The process of selecting the perfect boarding school is a herculean one. However, due to the world of technology, this entire process becomes way too easier. There are several apps and websites that ease our task. Here are five important steps to choose the best boarding school in India:
1- It is essential to identify the school that suits your daughter. Hence, you should fancy about almost all the schools you know or even which you don’t and want to know more. The first step should be exploring the websites of these boarding schools. Video tours or 360-degree views are also available on these websites. Read the testimonials from working professionals, alumni members and students of the school, to develop a comprehensive idea about it. The comments section of all these websites must be taken care of. Boarding schools generally do not delete or hide honest comments and suggestions; hence; you are on the right track. It is essential to bookmark those websites which prove themselves as a useful resource for your child’s future. Copy and paste the web addresses of the schools into a spreadsheet, and you will eventually end up with more than twenty schools.
2- Choosing private schools in India is a tedious job, and you need to calm your mind, sit around a corner and plan with your child by looking at each and every school on the spreadsheet, to finalize which one is actually the best. After sorting out, make sure you have at least five schools to choose from. Narrowing down the list is definitely a hard job, but working with patience and collective decision of you and your child will help you give the best outcome. The question pops up here: How do you actually handpick these five schools out of such a huge number? Here are some interrogative points to help you out:
- Does your child require being a part of a coeducational school or a single-sex one?
- Is your child into large or small schools?
- The school needs to be religiously confined or not?
- Does your child have any special interest in a particular co-curricular activity? Like arts and communication, sports, etc.
- Any special needs needed to be entertained for your child?
- Does your child desire to be admitted in a military school?
These questions need to be answered along with your child to actually check with those schools in India among five that fulfill the above-mentioned criteria. The next question has to be the toughest of all. Is your child compatible for the school? This question may seem very easy to answer, but if you dismantle it into several parts, you will understand the story behind it. What if you choose a certain school that may not accept your application! What if, a certain boarding school in India fits all your requirements but fails to fulfill them, later. In this case, knowing the boarding school from within is important more than anything else. Only a professional education counselor can help you get through such situations. Let me give you a very brief insight into how they are going to ease your task. They shortlist few schools in which one has to be a safe side, another, which can be reached easily. Schools that lie in between have good chances for your child.
3- This is so far, the most important aspect of choosing the right boarding schools in India. It is advisable to visit the respective school and interrogate the staff members and the current students, to have a detailed insight about the school. The interview session during campaign visit actually brings out your child’s requirements and whether he is a perfect fit for the school or not. This has to be done precisely, and you have to get this thing, correct. Consult faculty members to get a thorough idea about course credits and then finally, discuss it with other family members, mentors and counselors to finalize the idea.
4- Standardized admission tests are conducted before taking new admissions. There can be a lot of activities, such as an essay or comprehension to do. Hence, your child should be prepared to take such assignments. She should be well-versed with all the basic concepts. Last-minute practice should not be entertained at all. Scheduling few mock tests before actually appearing for the examinations should be given prime importance.
5- The final step is to apply to the chosen school and pay the fees by entering all the credentials on the portal. Some schools require recommendation letters and SOP; for that, education counselors can come to the rescue.
Financial aid forms must be filled for those who state the reason of not being able to pay the fees due to the financial crisis. Many boarding schools offer attractive packages, and few offer free education too, but that depends on whether you meet that criteria or not.