Prior to purchasing a new car, most people first test drive a few vehicles to decide what is a good fit for the driver or not. And when it comes to choosing a high school, a similar “test drive” is necessary to see if the school is a good fit for the prospective student.

And testing out a school is especially important if one of the high school options is a boarding school.

With boarding school being an alternative option to traditional high school, it is also important to know what questions to ask when on a campus visit. A campus visit is meant to be informative, but it’s normal to have several questions that need answering, but sometimes you won’t think of these questions until later.  

Go prepared, and consider asking these four questions as you visit a boarding school for high school.

Question 1: What activities or practices does the boarding school have in place to promote community between all of the students?

Why this is important: At a boarding school, there are students from all over the country, and they will come in not knowing one another. It is important for the boarding school to have a methodology in place that helps the students get to know each other and help “break” the ice with their classmates as well as the other students and faculty on campus.

Question 2: How does the boarding school prepare students to handle living and thriving on their own, both in and out of the classroom?

Why this is important: Since these students will be high-school age, most of them will be coming to the boarding school without having any real notion of what it is like to be on their own. They’ll need to do their own laundry, get to classes on time, and make sure they are managing their time well enough outside of the classroom to get their studies done — along with prioritizing time to enjoy afterschool activities.

So, the boarding school you choose to send your high schooler to should be prepared to give examples of how they will help your child succeed practically and academically.

Question 3: How do you support your students that are going through homesickness?

Why this is important: Experiencing homesickness is going to happen. The students are bound to  miss being at home with their family and friends at some point during the year. Some will struggle with it more than others and having a good system in place to help the students address their homesickness is very important.

Question 4: What are the relationships like between students as well as between students and faculty after graduation?

Why this is important: Living with fellow students for an extended period of time can result in close relationships between students. How those relationships are nurtured during their time at school is very important, but also providing students the means to stay in touch with each other and the faculty after graduation is equally as important. How they are able to maintain some of their relationships and how they interact with each other during reunions should show how their boarding school experience enabled their high school friendships to progress throughout the years.

There is definitely much more to consider when someone is considering a boarding school for high school: understanding how the parents will partner with the school, what kind of financial aid is available, and how the boarding school will help the students grow both academically and socially are also key.

Attending a campus visit will help address some of the more obvious questions, and hopefully the four questions above will help spark some questions that you may not have thought of before.