Admissions: What Do Schools Want?

It's a loaded statement, isn't it? Truthfully, there is no secret to getting your child into boarding school. Getting your child into boarding school requires three things: a desire for that type of education, a well-organized, systematic approach for following the required steps in the admissions process, and the flexibility to follow the advice of professionals who know their schools.

Why should you consider boarding school as opposed to keeping your daughter in your local high school? Review some of the talking points which I mention in this article. These are much more important than they appear at first glance. You must discuss this drastic change of schools with your child, on her terms, and on her level. Leaving public school to go to boarding school must be her idea. Parents who make major decisions affecting their children unilaterally risk creating serious emotional issues later on. So, before you broach the idea of sending her off to boarding school, think through what you are going to say and her reaction to your words.

As you begin thinking about private schools, add you will schools from various sources to your initial list of potential schools. That’s fine. Accept all suggestions and advice in the early stages of your search for the right school or schools. Friends will suggest schools which their children attend. Family members will mention schools that your uncle or aunt attended. And so on. Finally, you will explore on your own. Boarding

Why is social media critical to any boarding school's marketing program? The simple answer is that you must expose your fine school to as many potential new clients as possible. You know what your school offers and are very proud of it. Unfortunately, families with boarding school-age children living a few hours away downstate or in another part of the country will never even hear about your school unless you make sure it is obvious. Not just visible. Very visible.

While the following video is entitled 13 Proven Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs, Brian's information is relevant to administrators of boarding schools. After all, your boarding school is a business. Even if you have non-profit status, your school is still a business.

Thirty or forty years ago all a boarding school had to do to get the word out about its programs and desirability was to procure a listing in a boarding school directory and correspond with a group of educational consultants you knew could send potential clients your way. The boarding school directories are now all online. This site is a good example of the sort of online resources that 21st-century parents have. And those educational consultants? Well, bless them. They operate at warp speed with text and Skype communications.

So, what more does a boarding school need to get the word out? Social media. Well-organized and beautifully

If you have begun to think about sending your son or daughter to boarding school, I offer the following suggestions and guidance from one parent to another. Transferring from a public high school to a boarding school is a big deal for us grownups. But it is an even bigger deal for your child. Why? Because you literally are uprooting her from those familiar surroundings and routines, she has known ever since birth. While I understand that every young person views change differently, the reality is that going off to boarding school is a very big change. With that in mind, let's you and I look at some of the things we can do to facilitate this change.

Familiarize your child with what's involved.

You can familiarize your child with boarding school by involving her in the process from the beginning. In other words, don't present the idea as though the deal is done. If your child thinks that going off to boarding school is her idea, then you are off to a great start. The important thing to understand is that your child's viewpoint will be different from yours. She will focus on the immediate change to her familiar routine. She will have strong feelings about leaving home and her family and friends. She won't be thinking long-term or about the benefits which a boarding school education can provide her. I advise you to engage an experienced educational consultant right from the beginning of your boarding school

A day school is not an easy enterprise to run because, for one thing, it is dependent on the local economy and demographics. The closing of a major employer or the departure of young families from the area can challenge the existence of even the best-run private day school. In addition to those local conditions a boarding or residential school is also subject to national and global economic trends. Many American boarding schools have 10-20% of their students drawn from outside the United States. An economic downturn or civil strife can choke off the number of applicants coming from abroad. A weak national economy here at home can make it more difficult for parents to afford a boarding school education for their children. With these considerations in mind let's look at five challenges facing American boarding schools and some common sense solutions to those challenges.

1. The natural resistance to sending children to a residential school.

It is hard enough for most American parents to send their children away to college, much less to boarding school. The idea of sending a fifteen-year-old away to a residential high school meets with serious resistance from most parents. There are many reasons for this reluctance, but the primary ones are the high cost of boarding school and the feeling that the local public high school or private schools can do just as good a job of preparing their children for college. There's also a nagging concern that perhaps their son or