A GLOBAL COMPARISON??? U.S. vs. UK vs. Switzerland

Prep School Admissions
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<p>So I'm going to be putting a lot of this threads up because i think people need more information on this topic. How do you compare U.S. Boarding Schools to Schools of Other Countries?</p>

<p>For This Example to keep the thread somewhat organized I have made a list of schools from the U.S. U.K. and Switzerland, obviously I plan to include more countries in the future, feel free to compare them in groups of two or three and if possible explain which is the overall best*</p>

<p>*I Know we hate this word here in College Confidential but what I mean is in terms of college matriculation, prestige, endowment size, diversity, and actually how smart are the students. Some of these categories may go against eachother which is the idea so we can figure out a general idea.</p>

<p>So here are the schools in particular</p>

<p>United States: </p>

<p>Phillips Academy Exeter, Phillips Academy Andover, The Lawrenceville School, Choate Rosemary Hall, Deerfield Academy, Roxbury Latin School, St. Paul's School, St. Mark's School, St. George's School, The Middlesex School, Groton School, Hotchkiss School, Harvard - Westlake California... (TO BE EXTENDED)</p>

<p>United Kingdom:</p>

<p>Eton College, Harrow School, Winchester College, Wellington College, The Westminster School, Roedean School, Marlborough College, Breneden School, King's School Canterbury, Charterhouse School, Merchant Taylor's School, Rugby School, St. Paul's School, Shrewsbury School... (TO BE EXTENDED)</p>

<p>Switzerland:</p>

<p>Chateu De' Le Rosey, St. George's School, Institut Auf Dem Rosenburg, Leysin American School, Gstaad International School, Brillantmont International School, Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, Aiglon College, College Alpin Beau Soleil, Geneva International School, Monte Rosa Swiss Boarding School, Leman School... (TO BE EXTENDED)</p>

<p>So hopefully that should get you started, to give a personal opinion I would like a comparison between Exeter, Eton, and Le Rosey. In my eyes I see it as a comparison of:</p>

<p>Prestige through wealth - Exeter (They had a billion dollars of endowment at one point)
Prestige through age - Eton (Since 1440...)
Prestige through people - Le Rosey (Just look at the last names)</p>

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<p>I’m not exactly sure how you want us to compare the schools - every single school you mentioned is different in its own way. But, it really depends on what kind of system you prefer - Exeter follows the American System of teaching, Eton follows the English system of teaching, and Le Rosey is IB. Now, out of those three schools, Le Rosey is known more for its exclusivity then its academics and selectivity.You could probably get in with a 3.0 (even less) GPA as long as your parents can pay for it and/or they are world-renowned. Exeter, on the other hand, is known for being the Harvard of boarding schools, while Le Rosey would be known as the Sorbonne of boarding schools. Exeter is the most selective of the three, but I would say Le Rosey has the highest endownment. With a tuition fee of over $80,000 (where no financial aid or scholarships are available - at least from what I’ve heard), Le Rosey has the highest endownment. Exeter, on the other hand, is best known for academic rigor. It also has the ‘best’ college matriculation out of the three, with around 30% of its graduates matriculating to HYPSM + Ivy League. Now, Eton is referred to as the Oxford of boarding schools. It’s known for its discipline and its exclusivity as well. Although it isn’t as exclusive as Le Rosey (or as pricey), it is known for boarding the children of some of the most important (business) people around the world, mainly Europe ( with the exception of royalty - they are reserved for Le Rosey :)). It’s pretty much Le Sorbonne vs Harvard vs Oxford, with Harvard ranking the best* out of the three.</p>

<p>Now, I also want to bring location into play. Out of the three schools, Le Rosey might be considered having the best location (although, not really). Le Rosey is known for having a seperate winter campus (looks beautiful from pictures) where all the students relocate for part of the academic year. But, the campus is said to be on sale, so Le Rosey will no longer be considered having the best location (in the middle of Switzerland). Next in line would be Exeter - although Exeter, NH is a small rural town, it is pretty close to Boston and New York. And, really, a small town is just the perfect atmosphere for school. Lastly, Eton would probbaly have the worst location (although it isn’t bad). It is pretty much in the middle of England (it really isn’t even that close to London). But, all in all, the best award would probably go to Exeter.</p>

<p>*My definition of best: academic rigor (number of APs, no grade inflation, high number of professors with an advanced degree), great selectivity (under 15%), highest endownment (over 100 million), college matriculation (+20% HYPSM+Ivy League), and notable alumni.</p>

<p>All in all, Exeter would be the best school…in the world, according to what you wanted to be compared. But, of course, this would just be my opinion. I didn’t even bring Andover into play…that would make things REALLY different. :)</p>

