Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School Boarding School Ideas?

Close to me and not too far from you we have Berkshire School and Salisbury. Salisbury is the better school in my book. Both are set on really beautiful campuses.

I am interested in good boarding schools for PG kids too. I agree with Grinity that perhaps the "top" schools may be well-suited for competitive overachievers who are not necessarily PG type. Wonder what is done for students who need college level work in, say, math. There are some need-based scholarships for some, a few merit scholarships, but otherwise it's like doubling the college savings plan. That seems a bit formidable to me, though some think a good high school is a better investment than a private college.

There was an interesting thread on this subject a few months ago.

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/59150/1.html

My impression is that boarding schools select for parents' socioeconomic status, not LOG of students. Of course, there are plenty of very gifted kids at those schools, but plenty of kids who aren't. So, going to an expensive boarding school is no guarantee that your kid will be surrounded by very gifted kids.

There are different types of expensive boarding schools for different students with different reasons to attend a boarding school. I attended an elite, academic boarding school. There were HG+ and PG kids that made it all seem so easy and kids subsequently went to elite universities, where it was easy for them, too. Not that they didn't have to do work, too. There is a certain amount of knowledge and production that must be obtained and completed in order to achieve and matriculate into elite universities. The top, academic boarding schools have significant financial aid packages and have easy-to-use financial aid estimators on their websites. At Exeter, it's free for those making $75,000 or less and families making under $200,000 qualifies for financial assistance. So, I wouldn't be overly constrained by finances nor would I be overly constrained about whether top boarding schools have enough HG and PG kids. They do. I would worry about whether your 14 year old kid can emotionally handle living away from home in an environment where they will not longer be the brightest fish in the sea. I saw lots of kids, particularly the 13 and 14 year olds, that just couldn't hack it.

Hi Grinity,

Any chance your child likes science and math? Not sure which state you live in, but there are many PUBLIC boarding high schools (either 10-12th or 11-12th grade) geared toward math and science (and some with arts too) students. As far as I know (the ones in NC, LA, and IL), the majority of students at these schools are often highly gifted. Many have won Westinghouse competitions, are national merit finalists and Presidential Scholars, etc.

The hard part is that you have to be a resident of that state. But as far as the tuition, it is a great deal! (Okay, coming from tax payers support.) For example, the one in North Carolina is 100% free. Some, like the one in Louisiana, you have to pay room and board, but the tuition is still free. And the one in NC, all teachers must have at least master's degree. I believe >40% are PhD's.

I will try to see if I can find the link to a list of schools.

Just a thought....
Mag

not in my state, sadly...great idea though

Sorry to hear that there is no Science & Math boarding schools in your state....

Good luck with search!

Mag

We have a public science/math boarding school in SC. All of the teachers have their masters degree and 80% have their doctorate.

http://www.scgssm.org/

Grinity,

Has your son already taken the SSAT? If not, are you planning for him to take it? A lot of the boarding schools require it (even if they have magnificent SAT or ACT scores).

I googled Boarding schools merit scholarships to get a list to work with. The list I got from www.boardingschoolreview.com gave a lot of info about each school (#students, %faculty with advanced degrees, SAT scores, etc.) They also had student reviews that I found really interesting.

Thanks for the link cym!

The schools he is looking at were fine with his SATs. If we continue to look in the 2011-12 cycle, I will definitely have him take them then.

Smiles,
Grinity