My Boarding School Blog

The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) showed in their recent post that 8 percent of U.S. Rhodes Scholar recipients are graduates of boarding schools. In the last five years it has reflected that the chances of getting a scholarship in college from a boarding school skyrockets to 3,000%.

Every year the Rhodes Trust awards 82 scholarships and 32 of those goes to Americans. The Rhodes scholarship is a prestigious one that it screens highly qualified applicants that attains exemplary scholastic achievements.

The highly competitive curriculum that most boarding schools offer is the key factor that contributes to the high percentage of scholarships granted to students who had prepared for college through boarding school education. Boarding schools promote an exclusive environment that caters to mold an individual to be ready for college life. With its highly demanding academic curriculum to its highly qualified professors who take part in the learning of students and the overall feel of independency of living away from home and making it on your own has greatly influenced boarding school graduates to their advantage. With this more parents are feeling that they have made the right decision in investing in a boarding school education even with its high price tag.

An important factor to consider as one of the qualification of the Rhodes scholarship is its requirement that an applicant should be truthful, courageous and has a moral force of character that is potential for leading his or her fellow students. Most boarding schools are equipped with the necessary trainings and workshops on instilling camaraderie, leadership and moral responsibility in its students. Aside from teaching academics they are immersed into the values of being responsible, independent, and reliable in their various extracurricular activities.

A graduate from The Hill School in Pennsylvania, who is a recipient of the 2010 Rhodes scholarship, attested that he owes much of what he has to his boarding school experience. Not only did it prepared him for the vast academic curriculum he will be facing in college but rather more of a preparation into the person he needs to become to survive college. The ability to be able to interact closely and work together with colleagues, teachers, staff and administrators and be able to adapt to different cultures, beliefs and values of everyone else without sacrificing individuality is the best lesson in life.

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American College Testing, most commonly known as ACT is a test designed to measure your capability to take on higher learning. It is characterized as aptitude tests used for screening purposes by most colleges and universities in the United States. The ACT gauges your knowledge and understanding in four areas namely English, Math, Reading and Science. Most colleges will require a good ACT score for admission to their institution.

The goal of taking an ACT exam is to assess a student’s readiness for college. Although ACT scores are sometimes used by the state to measure a school’s performance making it compulsory to all graduating students including those who does not plan on pursuing a college education. The student is tested on four subjects and there is an optional test which focuses on writing.

Scores will range from 1 being the lowest and 36 the highest in every subject. The English exam totals to 75 questions and students are given 45 minutes to complete the section. Questions are divided into two categories, 40 questions pertaining to usage and grammar of the English language while the remaining 35 questions are geared towards the rhetorical skills of the students. Mathematics comprises of 60 questions and given a total of 60 minutes to finish the section. The mathematics section is divided among Elementary Algebra (24 questions), Intermediate Algebra (18 questions) and combination of Trigonometry and Geometry (18 questions). Reading is allotted 35 minutes for 40 questions. Sciences and Social Studies cover 20 questions, and the remaining 20 evolves around Arts and Literature. Science covers 40 questions with only 35 minutes to answer.

What scores does a student need in order to gain admission to a prestigious college or university may depend on the standards of a particular educational institution. The highest score for ACT is 36 which can be very hard to achieve. Most universities consider an ACT score of 27 as satisfactory but other factors come into play such as:

• The national rank of other students who took the test showing where a student ranks among other test takers. An ACT score of 27 will not be sufficient enough if there are many of students who got the same average out of the whole population who took the exam.
• Scores on individual subjects are also evaluated to determine a student’s areas of improvement and which subjects they are more likely to excel in.
• High school records and school extracurricular activities.

ACT scores can also help in qualification for a scholarship grant that can be hard to achieve especially if there are many qualified applicants. ACT score is not the only ticket you’ll need to get into a good college you will still have to work on everything else to be rightfully given the chance to pursue higher education in a prestigious and renowned college or university.

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After high school graduation and all the partying has subsided and the time comes for you to take on the next level you find yourself a bit lost on the path you are headed to. Most American students face the same feeling right after graduating from high school, well for those who didn’t prepare thoroughly at least, finding the right college or university can be difficult when you are unprepared.

In the United States there are a lot of colleges and universities to choose from but not everyone can gain easy admission especially for the most prestigious ones like Harvard University, Yale and Princeton University. These top notch educational institutions are very selective and only highly qualified students are admitted.

It would be best to list a number of choices to be able to have a back up if in case you don’t get to the first few ones on top of your list. Prepare this list way before you graduate preferably a year from your graduation because the usual processing time for college applications take around 10 to 15 months.

The most important thing to assess before going through the process of selecting the right college or university for you is to choose what career or type of degree you want to take. Higher education is the key principle that will most likely determine what you are going to be as an independent adult. Higher education or a college degree is very useful in landing a job that can pay for the lifestyle you want to achieve in the future whether you plan on becoming a successful entrepreneur or a family man capable of providing for a family. A college degree will also add to your market value when you decide to become employed and join top ranking companies worldwide. Knowing your desired course or degree will be helpful in choosing the right school for you that can offer the best learning experience in the subject matter that you would want.

