Boarding School Review Blog

We parents have many reasons for wanting to send our children off to a summer program at a boarding school. Whether you are looking to remediate a learning deficiency or improve an athletic skill, you will be able to find a summer program at a boarding school which meets your requirements. It didn't take me very long to find summer programs devoted to riding, figure skating, STEM, ESL, and dozens of other activities.

Searching for summer programs is easy on Boarding School Review. From our home page click on Find Schools. Then click on Advanced Search. Select the region and check the box at the bottom left of the screen for Summer Program.

Underlying all these activities is the high quality of supervision and program management you find in boarding schools. Boarding schools know how to look after young people. After all, they do it 24/7 during the school year. It's just part of their DNA. And that is reassuring to us parents. We most certainly want our children to be safe and happy, and not slip through the cracks.

What follows is a sampling of programs in the six regions of the United States to give you an overview of the wide range of activities available. I have included brief descriptions from the schools' websites, as well as links so that you can explore their summer programs easily. On some websites,

I asked William Ellis, Associate Headmaster for Enrollment Management, Director of Admission, and Director of Financial Aid at The Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, to discuss educating boys. Bill very kindly offered the following essay in response to my request. ~Rob Kennedy.

Boys’ residential college preparatory schools are more important now than ever before. Statistics, surveys, and polls all show that boys’ achievement is not as strong in high school as their female counterparts. Women outnumber men in four-year colleges by a nearly three-to-two ratio that has been growing since the late 1970s. Some would say a boy crisis in education is brewing or already here. I was at my niece’s graduation from a large, highly competitive university where anecdotally the Chancellor was a woman, the keynote speaker was a woman, the president of the senior class was a woman, three of the four honorees were women and an amazing 65% of the graduates were women. Having been raised in a house of four strong sisters and a superb Mom (Dad and I were outvoted often), believe me, I am proud of all of the strides made by women since I was a boy, and I do not think their journey is complete by any means.

Having spent the first 25 years of my career at independent coed boarding schools, I have had a front-row seat to this phenomenon, of consistently outperforming the boys. My colleagues used to ask me “What’s wrong with the boys?” At first, I

Something which intrigues most of us parents when we think about boarding school is the idea that the school provides everything in one very well-crafted package. The academics, the sports, the extracurriculars, and the supervision are all part of the deal. For parents whose careers involve a lot of traveling knowing that their child is fully occupied and properly supervised is reassuring. As you begin to dig deeper into boarding schools and what's involved, you begin to encounter concepts as well as tangible things which in many ways are unique to residential schools. These are what make a boarding school experience so special.

Codes of Conduct

Codes of Conduct in boarding schools have teeth. They mean what they say. They can and will be enforced. Yes, public schools have codes of conduct too; however, the enforcement process can be cumbersome and time-consuming because public school students have constitutional rights. Private school students have rights too. Those rights are spelled out in detail in the contract which you and the school signed. I mention this because you cannot assume anything with respect to the rights your child enjoys in a boarding school. Read the contract carefully. Have your attorney review it. Ask questions. Understand the terms of the contract as it applies to the code of conduct. Finally, explain the consequences of infractions of the school's code of conduct to your child. That said, codes of conduct are one of the reasons why your child will be

This article has been updated to reflect 2026 data and recent developments.

What do boarding schools look for as they review your child's application for admission? Everything. Well, not literally everything, but close. The more items on a school’s admissions checklist you can confidently address, the stronger your child’s application will be.

Admissions decisions are rarely based on a single factor. Instead, committees evaluate each applicant holistically, weighing academics, character, extracurricular involvement, and institutional priorities. With boarding school admissions becoming increasingly competitive in recent years, understanding what matters most in 2026 is essential for families navigating the process.

While schools like Phillips Exeter Academy and Phillips Academy Andover remain highly selective, with acceptance rates still hovering below 20 percent, families now have access to hundreds of excellent boarding schools offering diverse programs and environments. The key is finding the right match, not just the most prestigious name.

Academic Excellence Still Leads the Process

Academic performance remains the cornerstone of any boarding school application. Schools want students who can thrive in a rigorous, discussion-based environment where classes are typically small, often 10 to 15 students.

Admissions officers carefully evaluate:

• Transcripts across multiple years
• Course rigor and progression
• Teacher recommendations
• Standardized test scores (SSAT, ISEE, or increasingly test-optional submissions)

In 2026, many boarding schools will continue to adopt flexible testing policies. According to recent guidance from organizations like the Enrollment Management Association, more schools are allowing test-optional applications, placing greater emphasis on transcripts and teacher evaluations.

Teacher recommendations are especially influential. They provide