Boarding School recommendations?

[bethy]

Question: Does anyone know of any great college prep boarding schools in the USA or Canada that are not *overly* crazy competitive? DD is smart but not a genius and I don't want her to get in over her head. She's also not used to being a small fish in a big pond. We are looking for schools that are college preparatory and have great, above average motivated students who are not mainly there to get into the Ivy League schools later on. If that makes sense. DD is looking to go to a solid "normal" university in the future.

Also, we'd want a school where the majority of the students board and are not Day students. Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

Background:
We live in a small isolated town with no good private schools nearby. One of our daughters is very smart and wants to go into a STEM field someday. She dreams of going away to college for a traditional four year undergrad experience. She is feeling underwhelmed by her current high school education and experience and is feeling restless. A large percentage of her classmates are not college-bound.

We are toying with the idea of offering to send her to a college prep boarding school for her last two years of high school. She is not a troubled kid - she is a straight A student and involved in tons of activities and also sports. So we would not be "sending her away" against her will or anything. Appreciate any input anyone might have!

 

[soccerdad72]

Do you have a preference as to the part of the country?

In our area, we have a good school that some of our friends have sent kids to as day students, but they're like 60-70% boarding, IIRC. Western Reserve Academy, in Ohio.

 

[bethy]

No preference on location. I have read great things about Western Reserve and it's on our list! Thank you so much for the recommendation - it's exactly what I was looking for!

 

[cvjw]

Heard good things about the darlington school in Rome, Ga. Rome is a beautiful little town in north georgia.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut

 

[bethy]

Heard good things about the darlington school in Rome, Ga. Rome is a beautiful little town in north georgia.

thank you! I hadn't come across this one yet and appreciate you so much for bringing it to my attention!

 

[moniqueand2]

Can't say I know too much about it but Cranbrook in Michigan comes to mind. I do think that graduates of Cranbrook attend a wide variety of schools for college.
https://schools.cranbrook.edu/

 

[VandVsmama]

You might have better luck asking on the boarding school section of the College Confidential message boards.

 

[bethy]

Can't say I know too much about it but Cranbrook in Michigan comes to mind. I do think that graduates of Cranbrook attend a wide variety of schools for college.
https://schools.cranbrook.edu/

Thank you this one looks great and I hadn't heard of it yet! Also the northern location is an extra plus since our DD is a figure skater.

 

[bethy]

You might have better luck asking on the boarding school section of the College Confidential message boards.

Thank you very much! I will go check that community out! Just began our search a couple of days ago.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Our son went to Berwick Academy, South Berwick ME, the oldest prep school in Maine (K-13). BA in the past was a boarding school and is now a day school. They do have a post high school option for a year. I know there is housing for some faculty and perhaps for post high school year students. It might be worth a call. All the Ivy's come to the college fair.

 

[easyas123]

We looked at both Episcopal High in Virginia, and St. Andrews in Delaware for our boys, but in the end settled on a day school closer to home, Gunston.

There are a lot of good schools out there. For what it's worth...I went to boarding school and it was a game changer for me - I loved it.

 

[mefordis]

I know someone who went to Choate Rosemary Hall in CT and he now works for the State Dept, very successful. I think you make some good connections there.

 

[Moliphino]

Deerfield Academy? I'm familiar with it because it's local, but also met someone who went there when I was at Georgia Tech. There's also Wilbraham & Monson Academy.

 

[HopperFan]

All three of my friends children went to Phillips Academy Andover in Andover, MA. They were VERY happy with it.

One went to Michigan, one to Notre Dame and one to Duke.

https://www.andover.edu/

 

[bethy]

We looked at both Episcopal High in Virginia, and St. Andrews in Delaware for our boys, but in the end settled on a day school closer to home, Gunston.

There are a lot of good schools out there. For what it's worth...I went to boarding school and it was a game changer for me - I loved it.

It's worth a lot to hear you say that - thanks. We don't really come from a background where anyone we know went to boarding school. I know of one family in our area (the husband is a transplant and from old money haha) who sends their kids and everyone here seems to find it absolutely horrifying lol. As in "how could they send their kids away?!"

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I don't know much about it except location. My two went to public school. West Nottingham Academy is in a rural part of Cecil County, MD, about halfway between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Nearby University of Delaware has had some famous skaters, Tara Lipinsky for one, train there.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We lived in Bucks County PA, and one son was a day student at The George School. We think it was an excellent school for him.

 

[bethy]

I don't know much about it except location. My two went to public school. West Nottingham Academy is in a rural part of Cecil County, MD, about halfway between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Nearby University of Delaware has had some famous skaters, Tara Lipinsky for one, train there.

Thank you! And yes the U of Delaware is well known in the figure skating community

 

[bethy]

We lived in Bucks County PA, and one son was a day student at The George School. We think it was an excellent school for him.

Thank you so much! These kinds of recommendations are exactly what I am hoping for!