Searching for Schools

You and I expect to be able to comparison shop for everything we buy. When we search for an item on Amazon, the website presents us with other options. We can read reviews by other purchasers. Together with our understanding of value and price point, these factors help us make the decisions that drive our purchase. So, why can't we do the same with private schools? Why isn't there some way of ranking schools? Wouldn't rankings make our task of selecting the right private school for our child a lot easier?

For starters, choosing a private school is not like buying a set of towels or sheets online. We have confidence in buying towels and sheets online from a trusted vendor using a secure credit card because we know what we are buying. Choosing a private school is much more complicated. Why? Because in the first place it is a major decision. We won't be able to return it and get our money back if we don't like it, which is what we do when we buy merchandise, which turns out to be unsatisfactory. And the amount of money involved in the transaction is significant. Furthermore, we are talking about a decision which will have a serious impact on our child and us for several years.

This brief video lays out the process for you.

Major decisions have many more factors and variables involved than

We busy parents use to-do lists to keep ourselves organized. Honestly, I sometimes wonder how we could keep going without to-do lists. If you are thinking about private school for your child, some of these items might just be on your to-do list too.

Identify 8-10 schools we like.

This is one of the fun parts of choosing a private school. Why? Because most private schools offer video tours both on their websites and on their YouTube channels. While both websites and videos are obviously edited carefully to make the best possible impression on you, they are terrific for giving you an overview of programs and the school community.

Watch as many videos as you can. Review the academic and sports programs in detail.

By casting the net widely in the early stages of choosing a school, you can easily eliminate schools from consideration because they lack something you feel is essential for your child's education.

This video offers a look at the Forsyth School in St. Louis, Missouri.

Visit 3-5 schools this summer and early fall.

Summer and early fall are really the best times to visit schools. Summer has its advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage is that school is not in session. That means you can expect to spend some time with the admissions staff who will have more time to allocate to you than, say, in November or December. Application deadlines

I can remember those nagging thoughts we had as our children reached the toddler stage. What about pre-school? Where should we send her for kindergarten? What then? We were pretty ordinary middle-class parents. We had good jobs. We would have to sacrifice to send our daughters to private school but we felt that the sacrifices would be worth it.

Fast forward from then to now or a span of approximately forty years. One daughter is an attorney with her own practice. The other is an academic head-hunter. Both did their undergraduate work in English language and literature. Both earned graduate degrees. I remain convinced that their private school educations gave both children the solid foundation which they needed to tackle progressively more difficult academic work.

The journey started with those nagging thoughts that our children deserved the very best possible educations we could give them. Both of us had superb educations at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Our children deserved nothing less. That was our thinking. That thinking drove our decisions about private school over the next fifteen years.

This video offers an overview of Christchurch School, Christchurch, Virginia.

Here then are the ten things which mattered most to us as made out decisions about private schools. Everything below the first item seemed to move up or down depending on the needs and requirements we had. That first item stayed fixed in the

Perhaps you are just starting to think about private high school for your middle schooler. Or maybe you have started the process of choosing the right private school and had some questions about how to proceed. These five 'must haves' will hopefully help you focus on the things which are truly important when it comes to choosing a private school.

1. The best fit

Always number one on my list is the fit. Fit trumps everything else simply because the fit is all about how your child and the school mesh. If the fit and the school are not in synch, your child will be unhappy. Keep this in mind as you visit schools on your short list. Your child will know instinctively whether or not she likes the school.

Now, having pointed out how important fit is, it makes good sense to organize the visits so that she likes all the schools on your short list. How do you do that? The most efficient way is to hire an educational consultant who will identify schools which will be a good fit. That is what an educational consultant does. Consultants take the time to get to know you and your child. They know their schools too. Accordingly, the list of schools which a consultant presents you will be on target. Any or all of the schools will potentially be a good fit. One will be the best fit. Visiting schools on a list of schools carefully selected with your

You've seen the articles in major publications such as Forbes and Chicago Magazine. "Top 10 Prep Schools" or "Best Private Schools in ____" These lists invariably contain the names of schools that are familiar. But are these schools the right ones for you? Let me explain why I believe that ranking private schools makes no sense for parents like us who are looking for the right school for our children.

A flawed premise

Ranking private schools is intrinsically flawed from the get-go. Why? Because each private school is a unique entity. The essence of being a private school is that it does its own thing. It accepts the students it wants to accept. It teaches the curriculum it wants to teach. It teaches that curriculum the way it wants to teach. Each private school has its own mission statement, philosophy, code of conduct, programs, and traditions. So how is it possible to compare apples to oranges? That is essentially what ranking private schools attempts to do.

For example, look at all the features of Shattuck-St. Mary's. Maybe another school has some of the same features. Maybe it doesn't. It is up to you to determine what you expect from a private school.

Yes, you can compare things like the number of AP courses, varsity sports, extracurricular activities, and so on. But you normally will make those comparisons when