Marlborough waitlist - is there any chance a space will come up?

[Cocodmackie]

Hello my son has been offered a place at Sherborne boys for 2028 entry and waitlist for Marlborough College. Marlborough is our number 1 choice but wondering if it’s even worth waiting? Don’t give you a rank as to where your child sits and the likelihood of even getting a place. Anyone have any advice please. I think I need to look at some other boarding schools as Sherborne logistically isn’t ideal for us. Many thanks

Interesting. I, too, know some lovely brothers who are not particularly academic (or wildly sporty or musically-gifted) but attend Eton. Granted, their grandfather had a rather lofty title so that probably helped.

My concern is, given how many exceptionally bright and highly-driven boys are at Eton (or Winchester or Harrow, etc), how many pushy Tiger Mums are amid the parents, etc., how would pleasant, relaxed, academically-average boys feel in those institutions? Always being in the lower sets. Always feeling distinctly mediocre when comparing themselves to their peers.

Is it kinder to send such students to a more gentle school, with students who show a wider-array of abilities? I genuinely don't know the answer...

I think the most important thing with boarding schools is the most obvious thing. Can they flourish in a boarding environment and make friends and grow as a person, in the widest sense. The academics, sports, music, drama, art is all secondary to that.
A kid who can appear “average” in those aspects may well be very sociable and have high EQ. In life that is at least as important, if not more.
So an average kid who holds the whole house together and knows the entire year group and is well liked by teachers and peers is just as “successful” as another who ticks the top of the top academic boxes but not the former to the same extent.
It is a bit like school readiness at 4. It isn’t about can they read or write or count to 1000 already, but social and independence skills etc even more important.
So when some of these schools let in the former types, it is for a reason I reckon.

Agree entirely and my son is that social boy who brings the house together but only got a waitlist place and now we are holding on to see if that turns into a full offer. Hard to get the personality across on paper tests and a quick interview.

totally agree and very well put. x