My mother didn't start until 1986, so we missed the bust. I don't even think I heard about it until much later. My mother taught English and we lived in a boys' dorm the whole time I was at home (8th-12th grade).

We had just 2 or 3 students at that party. We didn't play them in that many sports, so I don't think there was a lot of crossover.

It's so funny. I grew up in CT but know nothing about the prep schools. I didn't even know Choate existed until some time in college when some guy was all offended that I didn't know his school.

Of course, because Choate (or Coke Rosemary Hall as we called it for years due to said drug bust) is one of the Select Sixteen! I'm sure it was a great blow to his ego.

I don't know anyone who went to boarding school (hell, I only knew, like, two people who even went to private school) but boarding school has always fascinated me. I loved The New Girls by Beth Gutcheon, which was set at a girls' school in the late '60s.

I edited out the more personal stuff above since googling led immediately to my sister NYT wedding announcement.

I have a distinct memory of having squash explained to me for the first time (in 8th grade, when we moved to Choate). It still strikes me as hilarious, even when Nutty and a cheetah are not involved.

And of course when I went to college most people made the assumption boarding school = punitive military school for delinquents.

There we are lot of people with interesting stories - including a fellow named Alvaro de Orleans-Bourbon who was supposed to be a m,ember of the Spanish royal family - but also a lot of boring preppy assholes who are now investment bankers.

but also a lot of boring preppy assholes who are now investment bankers

OH OH OH I know this one. who are all the people msbelle hated in college.

My boarding school experience was odd because I was a fac brat, so I lived at home, but on campus. And many of my teachers had seen me grow up.

However, when I was down in LA a couple of months ago, a friend from high school was expressing a certain sadness that, in the age of cell phones and email, no one would be able to have anything close to the boarding school experience that he had had.

There we are lot of people with interesting stories - including a fellow named Alvaro de Orleans-Bourbon who was supposed to be a member of the Spanish royal family - but also a lot of boring preppy assholes who are now investment bankers.

It was an interesting mix that's for sure. My oldest friend, who I met at the orientation dance, was the stepdaughter of the Shah's right-hand man who got out just before the Iranian revolution. Her roommate was a humble girl from Queens whose mother had abandoned her to the care of her grandparents.

ETA: My university seemed much more homogeneous upper-middle class.

Of course, because Choate (or Coke Rosemary Hall as we called it for years due to said drug bust) is one of the Select Sixteen! I'm sure it was a great blow to his ego.

Heh. No, he just thought I was terribly low-class. Which was fine.