Hi: Thought I would start a new thread for any families headed to Lville next year. Go big Red! Great if current Lville families could provide some thoughts to help get us started.
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The College Counseling office likes to hold off talking about college admissions until Form 4 (junior year). This is far too late in my opinion. If you have the money, consider speaking to a private counselor on your own.
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The college matriculation statistics are a little misleading. In general about 30-40% of the class ends up at a T20 college. Sounds like a lot, but in reality, more than half of those are due to hooks (legacy, URM, athlete, donor, fac-brat, etc).
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The first term is tough, especially learning how to write. This is a skill that the students will learn and get better. But know that these skills will be very valuable during college.
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Lots of wealthy kids who arenāt afraid to flaunt their money. One of my sonās friends had his own Ferrari. There are also many kids who arenāt so privileged.
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Take advantage of the Parents Weekend and Winter Gathering. Talk to your kids housemasters. They want to get to know you. Volunteer for the feeds. Its a great way to meet the kids in the houses.
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Paging @confusedaboutFA, who is current student and wonderful ambassador for Lawrenceville!
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Some more:
While the house system makes it hard for kids to fall through the cracks, please do keep an eye on your child. Especially for mental health issues. Lots of pressure in boarding schools, so make sure to talk to your child about suicidal thoughts and not be afraid to seek help.
My son was very interested in STEM. I found that apart from the Hutchins program, the teachers were very unwilling to help students on independent projects. Even using lab space on campus was difficult. So if your child is interested in this, he/she will have to forge their own path. Lāville is well known for humanities, so STEM get less attention.
The campus is beautiful, especially in the fall when all the leaves are turning color. We loved to visit on Saturdays to watch sports and have lunch. There are lots of nice restaurants nearby.
All of the college admissions counselors know about Lawrenceville, and its rigor. But there is a recent trend away from āfeederā high schools. There are many colleges where your kid can get a great education. So donāt just focus on Ivy or T20. The administration will try to pound this into your brain. In hindsight, they were right. If youāre focused on T20/Ivy admissions then you really need to reconsider.
I have a friend that worked in Princeton admissions in the 90s and they did away with many special processes for prep school applicants thenā¦ I wouldnāt doubt the trend accelerated even more, but not entirely ānew.ā It has been moving in this direction (in fits and starts) since the 60s IMOā¦ I know I had an old teacher at boarding school (graduated in early 50s) and he spoke of the headmaster calling the closest Ivy and saying āI have 40 men for you this yearā (or whatever the humber was) and that was āadmissions.ā There were always some students counseled to other schools; some that wanted other schools; but by his account (and others) it was just a phone call from headmaster to Dean. By the time I was there nobody thought we āfedā to that school or any school specifically. (That said our college counselors had close ties to top schools, but many of them).
Certainly true, couldnāt agree more.
But keep in mind that the connections between the College Admissions officers and the Counselors at fancy private schools are still very strong. There are many unspoken benefits that the private school counselors have. Most of the Lville college counselors are former admissions officers at top colleges (Brown, Columbia, etc).
Here is one striking example: one of my sonās friends at Lville was a strong candidate but was waitlisted at a top 5 college. His college counselor picked up the phone and made a strong pitch for this student. The waitlist was unfortunately closed for that year. But he was offered a position on the Z-list (admission for the next school year). He gladly accepted.
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Yep! Agree with all that too.Definitely college counselors have strong connections with top colleges still, and that can be very helpful. but not like the clear āfeedingā system there used to be!
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Also, to keep expectations in check, know that there are also kids graduating from these schools who do not necessaily feel well-supported by the CC office for any number of reasons.
You really need to understand what they can and canāt do for you when you start the process of making your college list.
I agree with everything sgopal2 has said, with the exception of this:
The ultra-wealthy students in my grade, at least, try very hard to keep it under the radar (and largely succed).
Iām also not sure if the CCO holds the same āpullā post-Covid, although I have heard of some surprising waitlist admissions from last year.
Another thing Iāll say is that Lawrenceville isnāt the right school for everyone. It can be incredibly difficult and stressful at times. I personally really enjoy āthe grindā (and have struggled a bit this Spring Term, in fact, as I have more free time than I know what to do with), so Iāve really thrived here, but I know a lot of people who have had trouble with the workload (and the social pressure to be busy! Thereās a huge busyness culture here due to the high concentration of overachievers). Donāt try to push yourself/your child through this school just for the name brand; it isnāt worth their sanity.
Also, freshman fall can be really scary. Donāt worry if you havenāt immediately made friends; I personally didnāt have a solid friend group until late October of my freshman year, but Iām still super close with that group even today (theyāve even come to my house!). Ignore academics outside of your two non-pass-fail classes. Join tons of clubs and show up to all of them, then slowly drop the ones you donāt like. Donāt take Math 3X (seriously.)
If you have any specific questions, let me knowāIām a little inactive but I should be able to eventually answer.
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