interest in learning more about American prep schools, boarding schools in particular. You are most likely a parent or a student; what’s motivating you is a desire for a better education– with enriched academics, enhanced social contacts, an opportunity for personal growth, and superior preparation for college admission. Most likely you and your family want practical information - how do we find the “right” school and what is necessary to gain admission?
And then after, how to make the most of a boarding school education?
American Prep is a guided tour through this entire journey, derived from personal experience and from the close observations of many others in the boarding world. It provides insights about prep culture and about how to handle the challenges that arise while at school. In these pages are tips and suggestions on subjects profound and mundane, practical and strategic. American Prep includes another core aspect – the emotional landscape that your journey will likely traverse.
This path is not completely linear; some aspects arise at early stages, then re-appear later. This book therefore contains deliberate repetition of some information and some circling back. There is a certain elegance to this – the boarding school world has much to do with circles and ovals, as you will soon discover. If you find that this book assists your family’s journey, I shall consider it a success.
Ronald Mangravite
IT’S ALL PREP
American Prep can be of value to the student and the family whether or not the student applies to a boarding school, gains admission or graduates.
Much of the information herein can be applied to private day school issues and nearly every aspect, from first thoughts about applying on through life at boarding school, is preparation for college and adult life. That’s why they call it “prep school!”
(As an added plus to students, there are plenty of SSAT vocabulary words sprinkled throughout this book!)
CHAPTER 1
BOARDING SCHOOL BASICS
American boarding schools are a centuries-old tradition. Many graduates have gone on to be leaders – of their nations, of business and industry, in the arts and sciences, sports, and academia. Yet, despite this distinguished history, American boarding schools remain a mystery to most people, including many families seeking a better education for their children.
The roster of American boarding schools is so vast and varied as to be bewildering to newcomers. Many are hundreds of years old with unique histories and traditions. The range of educational offerings is wide, from elite academics to specialized and remedial programs. So too is the range of opportunities, from accelerated academics and intense athletics to advanced extracurricular offerings and semester abroad programs. Some schools provide close mentoring; others foster independence. Some schools welcome a wide range of students; some are so selective, they rival Harvard’s admission rates. Most offer generous financial aid to qualified families, and some of these have endowments larger than many colleges.
WHAT IS A “PREP SCHOOL”?
For most of American history, a “prep school” signified a boarding preparatory school; a non boarding preparatory school was a “private school.” To be “at school” or “at prep school”, meant living away from home at a boarding school.
In recent decades, the term “prep school” has lost the precise meaning it once had and now is generally but not universally used to denote all college preparatory schools, boarding and non boarding. This author much prefers the traditional terms, “prep” and private”, but defers to the contemporary usage.
TYPES OF SCHOOLS
In general, American schools can be classified by two fundamental distinctions: publicly funded vs privately funded and boarding vs non boarding. This results in four separate categories: private boarding, private non boarding, public boarding, and public non boarding.
Boarding schools are private residential high schools under faculty supervision 24 hours a day. Boarding schools are self funded, through tuition and contributions from alumni and parents. They are distinguished by enhanced academics, facilities, resources, and financial resources. Junior boarding schools, are for younger students, some beginning at 3rd grade, some going as far as 9th grade. Some of these are stand-alone schools, others are attached to high school level boarding schools.
Private non boarding schools (known as Day schools) are self funded through tuition and contributions from alumni and parents. Students live at home under the supervision of their parents/guardians. Like boarding schools, day schools are typically college preparatory programs, so they are “prep schools” in the wider sense of the term.
A Day school provides education with faculty supervision during certain hours of the work week. Day school rules and culture extend into the student’s off campus life, but only in a limited way: homework, sports, and perhaps extracurricular activities in the afternoons after classes and sometimes on weekends. The student otherwise escapes the school culture and its expectations.
Day schools tend to have less student diversity than boarding schools or colleges. This is due to several factors. Day schools are composed by definition of local students, lacking the geographic and international diversity of college and boarding school student enrollment. Day school tuition is expensive relative to typical American family incomes, but because of smaller endowments, day school financial aid is very limited relative to boarding schools or colleges, and usually reserved for a small number of students from underrepresented minority groups (URMs).
As a consequence, day school populations are more homogenous, from a narrow demographic of upper income and upper middle income families.
Public schools are publicly funded day schools. They are the largest group in terms of both numbers of schools and students. Funded by taxes, with close government oversight at the county, state and (increasingly) federal levels, public schools are inclusive, with a mandate to provide equal education and academic opportunities for all. Public schools are externally controlled – course content, budgets, employment, and planning are handled and/or influenced by an array of larger entities – school district administrators, state legislators, unions, and Federal guidelines – and subject to the vagaries of local, state, and national political trends. As is well known and reported, publics range widely in quality from excellent to substandard.
A hybrid subset of public schools are charter schools, which are privately administered but use public funds and require no tuition. Charter schools are subject to public school district curricula requirements but maintain more independence than public schools.
Public boarding schools are very rare in the United States; they number less than thirty
