For many students, a fifth-year prep school provides a pre-collegiate stepping stone. Athletes, for instance, may work to gain admission to a stronger athletic program than they otherwise would have. Students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or other learning disorders may benefit from taking an additional year to build up their skills. Students who have suffered a bump in the road, such as illness or family divorce, may benefit both emotionally and academically by delaying their college studies for a year. Finally, those hoping to gain access to a focused career track may benefit from a fifth-year prep program; for instance, each year a group of young men attends Brighton Academy as part of pursuing admission to the Naval Academy.
Fifth-year prep schools can take the form of boarding schools or day schools. Boarding schools, importantly, provide students with experience coping with the stresses and joys of a residential educational atmosphere. As such, students who have learned how to be successful in a boarding school environment may find it easier to succeed in college, when they live away from home for the first time. Day schools tend to be more focused on building up students academically, often offering programs tailored to the areas in which students would like extra academic enrichment.
Students can gain confidence, maturity, and time from fifth-year prep programs. Spending another year building up advanced abilities or reinforcing the abilities that a student already has can be pivotal in helping him achieve academic success, especially at a top college. Maturity comes from the commitment, both temporal and emotional, that students must make to attend prep school. Boarding schools also often help students to build the maturity needed to thrive in a residential college setting. Finally, students gain the time to work through the college admissions process in a focused and deliberate manner.
Colleges, in general, see a student's attendance in a fifth-year prep program as a sign that the student is more likely to succeed in college than he otherwise would have been. Colleges know that the student most likely has a supportive family who will encourage him toward college success, and that the student will have the maturity that comes from committing to his college success. Finally, fifth-year prep schools often are small and intraconnected, allowing their teachers to write forceful, effective college recommendations with a great degree of insight.