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Now and then, the question that occurs to me, as it should to you, is precisely why I think a particular school is one of the best. I have to conclude that the best schools have all of the following characteristics. What's more, they have them in abundance. Now, before you start thinking that I am only talking about older established schools, that ain't necessarily so. I am aware of a couple of newer schools that fit neatly into the category of best schools simply because they have all of the characteristics explained below. So let's look at what I think are the traits of the best schools.

Great leadership

The best schools have . They are led by women and men who envision their goals. They also have the experience to execute their plans to achieve that vision. The head of the best school is a superb fund-raiser. She is a capable administrator. She leads by example. She expects the best from everybody in her school community.

This video from Loomis Chafee illustrates the school's global perspective.

The solid support of the trustees

I know of several schools which could have been great. But they never made it because their fractious board of trustees kept getting in the way of progress. Change is never easy. But it seems that boards often have a rather difficult time with change. That

Summer is often an ideal time for administrators in a private school to take stock of what worked and what didn't work in the year just finished. It makes sense for the marketing team to step back and spend a few hours reviewing their campaigns. Because marketing sometimes feels more like an art than a science, it is even more important to examine the tools which your school is using. This is what prompted me to ask what your marketing team is doing this summer.

In particular, the ideas and suggestions which I offer here are aimed at the small to medium-sized schools which have limited marketing resources. My long years of observing and writing about private schools have taught me that these small to medium-sized schools are hidden gems. Their messages deserve to be heard and seen. Hopefully using social media effectively will make that a reality.

ÂÌñÉç schools offer unique marketing challenges.

Whether yours is a small or large school, you have to get your message out. Getting your school's message out is made tougher by the mere fact that yours is a residential school. There aren't many boarding schools in the United States anyway and they tend to be misunderstood by most people especially the media. Ask about boarding school outside your circle of friends and acquaintances. The answers you will get are precisely the challenges that you as the marketing professional must overcome. "Those schools are just for rich kids." "That's where you

Financing a boarding school education can be very confusing for many parents. You wonder whether you make too much to be eligible. Is there a specific time when you apply? Here are some facts most of us didn't know about private school financial aid.

1. You have to apply for it.

Applying for financial aid at most private schools is a separate process from applying for admission. You also need to make sure that you apply early. This is particularly important if the school has no specific admissions deadline or rolling admissions. Each school has allocated a specific pool of funds for financial aid. Once it is spoken for, there generally are no more funds in that academic year.

This video explains how to apply for financial aid.

2. You may be eligible for free tuition if your family income is below a certain amount.

Exeter, Andover, Groton, St. Paul's, and Deerfield, to name just a few schools, all have financial aid programs that offer tuition-free education to admitted students whose income is below a certain threshold. The threshold varies but is in the $60-75k range. Why are these highly competitive schools offering free education to children from families with incomes below $75,000? They want to make their excellent educations available to a broader constituency. When tuition and expenses creep into the $50,000 range, only

As you work through choosing the right boarding school for your child, you will find it easy to get side-tracked. Nothing wrong with getting side-tracked. Just make sure that you get yourself back on track. There are three to five schools for you to visit. Lots of observations, evaluations, assessments, and questions. Make sure that you have checked all the boxes.

1. Location

The location of the boarding schools on your list is essential simply because travel these days is never easy. Review the logistics involved carefully. Ideally, you don't want to be more than a few hours from the school. That may seem unrealistic, but practically speaking, it is not. For example, there are dozens of schools within an hour of Boston's Logan Airport. From there, you can get to many major metropolitan areas in two hours. Incidentally, those New England boarding schools are old hands at transferring students from campus to the airport. Those are precision operations honed over many years so that just about every travel eventuality is thought of. Naturally, cell phones make communications with you waiting anxiously on the other end much more accessible than when my daughters went to boarding school. So draw a circle 60-120 miles out from any major airport. If boarding schools fall within the circle, you should be all set.

2. Academics

Once you have more or less decided where you are looking for schools, then you can begin to get granular with that very important item on