34 Ways You Know You Attended A New England Boarding School

1. People always asked you why you lived at your school, and if you liked your family.

2. Despite the common belief that your school was full of rich white kids, your boarding school was actually pretty diverse, especially compared to most suburban towns in New England.

3. You are very independent and have mastered the art of keeping in contact with your friends because everyone lives so far away from you.

4. When you arrived home for a break, it was common to hear, “How’d you escape from jail?”

5. You feel like high school was jail.

6. You know the best smoking spots on or near your campus. You also gave yourself enough time to take a shower before you had to check in with your dorm parent. Nobody wants to get suspended over a Marlboro or two.

7. You smoked cigs cause shit was stressful.

8. You tried your best not to drink at school because your dorm parent was always on your case.

9. You had a love hate relationship with your dorm parent.

10. You probably hated your Dean of Students (LJ anyone?) because let’s face it, no heart and no compassion.

11. You desperately sought out restaurants that delivered because the dining hall food was below average, plus you missed home cooking.

12. No matter how many times security caught you trying to order delivery during an unauthorized time, you still did it.

13. You had study hall at night, after sports.

14. You called your cafeteria a dining hall.

15. After graduating, you still crave cheap Chinese delivery food.

16. It was possible to make it into the NY Times (as long as their was a lawsuit against your school). Claim to fame.

17. Getting ready in 5 minutes and still making it to class was a daily win.

18. You are probably addicted to Diet Coke, Coke, or Coffee.

19. You look forward to meeting people in the New England Boarding School circuit because you probably have many friends in common.

20. Your advisor was like a second mother or father.

21. You witnessed your classmates crying… all the time.

22. You’ve climbed school roofs because at 4 am, no one is really watching you.

23. Maintaining relationships with the opposite sex was hard (shout out to my people in single-sex boarding schools).

24. Being friends with day students was a solid investment. One-word: car.

25. You have a class ring that people actually wore and still wear.

26. Everyone in Public School assumed that you had a superiority complex. As if you believed the price of your school made you were better than them. News Flash: Spoiled people aren’t always wealthy just like people with superiority complexes are not confined to a set income.

27. Some people consider you to not be from your town. If you are like me, I lived and went to school in my town until high school. I don’t think you can tell me I’m not from here.

28. You were forced to play a sport, be in the play, or sign up for a sport’s class every. single. season.

29. Going to boarding school presented you with more opportunities. This may be how you found your love for something you had never even heard of before (squash anyone?)

30. College was always a pressing matter.

31. Every single moment was scheduled.

32. Everyone thought they could shape a changing world and some of them really did.

33. A large part of your graduating class may have a drinking problem.

34. You blame that on your Dean of Students.