1. Individualized Education
Classroom sizes tend to be smaller at boarding schools. With fewer students, teachers can give more fine-grained attention to each individual. Smaller classrooms have been correlated with higher grades, scores, and self-esteem.
2. Campus and Facilities
Many boarding schools have university-like campuses. Often with libraries, research facilities, sports facilities, cultural facilities, and their owns art and music facilities. For example: Phillips Exeter Academy library contains 250,000 volumes.
3. Student Dormitories
Not to state the obvious too much, but a major attraction of residential education is the room and board. Without a boarding school option, it would be harder, if not impossible, for many international students to study in the United States. Living on campus has its perks! Resident faculty members help plan social events and field trips and there are times set for studying & lights-out to help keep students on-track.
4. Advanced Curriculum
Private boarding schools offer advanced classes in many subjects like: science, technology, engineering, math, foreign languages, the arts, and others whereas public schools may be limited to a narrower selection. Boarding schools are a great place for an insatiable intellectual curiosity.
5. Available Electives
Boarding schools offer a very large number of elective classes in addition to the core curriculum. At top schools, students can choose from over 300 classes. Imagine choosing from 10 foreign languages rather than either Spanish or French alone. For example: Choate Rosemary Hall offers classes in Robotics, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Sustainable International Development.
6. College Counselors
There are excellent admissions counselors at most boarding schools, especially prep schools. For easy reference by students and parents, most top boarding schools publish a list of the colleges and universities their seniors have matriculated to: Harvard University is a favorite at Groton School.
7. Cultural Exchange
Boarding schools tend to have a very international flavor, depending on their location and reputation. People all around the world want an American education, and it’s not uncommon for schools to actively recruit international students either.
Now it’s your turn…
This is a quick list of aspects that make boarding school an attractive option to families the world over. What attracts you to boarding school? Leave your answer in the comments!