Five Reasons to Consider Boarding School

‍Teens are more likely to listen to adults outside their immediate family.

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Teens need guidance, but are more likely to listen to adults outside their immediate family. Ask any parent. As teens get older, they start tuning out our well-intentioned parental advice. It’s not just common, it’s developmental. They are trying to figure out who they are on their own, outside their family. However, another truth about the teenage years is that they do not always have the best judgment. Their pre-frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls impulses and weighs decisions, won’t be fully developed until their twenties. The good news: At boarding school, students are surrounded by caring adults, including teachers, advisors, coaches, and resident dorm staff. And teens are often far more willing to listen to advice from these mentors than they are to heed the same advice from parents. 

Boarding school makes the transition to college a breeze.

‍Boarding school students hit the ground running in college. They are used to living on their own and don’t struggle with homesickness. They know how to do laundry and already understand the perils of making poor choices when it comes to dining hall food. They are often more comfortable speaking to adults and more likely to participate in class discussions and take advantage of professors’ office hours, too. Finally, they have strong time management and study skills, and have already mastered academic research and writing. Their college grades tend to be strong from Day One, which can make a difference when they apply to graduate school. 

Less time wasted with transportation.

‍Highly-engaged high school students often spend a significant amount of time traveling to and from school and activities, whether their parents serve as chauffeurs or whether they take public transport within their city. At a boarding school, however, classes and extracurricular activities are all a short walk away from the dorm. That means more time for studying, sleeping, activities, and friendships. 

Boarding school friendships are unlike any other.

‍When you give your child the opportunity to go to boarding school, you are also gifting them an extended family for life. Boarding school friendships are intense. These students live, study, and grow-up together. It is not unusual for boarding school students to think of each other more as siblings or cousins than mere friends and the alumni networks tend to be very strong, as well. Boarding school is an experience that bonds them for life. 

Boarding schools often have unique offerings.

At Thacher, ninth graders are assigned a horse to take care of their first year. Tabor has a schooner and Santa Catalina has a robust, marine ecology research program. Millbrook has its own zoo, where students help care for endangered species. Several schools have working farms, including Putney, which has a dairy farm. And if astronomy is a passion area, look for one of the boarding schools with its own observatory. 

Deciding whether or not to go away for school is an important decision for every potential boarding school family. It is critical, however, that students be on board. If a student feels pressured or manipulated into boarding school, it can sour the whole experience for the student, who may feel “sent away” or abandoned. However, if a student is enthusiastic about boarding school, they are not only more likely to persevere when they hit a bump in the road (which they will!), but they are also far more likely to appreciate the opportunity and make the most of it. These are the students most likely to thrive in a boarding school environment.

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