Choosing a School

There are many benefits as to why students should attend boarding school, but what does Florida offer that other locations cannot? Well, if you’ve ever been to Florida you may be able to answer that question rather quickly. Here we list 13 reasons that may have you convinced to choose a boarding school in Florida.

In 2015, Florida became the first state ever to welcome more than 100 million out-of-state and international tourists. In addition, more people moved to Florida than California for the first time in nearly a decade. There’s a good reason, too. The weather. Year-Round outdoor activities. The cost of living. Job growth and opportunities. Sporting events. The cultural arts. Music festivals. The ever-improving infrastructure.

Not only is Florida a great state to visit and live, but it’s also an incredible place to learn. With 10 college-prep and boarding schools in Florida, the state offers a nice mix to choose from. But why is attending boarding school in Florida better than anywhere else? Here are just a few reasons:

The Weather

Sunny and Tropical

Nicknamed the “Sunshine State,” Florida boasts an average of 361 days of sunshine a year. Did you know that St. Petersburg holds a Guinness Book World Record with 768 consecutive sunny days? St. Petersburg is just one of many places in Florida where sunshine reigns supreme. giving students an opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities all year long.

No Snow

There are just 20 states that average less than 15 inches a

Advice for Athletes Applying to Independent Boarding Schools

For student-athletes, the dream of competing at a high level while pursuing academic excellence can be a reality at independent boarding schools. However, the admissions process for these schools can be competitive, and athletes need to showcase their skills, achievements, and dedication to both academics and sports.

You are considering attending an independent private boarding school as a student-athlete. Perhaps you’ve even been encouraged to apply to one or more schools because of your athletic ability. While your family and the admission staff at the schools will help you through the process of applying, remember that you still have your work cut out for you.

You must complete the steps required of all applicants in a timely manner. You should express genuine interest in the school’s athletic program. And most importantly, it is your job to learn as much as you can about each school to be sure that it would be a good fit for you, not only in terms of athletics but overall.

Here are some tips for you and your family as you apply to independent schools and consider your options.

The Admissions Timeline

Ideally, you’ll begin researching and visiting schools in the fall, or about a year before you plan to enroll. While applications are most commonly due in January, it takes time before then to complete any standardized tests and submit the required transcripts and recommendations.

Make sure you and your family have in hand

All About Schools with Riding Programs

Does your son or daughter ride? Are you considering finding a private school that will suit your academic requirements and your child's penchant for riding?

After all, your daughter began riding in seventh grade. One of your neighbors had a small stable with a couple of horses. She had ridden professionally years ago. Now that she was retired, she had taken on a few riding students and was showing them how to ride and take care of the horses. Your daughter has participated in several shows and loves riding. So, it makes sense to find a school that will allow her to enjoy her riding and give her the college preparatory academic curriculum that she needs.

A quick search of Boarding School Review for schools offering equestrian programs yielded a list of 67 schools. After you filter that list for location, religion, and size, as well as any other criteria that matter to you, you can come up with a short list of schools to visit and evaluate. In the meantime, let's look at ten of the schools in my search results so that you can get an idea of what is available. We will inspect schools that have their own equestrian facilities as opposed to schools that offer riding programs based at a local stable not located on campus.

Chatham Hall School, Chatham, Virginia

I personally always thought that the Litchfield Hills in Connecticut are as beautiful

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni has written a very useful book about college admissions entitled Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania. As you can see from the title, Bruni's audience is parents and possibly students who are considering and applying to college. Yet, as I read the book, I began to see many similarities between private K-12 school admissions and college admissions. I suggest that you read this book, which will clarify your thinking as you go through the process of selecting a private school for your child. Bruni's insights will also prepare you for the months and years ahead when you and your child will be dealing with the mysteries of college admissions. In the meantime, let's look at some of the things about college admissions that Frank Bruni points out, which are remarkably similar to what we will find in private school admissions.

Treatment of legacies

Affirmative Action for the Rich: Legacy Preferences in College Admissions by Richard D. Kahlenberg and The Price of Admission by Daniel Golden are two additional books about legacy admissions. These authors go into great detail and cite many sources to support their arguments.

What is a legacy? A legacy is an applicant to a school who has a relative or relatives who attended the same school. You will find legacies in both private K-12 schools as well as at the college level. Kahlenberg and Golden

First of all, let's define competitive. At its most basic level, a competitive boarding school is one that admits fewer applicants than it receives applications from. For example, a school has a fixed admissions deadline of January 31 each year. Last year it received 250 applications for 100 places. That means that 150 applicants were not accepted by the school. Perhaps some of them were put on the waiting list but we will look at that later.

So, essentially a competitive boarding school receives more applicants than it has places which it can offer to those applicants. Within the scope of competitive schools are several subsets. There is nothing official here, of course, as no organization will officially state that such and such a school is a highly competitive school or a less competitive school and so on. Having said that, you do not have to know a lot about private schools to look at the data which our site Boarding School Review offers after doing a little sorting of acceptance rates.

The other filter which we have to apply is for admissions to special schools. These schools which specialize in teaching students with learning disabilities, for example, have acceptance rates that are generally subject to other variables. In most cases, we will classify these as non-competitive.

So, where are we going to set the bar? Anything below a 25% acceptance rate is very competitive. 26-50% is competitive. 51-75% is less competitive. Individual educational consultants will have