Blake McAlpin | Student Life Editor
January 25, 2024
Each year the controversy behind “prep schools” arises during the college admissions season. A prep school, also known as a “feeder school,” is a private high school that pushes to give students the best possible preparation for higher education. These schools’ prices range anywhere from a couple of grand per year to $70,000 per year.
Students at these schools tend to have come from well-off families or received scholarships for athletics and academics. With such high tuition, only the elite can pay for such institutions. It is true, however, you get what you pay for. The students at these schools who work hard and take advantage of the provided resources benefit exponentially in the college admissions process. It has become a recent meme to view these schools’ college decision Instagram accounts. The amount of students attending T20 universities is incomparable with students who go to public schools.
Some students argue that attending these schools is unfair, as they give a leg up in admissions– yet they are not affordable for the majority of Americans. The rebuttal to that statement would be that, yes, while there is great privilege required to afford such an education, these students have also taken the most rigorous classes and participated in the highest-achieving extracurriculars available to them.
I asked senior Owen Bolliger his opinion on these schools and how he thinks they have affected him in the admissions process: “I was recently accepted to Villanova University,” he explained. “It’s a good school and I would love to go there, but when I look at the other kids who were accepted they all seem snobby and rich.” Villanova University, ranked #67 according to US news and world reports, is a private school located in Pennsylvania. Bolliger stated, “Don’t get me wrong they seem nice, but some of these kids seem like they have just been given everything, whereas at public schools, I feel like I’ve worked harder to get here.”
Owens’s beliefs are not uncommon. Prep schools have become very controversial, but it is important always to remember that the students at these schools have still worked very hard to be granted attendance to some of the best universities in the country. I do see both sides of the argument, but in my opinion, it all comes down to one question.
If you were granted the opportunity to go to a prep school, you would too, right?
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