The next steps would be to assess the different factors that can contribute to your school selection like costs, location, environment, housing arrangements and school curriculum. These are all important factors to evaluate in choosing the right college or university. Are you thinking of living in a dorm? Are you comfortable in a sub urban community or do you want hustle and bustle of the city? Try to narrow your list down to those colleges and universities that best suits your needs and most of your wants because once you’ve made a decision you’ll be spending almost 4 to 5 years of your life there. It would be nice to have pleasant memories of your college experience to tell to your kids when you grow old.

Gather resources and inquire among friends regarding their experiences in their own college and university to gain enough knowledge on what it will feel like. You can go online and check out websites like Petersons, National Center for Education Statistics and University of North Texas.

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So you feel anxious and nauseated with the upcoming entrance exams. Whether it is for your ACT or SAT the dreadful feeling seems to grow each day you approach your examination date. Overcome your fear by preparing well enough to get you ready to take on the test and score high. You will need a lot of positive thinking along the way to help you get motivated into studying ahead of time.

College entrance exams are given to screen and evaluate a student’s cumulative knowledge that he or she acquired from high school. Skills in test taking are also evaluated like deductive and analytical skills that are very important skills necessary to survive in higher education.

Reviewing for college entrance exams shouldn’t cover entirely what you have learned in high school for the brain may be overloaded with too much information. A common mistake made by most students is they try to study and review everything extensively to the point that they become overwhelmed and eventually panic if they cannot remember every detail of information they have reviewed causing some of the most intelligent students to fail.

Knowing what you need to review is an advantage that can be used to effectively answer the test questions correctly. Here are some of the points you need to touch on for your review.

Language – basic sentence structure and grammar.
Spelling – test exams can give out sentences and the student must recognized the misspelled words used in the sentence.
Algebra – review basic operations of decimals, fractions, integers and whole numbers. Student should familiarized self with common formulas used in conversions, solving algebraic equations.
Geometry – interpretation of graphs and relationship of data should be covered in the review. Points, lines and shapes should be ran through and a list of common formulas should be remembered well.

On the night before the test day the student should have sufficient sleep and should not review anymore to give the brain time to relax and recharged for the next day’s test. Upon waking up, take a shower and make sure to eat breakfast to supply the brain of the necessary glucose to help remember all those that you have reviewed. Do not eat too much as this will make you sleepy, make sure to have plenty of water to hydrate and enough vitamins to keep your brain cells going throughout the test. Have some candy in your pocket in case the exam takes too long and you’ll need some sugar to refuel your working brain.

Make sure to read the instructions carefully, read it twice or thrice for full understanding. Many students fail their exams not because they do not know the right answer but they failed to follow the instructions. Should you feel panicky or sleepy take deep breaths and tell yourself that you can go through with this. Relax and calm yourself because tension and nervousness never helps in taking an examination.

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Concorde Academy is a coeducational college preparatory school for grades 9 to 12 founded in 1922. It is located in Concord, Massachusetts which accepts boarding and day students. It has a 6:1 student teacher ratio with a typical class size of 12 students per class. It is also included as one of the top four most expensive schools in the United States.

A Brief History

Originally it was a school for girls back in 1922 and was regarded as the finest independent secondary school for girls in the country. In 1971, the school was converted into a coeducational institution and it welcomed the two new headmasters Russell Mead and Philip McKean. Now it beams of 39 acres of land with 29 buildings which includes intramural sports.

Enrollment and Admission

The Concorde Academy houses 148 boarding students and offers 217 day students. Its student body comprises of 49% of male students, 51% female and 11% international students.

Mission and Vision

The school aims to provide an environment where teachers and students collaborate to promote intellectual vigor and creativeness in each student. They provide a supportive atmosphere that cares for students by developing their talents and skills through a well structured curriculum and extra curricular activities. It embraces cultural diversity and understands different perspectives of its students.

Curriculum

A student chooses and prepares her schedule of classes every semester with the help of an advisor to be approved by the dean. In their freshmen year a minimum of 120 credits is required, for the second year 90 credits, and in the junior year 60 credits. Grades are at the end of every semester and are given in the scale of A+ to failing grade of E. There is one adult teacher that stands as the advisor for each student. Student and advisor meet frequently to offer counsel support and assist students to adjust in school. Advisors coordinate with other teachers of the student to receive feedback and further work together for the student’s improvements. Parents consult advisors on a regular basis to see how their children are doing in academic standing and overall school performance.

Concorde Academy also offers summer camps that are a good opportunity for students to bond and learn outside the classroom setting. It is a fun filled activity that is very exciting which every student looks forward to at the end of every school year. The Concord Academy Summer Camp is accredited by the American Camp Association.

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