We are going for a drive through tour, but also want to get a sense for the place as it is harder than ever. Any insight is appreciated!
I’ll repost my thoughts about NMH even though they are from 2011 as NMH would have been my choice had I been the student making the decision:
I’ve hesitated to join this thread as the OP is asking which schools are NMH’s peers, and my observation is that NMH stands alone in many ways. I agree that NMH is an outlier, a beautiful outlier. The trip up One Lamplighter Way was a spellbinding trip to Narnia, and revisit day wove magic into the BS admission process. The philosophy that runs through the school: “NMH has no preconceived notions of who you ought to be, but does have great expectations of what you can do” is a paraphrase of how we have raised our son. NMH did the most beautiful job of getting to know our child. At revisit day, they had all the kids get into a circle. Each was given a large envelope with the name of a prospective student on it and they were to continue passing them in one direction until all the envelopes ended up in the right hands. This is how they award diplomas on graduation day, a process indicating that an NMH education is a product of a community of many hands; no one achieves alone. The kids then brought the envelopes back to their seats and read the content with their parents. Inside the envelope, on heavy, suitable-for-framing, diploma-quality paper was a certificate with the NMH logo and graphic of the campus. Below the picture were several paragraphs explaining in specific detail what NMH knew about our child and how NMH and our child were a match. It brought a big lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. I could see DH struggling with the same emotions. NMH was unabashedly courting our son.
On The Official Master List of 2011 Acceptances thread on this forum, you see that many, many kids apply to NMH along with the acronym schools. Given NMH’s yield, it appears (to me anyway) that a lot of kids use NMH as a safety, the orange they’d be happy to eat if they can’t have the coveted apple. This is such a disservice to NMH and indicates either a misunderstanding of or disregard for the special type of community and program that NMH offers. NMH is in a league of its own. It may be a peer of the ESA (just as apples and oranges are both fruit), but it has a very distinctive feel and philosophy that sets it apart from the acronym schools. Perhaps “excellence without pretense” IS that distinction, a lovely orange in a basket of shiny apples. But, if an apple is what you really want, why would you reach for the orange? My guess is just so you won’t go hungry, thus the safety strategy. Obviously, this is not true for all applicants, but it is an observation we made based on discussions with prospective students and parents. Ultimately, our son did not choose NMH, but I can tell you that Northfield Mount Hermon is a beautiful gem, and I will cherish that certificate as long as I live.
I will also add that NMH had the best food, hands down, with the work-farm supplying fresh produce, maple syrup, and dairy for scrumptious home-made ice cream. We also liked the fact that students could work on the farm and get an understanding of what farm-to-table really means.
Here’s an NMH discussion from the archives that may be of interest.
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this was really helpful!
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We loved NMH so much. So so much. I mean a lot. It is our “the one that got away”.
We went to visit in November 3 years ago, and it blew our socks off with how beautiful it was. The people were so kind. Loved the farm (we brought back maple syrup), and the jobs program. They seem to do a great job building their community. There is a down to earth quality to the place. Some other schools have fancier facilities, but they had everything we wanted.
The food is beyond compare, by a huge margin. Mussels! For lunch! So many food stations, from vegan to meat-lovers.
We couldn’t make any of the formal revisit days, so they crafted one just for us. Kiddo got to sit in on classes, we ate lunch with a teacher, it was amazing. They really do an excellent job of knowing the students and nurturing them.
They have that block semester system- make sure that concept works for you. During our interview they mapped out how kiddo could accomplish what he wanted, and it put us at ease.
Hopefully a parent whose kid attended will jump in.
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Call and ask them to let you speak with a current Junior. Why? Kid has gone through non-Covid times. And the kid will have a better sense of what works and what they like. The person doesn’t have to be just like you/your kid.
They can also have parents speak to one another.
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Thank you for posting this @lilyesh! We are also doing a drive through tour, DD accepted as freshman, so we will also love to read any responses here!