Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

In one of our latest tripts to the United States we were able to visit no less than 14 of the best boarding schools in New Hampshire, one of the states with the biggest academic tradition in the east coast.

Each school has it’s own specific features that makes them special, but all of them share a a series of common settings we will now explain in detail:

• First level academic programs: Spectacular STEM programs, (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), robotics, programming, web design, forensics, business, etc.
• State of the art sport facilities: Soccer fields, American Footbal, lacrosse, field hockey, Astro turf, basketball, track and field, ice hockey, swimming pool, and even ski or snowboarding programs.
• Cutting edge music and art programs: Performing arts, theater, drama, chorus, band, fashion design, ceramics, etc.
• Reduced class size between 12-17 students: Small groups alow a personalized treatment and encourage debating and active participation.
• Graduating students, through to the College Counselor, apply to 6-9 top colleges and based on their academic results, obtain acceptances in several universities for them to choose.
• Proximity to the prestigious New England universities: Boston, MIT, Suffolk, Norwich, Maine, Connecticut, Harvard, Yale, etc. Every school we promote organizes several trips during the academic year to the best universities in the area so students can visit each campus, meet teachers, actual students and feel the atmosphere in each school in order to decide the ones to apply.

At each school we were able to chat with teachers, attend their classes and observe their teaching methods while we debated with current students about different topics being discussed.

Every time we talked with the students at each center, we verified their tremendous level of satisfaction after hearing their excellent feedback about the American academic system, the participation in class and the spectacular academic results they were all obtaining.

All of them emphasized the relevance of the study habit they acquired through the daily mandatory 2 hours Study Hall, since they had never experienced a similar method, but now they couldn’t live without it. This crucial study habit will remain with them forever and they all mentioned they will use it during their entire academic life, even at the university and in their future jobs and professional careers.

In this environment students learn time management skills, how to organize their study hours, prepare ahead of time their essays, research projects and presentations. At the end of the academic year, each student is completely independent and academically self-sufficient. In America’s private schools, students of these ages are treated like adults and as such, they expect from them nothing but the maximum effort and proffesionalism.

We were greatly surprised by the maturity level of the students we interviewed since they couldn’t be more proud of their academic results thanks to their efforts and they all mentioned how much they had grown in such a short periof of time and how greatful they were to their parents for giving them this opportunity.

Many of these students were rewarded by the schools with important academic scholarships since the American culture is based in effort encouragement and they are more than willing to help with financial aid, students whose parents have limited budgets. The students who benefit from the financial aid and scholarships are the ones who have proved themselves as important members of their communities showing leadership skills, community service and academic results.

While we were visiting each wounderful campus, very similar to the ones top universities have, we could observe the profund respect inculcated in all students of academic year programs throught the dorm parents (teachers who live at the schools with their families and are in charge of groups of students in each dorm), since they become authentic parent figures for American and international boarders from all over the world.

Once again we were able to confirm the academic year program at the American boarding schools is undoubtedly the best choice for students who want to study abroad since they will return to their home countries completely bilingual, mature, self confident, and with strong leadership skills they will use to conquer everything in their lives.

Below you will find the best photos of the schools we promote in the area showing the best facilities, classes, labs and programs

At the following link you will find all the details of the program: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/usa-boarding/