Confident and Secure When Worlds Apart

Applying to boarding school as an international student or a Third Culture Kid (TCK) presents unique concerns. It’s one thing to choose to have your child attend a boarding school, but it’s quite another when your child is in another country and many time zones away. It’s even more important that the family understands the school culture, the values the school embodies, and the other attending students on campus.

Just as in working with domestic students, international students go through various phases to learn about boarding schools:

  • deciding which schools to apply with
  • prepare for testing
  • complete the application itself
  • interview
  • hopefully visit
  • wait for admissions decision

At RNG International, we’re often the international or expat family’s eyes and ears since they are too far away to do many visits, if they can do any at all. Knowing we have personally visited hundreds of boarding schools, families have appreciated being able to trust us to look out for their child’s best interests throughout the process by helping to identify schools that will be the right fit for them.

There are at least five logistical challenges when working with international or expat families

  1. travel arrangements
  2. visas
  3. test preparation
  4. getting teacher recommendations
  5. transcripts

We can help to manage all of these details and keep the process moving forward in a timely fashion.

One concern we hear again and again from our international families is centered around the cultural sensitivity a particular school has for their students from abroad. It is very important for students to be in an environment where the faculty and staff is aware of and appreciates the diversity and differences overseas students can bring to their campus.

Rebecca has been presenting to boarding school audiences and writing articles on this topic for over 20 years, so it comes naturally to her to think about these issues when touring schools. These are also issues that Michelle faced as a Third Culture Kid boarding school student herself. When great distances separate families, it is extremely important everyone feels comfortable about their school choices.