When you think of a boarding school, what comes to mind? Is it the ivy-clad stone walls of those Harry Potter-esque buildings, or perhaps the image of students in neatly pressed uniforms strolling through the campus with books and binders in their arms? While you’re not entirely wrong, Hollywood has its ways when it comes to showing us what it’s really like at an actual boarding school.
So, what is a boarding school really like?
Today’s boarding schools are not just educational institutions where kids are “sent away” for rigorous academic training. Boarding schools offer their students what public schools do—but with additional resources. For example, a public high school might offer an after-school soccer, basketball, or volleyball program. At a boarding school, you’ll have more options like swimming, tennis, badminton, and so on.
The biggest difference between public schools and boarding schools, however, is that boarding schools offer an immersive educational environment, where students are surrounded by peers who share their commitment to learning, fostering a strong academic culture. And because boarding schools like Bodwell High School emphasize preparation for post-secondary education, students have a higher chance of getting accepted into universities and colleges.
The top 3 benefits of attending a boarding school
(1) Diverse community with varied perspectives
- Boarding schools tend to accept students from all over the world, which means that students not only have the opportunity to interact with local students but with those from all walks of life. This is incredibly important for students, as they can broaden their perspectives by learning from their peers about current events, lifestyles, world views, etc.
(2) Higher quality education taught by educated teachers
- While the quality of teachers at boarding schools versus public schools cannot be universally generalized as being better or worse, boarding schools often have smaller class sizes, which can allow for more personalized attention and potentially closer relationships between students and teachers. This can be advantageous for fostering a conducive learning environment.
- A TABS report found that 50% of students attending boarding school earn advanced degrees and that boarding school students feel more prepared for university compared to public school students by a margin of more than 15 points
(3) Develop life skills for independence
- Living away from home teaches self-reliance, responsibility, and independence, valuable life skills that can better prepare students for the challenges of adulthood.
Supporting students at every step of the way
While most high schools have a career counsellor to help them navigate their future goals, Bodwell High School has an entire team of professionals to help students figure out what they want to do after graduation. The University and Career Guidance Team has developed strong relationships with numerous post-secondary institutions across Canada, the U.S., and other countries to maximize the potential of Bodwell students.
Bodwell’s Career Life Education team helps students with their journey of selecting and applying to a list of schools by guiding them through the following steps:
- Create a list of target schools
- With help on academic requirements, supplementary applications, English Language requirements, application deadlines
- Take required standardized exams
- With help on support plans and exam schedules
- Complete applications
- Meetings with a guidance counsellor to ensure applications are going well
- Complete post-application tasks
- Application follow-ups
- Address additional concerns
Bodwell’s most popular post-secondary pathways
Graduates of Bodwell High School go on to pursue all sorts of fields, but the most commonly pursued ones include:
- Computer science
- Business administration
- Life sciences
- Communications
- Humanities
- Arts
2023 statistics: acceptance rates to universities and colleges
At Bodwell,
- 98% of graduates were accepted to either university or college
- 95% of graduates are attending a university or college in North America
- 126 graduates received 430 offers of admission from 84 universities and colleges in 13 countries
- The top five universities Bodwell students are admitted to include:
- University of Toronto (39 offers)
- York University (31 offers)
- Western University (31 offers)
- Simon Fraser University (30 offers)
- University of British Columbia (28 offers)
- Other notable mentions include:
- University of Alberta (24)
- McMaster University (20)
- University of Calgary (17)
- Toronto Metropolitan University (14)
- University of Waterloo (10)
- Queen’s University (8)
See here to learn more about Bodwell High School, and here to learn about the top 5 benefits of attending Bodwell High School.
Sources: Why Kids Go to Boarding School, Bodwell High School – University Application, Bodwell High School – University Results, Bodwell High School – 2022 Post-Secondary Statistics