<p>EDIT:
I also wanted to point out the importance of FIT. Although fit can’t be measured, it plays a HUGE importance in what school would be best for YOU. The only thing that matters is where you see yourself fitting in the best, where you see youself thriving, and, basically, where you see yourself being happy. You could be lucky and that could be Exeter, or it could be Stevenson or Governor’s Academy.</p>

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<p>@Josh: Go read the Le Rosey thread.
+Its other campus is still wicked nice and close to Geneva.</p>

<p>-Exeter is not really that close to Boston.</p>

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<p>@Rad. I said that it was ON sale. It still hasn’t been sold. So, once it IS sold, Le Rosey will no longer have the AMAZING campus it has. Its campus is nice, but, being in the middle of Switzerland kind of bumps its beauty down.</p>

<p>And, although Exeter isn’t THAT close to Boston, Boston is still the biggest city close to Exeter.</p>

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<p>Well put, JoshBryon. Le Rosey isn’t known for it’s harsh, rigorous academics as Exeter and such schools are, but rather as the “School of Kings”. What is reaped from Le Rosey is decorum, exclusivity, and connections. Of course, if you can afford to go there you probably have quite a bit of personal wealth and can start a business or two or go into a parent’s quite easily… </p>

<p>Personally, i prefer American [or English] institutions, which are famed for more academic rigor and egalitarianism, two things I value highly.</p>

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<p>its hard to compare schools in different countries because there education system is alot different than ours (USA), different countries have different cirriculums and also different testing, and prep schools in the UK feed to generally UK universities which are also different than USA universities so its hard to compare.</p>

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<p>Rosey sold the old ski campus for $$$$ and bought a better location for more dorms and better slopes. It`s no Exeter but it does have kids smart enough to get into the best schools.
JB your info is wrong.</p>

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<p>How can you compare?</p>

<p>I mean, Eton is for the elite and Le Rosey is for the rich.
Eton’s and Le Rosey’s graduates become “successful” or “famous” mostly because of their parents.</p>

<p>Exeter seems to be the only school that accepts kids from middle-class families.</p>

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<p>Sorry about the "parents“ part. Didn’t mean to make that assumption.</p>

<p>Just because I read some articles about Chinese leaders’ sending their kids to Eton/Harrow and Chinese actors sending their kids to Le Rosey.</p>

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<p>@madddog, so it got sold already?</p>

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<p>yes.Beginning of this yr.</p>

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<p>“Close” is sort of subjective, but Exeter is only about an hour from Boston via the Amtrak Downeaster train, which runs 5 times per day in each direction. I suspect (and will soon find out) that lots of Exeter kids use the Downeaster to get to Boston and and to Portland, Maine as well.</p>

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<p>^Well, I’d say that’s pretty close :)</p>

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<p>most of the kids who attend UK boarding schools have attends UK prep elementary schools and there isnt alot of student comming into Uk boarding schools who have attened a UK public school. i think it says on the harrow website that like 95 percent of the boys comming into harrow attened a Uk private school before comming in.</p>

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<p>@Josh: That’s not close. It takes like, forever. It’s not like they’re right there, its like a trip.</p>

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<p>^ yup, it definitely takes forever. Are you kidding? An hour is nothing.</p>

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<p>Um…I think we should just put it plainly: schools in the USA, UK, and Switzerland have almost nothing in common. Here are some major differences:</p>

<p>-Most USA boarding schools have retired their uniforms (if they ever had them) and use a a dress code, while schools in Europe still have their’s. Honestly, the Eton and Le Rosey uniforms are ridiculous.<br>
-Boarding schools in Europe are exclusively upper class, sometimes upper-middle class. Little FA is given.
-A lot of the best British schools are single-sex (maybe this appeals to some, but I would hate being in a girl’s school).
-The legacies at some of these foreign schools are ridiculously long, and sometimes the students that are part of them do receive special treatment.</p>

<p>This is just some of the social aspects; I don’t know much about the educational differences, just that they are different.</p>

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<p>Im amazed at how people still take it upon themselves to post “information” when they know so little about some of the schools they are talking about. </p>

<p>Le Rosey doesn’t have uniform that students wear to school daily so I don’t really understand how it can look “ridiculous”. There is a “special events” uniform given to students but it is worn about twice a year.</p>

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<p>I was talking about the uniform the students are wearing on the homepage of the Le Rosey website, and personally, I think they look like flight attendants. The white jacket and scarf thing just isn’t for some people, and this is certainly not what a lot of American school uniforms look like. The question asked for differences, so I gave them.</p>

<p>Let’s not get passive-aggressive about this…</p>

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<p>The people on the website also look like they just graduated or something, so that might explain their uniforms.</p>