Where to Get Admissions Tips and Financial Aid Help on Boarding School Review

Updated

Boarding School Review (boardingschoolreview.com) is a directory and information site for college-prep and junior boarding schools worldwide. Its homepage states its purpose directly: "Learn about boarding schools, find schools, get admissions tips and financial aid help." So the site is a legitimate starting point for admissions guidance and financial aid research — but it is a research and discovery tool, not an application portal or a financial aid office. You use it to learn, compare, and shortlist; you still apply and negotiate aid directly with each school.

Where the admissions and financial aid content lives

The site organizes this material under a few visible entry points:

  • BOARDING SCHOOL GUIDE — a navigation section covering the full decision cycle. Its sub-items, as listed in the site's own menu, are: Why Boarding School, Choosing a School, Admissions, and Financing. This is the main path for admissions tips and financial aid help.
  • Recent Articles — a homepage section that surfaces current editorial content. Admissions and financial aid topics appear here as they are published, so it's worth checking rather than assuming a static guide.
  • SCHOOL RANKINGS — a separate section for comparing schools, useful after you've gathered admissions and aid criteria.

If you want a single answer to "where do I start," it's the Boarding School Guide → Admissions and → Financing pages. The homepage does not display the full text of those guides, so you'll need to click through.

Using the search filters to match aid and admissions criteria

The most practical financial aid feature on the site is embedded in the school search, not in a separate article. The search form includes a Special programs offered filter with these options:

Filter option Why it matters for aid/admissions
Merit scholarships Schools offering non-need-based awards
ESL Relevant for international applicants
Post-graduate year Fifth-year option, often with its own aid terms
ADD / ADHD Programs for students with attention differences
Learning Differences (LD) Schools with structured support
Summer program Short-term entry point before full admission
IB program Curriculum filter, useful when comparing academics

There is also an Application deadline filter with a Rolling deadline option. This is the site's built-in way of answering "which schools are still open to applications" — select Rolling deadline to see schools that accept applications outside fixed cycles.

How to run a targeted search

  1. Set location. Choose either a distance band from you (Local/Day-Plus under 50 miles, Regional 50–150, Mid-Distance 150–300, Long-Distance 300+) or a region (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South, Southwest, West, International). You can also pick "No preference."
  2. Narrow by state or country if you want a specific market — the list covers all 50 U.S. states plus Guam, the Virgin Islands, and countries including Canada, Costa Rica, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
  3. Apply special-program filters such as Merit scholarships if aid is your priority.
  4. Set the deadline filter to Rolling deadline if you're applying late.
  5. Open Advanced Search for finer control.
  6. Review individual school profiles — each listing includes photos and profile details (for example, Fork Union Military Academy, Milton Hershey School, Tilton School, Eagle Hill School, and others are featured on the homepage). The profile is where you'll find the school's own admissions and aid specifics.

Expected result: a shortlist of schools that match your location, program needs, and aid type. What the site does not do is tell you your aid eligibility or award amount — that comes from each school.

What the site covers vs. what it doesn't

Covered:

  • Explanatory guides on why to attend, how to choose, admissions, and financing
  • A searchable, filterable directory of schools worldwide
  • School rankings for comparison
  • School profiles with photos
  • Articles on admissions tips and financial aid help

Not covered (based on available site information):

  • No pricing, tuition figures, or fee information is shown in the site's own signals
  • No application submission system
  • No personalized aid calculation or eligibility determination
  • No stated login requirement or free/paid tier is indicated in the available material

Treat any tuition or aid number you see as coming from the individual school's profile, not from Boarding School Review itself, and verify it with the school.

A practical planning sequence

  1. Read Boarding School Guide → Admissions to understand what schools typically ask for.
  2. Read → Financing to learn the categories of aid (need-based vs. merit) before you search.
  3. Run a filtered search using Merit scholarships and/or Rolling deadline depending on your situation.
  4. Shortlist schools and open each profile.
  5. Contact each school's admissions and financial aid office directly — the site's role ends at discovery.
  6. Check Recent Articles periodically, since admissions and aid guidance is published over time rather than in one fixed document.

The key limitation to keep in mind: Boarding School Review helps you find and understand schools and the aid landscape. Every actual admissions decision and financial aid offer is made by the school, so use the site to prepare better questions, not as a substitute for talking to schools.