Each year, my team and I visit top U.S. boarding schools.  The admissions bar is pretty high to get accepted.  For example, Phillips Academy receives 3,000 applications each year but only accepts about 13%, St. Paul’s acceptance rate is 16%, Cate School’s acceptance rate is 14%, Phillips Exeter’s acceptance rate is 18%.  The annual tuition to these schools are on average $55,000 per year.

With these low acceptance rates, the competitive admissions process and relatively high tuition why do parents continue to strive to have their children admitted to these schools?  The answer is quite simple:  Elite boarding schools are feeder schools to the Ivies!

For the past three years, more than 20 Andover students have gotten into each of the following top schools: Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, Stanford University, and Yale University.

With that type of track record, and the life-long relationships and contacts student make, its no wonder parents are more than willing to go through the competitive admissions process and invest over $225,000 in an elite boarding school education for their children.

When parents call us to retain our services for admissions to top boarding schools they often ask us what is value or return on investment of our fee.  Our response:  Your investment at minimum, admissions to top boarding schools ($225,000), the eventual increased probability of admissions to the Ivy leagues ($250,000) and the life time value of an Ivy League degree!

“Admissions is a competitive sport!  Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe.

Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group’s  Boarding School Admissions Consultants.  Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international students who are interested in applying to top U.S. boarding schools.  Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. boarding schools even after they have been wait-listed and rejected.  Dr. Lowe and his team of admissions advisors also visit prestigious and elite private schools, where they have the unique opportunity of interacting one-on-one with heads of schools, directors of admissions and senior admissions personnel. 

Throughout the years, my team and I continually visit top U.S. boarding schools.  We meet and maintain longstanding relationships with admissions directors, enrollment directors, heads of schools and administrators to gather real-time information, perform research and gain insider-insight and knowledge about the admissions policies and mission of the schools.

Here are 5 things that we find that are common among top U.S. boarding schools:

• College Admissions placement:  They send lots of students off to the Ivy League  and highly selective colleges!  Let’s just consider Andover: For the past three years, more than 20 Andover students have gotten into each of the following top schools: Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, Stanford University, and Yale University.
• Facilities:  These schools build, renovate, and maintain facilities that by their very design encourage community, foster collaboration, and facilitate the powerful mentoring—in the dorm and across campus—characteristic of top schools
• Academics:  These schools possess outstanding traditions of academic supremacy, and are built on educational models of diverse curricula.  The academics are designed to inspire student intellectual development through collaboration.
• Small Classes:  These schools assign on average about 9.8 students to each teacher, thus guaranteeing the individual attention each child needs to thrive intellectually, socially and emotionally.  Small class sizes encourage meaningful interaction, as well as learning that extends beyond the classrooms in activities and sports.
• Culture:  Each school has its own distinctive and unique culture, however, in general, all of the cultures are scholarly, resourceful and develop student character  student knowledge, confidence, and resilience in meaningful ways.  The students at these schools are encouraged to express themselves and to strive for their personal excellence intellectually, artistically, and athletically.  It’s no wonder many of these students are accepted into Ivy League and highly competitive colleges and some become future business, political, art, science, technology and entrepreneurial leaders who participate in a global network of top boarding school alumni.

“Admissions is a competitive sport!  Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe.

Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group’s  Boarding School Admissions Consultants.  Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international students who are interested in applying to top U.S. boarding schools.  Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. boarding schools even after they have been wait-listed and rejected.  Dr. Lowe and his team of admissions advisors also visit prestigious and elite private schools, where they have the unique opportunity of interacting one-on-one with heads of schools, directors of admissions and senior admissions personnel.