As a current freshman in college, I have learned that the kids that went to boarding high schools have inherited some very strange traits. From the Harkness tables that were a staple in every classroom, to being able to make a mountain out of a molehill in the dining halls, I have learned that what we view as "commonplace," most kids find very, very different.
1. Going to out to dinner with your teachers.
When I shared stories of Chipotle dinners with teachers to my current college friends, they found it very weird. To most people, teachers stayed in the classroom, and that was the extent of their relationship. To prep school kids, teachers were your lifeline to decent food. They were the key to going to Chipotle, or Panera, or to ice cream. They were the reason for your ability to avoid mental breakdowns because they were willing to take you to McDonald's at midnight.
2. Being able to create a masterpiece out of the most basic food items.
Because you ate three meals a day in the same place, the dining hall quickly became very boring. The food was always the same, so you were forced to improvise. Whether it is learning to make a killer salad, or the different combinations of toppings to put on a bagel, or making a bomb smoothie, these skills were necessary for survival. So coming to college, you look like a master chef to those kids who were so used to eating at home.
3. The hookup culture.
When asked about having relationships at boarding school by someone who went to a day school, they were shocked by my answer. I do not think they were expecting me to say, "Yeah, people hook up, but they don't do it in bedrooms. They mostly go to fields or classrooms or someplace sketchy." Hooking up in the same place you have math class is strangely very common.
4. Dressing head to toe in Lily Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines, or JCrew.
When I stepped outside on my first day of college, I had realized that I was not in Kansas anymore. Nobody dresses like they were in prep school, aka the dress code is not remotely close to what it was in high school. Dressing from top to bottom in seersucker, salmon color, lily printed patterns is not only not the norm, but you just look foolish. It worked in high school, but for college, maybe tone it down a little bit.
5. Being able to last as long as possible with the tiniest amount of clean laundry left.
In college, doing laundry is easy. Boarding school, however, for some reason was such a burden. I was able to last days with no clean clothes at all, counting down the seconds until my mom came with the clean laundry I had given to her days ago, or until the laundry service was there to deliver the fresh clothes for everyone. Learning to survive on one pair of leggings, one bra, and one shirt is something all boarding school kids oddly know how to do well.
Yes, boarding school kids are as weird as they come, but you should utilize them, because they are strangely very crafty in the things they do.
