<p>Does anyone have anything to share academic/social/arts reputations of Brooks, Middlesex, or St. Mark's, relevant to a boy with strong academics in pvt day school, but avg athlete. </p>
<p>Are there other schools that should be on this list?</p>
<p>Are you looking for a boarding school?</p>
<p>All of those are in the ISL... check out all 16 ISL schools.
Governor's, Groton, Lawrence, St. Paul's, etc.</p>
<p>The only school on your list I have personally seen is Brooks
When we looked at it, there was much to like about it.
It is a smaller boarding school--as I recall 350 students or so
The campus is lovely . They were building a new athletic center when we toured.
The student center is spacious and the ice rink is right on campus. There is also a lake on campus for crew.</p>
<p>It is a solid academic school. I think the old average SAT was something like 1250 or so</p>
<p>It does have a formal dress code and formal meals weekly</p>
<p>We liked it quite alot. S was accepted but ended up elsewhere</p>
<p>Inquiring Mind, sorry I posted this at the wrong thread, this was meant fyi. It ranks schools in the greater Boston area and includes the three schools you have inquired about.</p>
<p>We visited St. Marks. It was a very snowy and cold day so we didn't walk around outside very much. But it is a pretty campus with about 400 students. Average SAT at the time was about 1250. Nice people who seem to care.</p>
<p>Agree with Momofaknight about Brooks - absolutely go and visit if you can,
the setting is beautiful and the school community is wonderfully supportive
while maintaining the highest academic standard. New in recent years =
gym (opened fall 2005 - plus the former gym was also redone and outfitted
with state of the art squash courts and indoor rowing facilities). Library
and dining hall building date from the last 8-10 years and are lovely.
Strong traditions include Chapel service 3x a week (people make presentations, it's not a religious service per se), sit-down dinner 2x
per week in the fall and spring, and the occasional all-school dinner for boarders (70% of student
body) and day students (remaining 30%). Outstanding sports teams (ISL
is pretty heavy duty league with its share of All-Americans) but there is a level for everyone and you will benefit from the facilities and
knowledgable coaching. This is a school that is going to
become even more selective than it already is - and its acceptance rate
is only around the 30% mark now, I believe. Well worth a close look.</p>
<p>Although I ended up going to Andover, Brooks was my second choice. I know the schools are very different, but I really loved the tight community feel at Brooks. The idea of sit-down dinners and small classes were very appealing to me. Also, the campus is beautiful; all white buildings and green grassy fields. In the end, the academic and athletic opportunities presented by Andover were too tough for me to resist. However, I would strongly suggest visiting the Brooks campus; it really gives you a good feel of what the school is about and a sense of the community.</p>
<p>Middlesex has been wonderful for our d. Outstanding academics and an incredible rich offering of extracurriculars including athletics for just about every ability. It has impressive teaching technology, amazing teachers, and a gorgeous campus. I cannot say enough about Mx. Good luck with your search.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses. Yes, s would be a boarder. Is anyone familiar with the flavor of more than one of these places and able to provide some comparisons?</p>
<p>I do not know enough about St. Mark's to provide a comparison to Brooks.
However, as prepparent indicates, MIddlesex is outstanding in every way
and I have always known it to be one of the top prep schools in the
country. The others are not far behind. I wish I could be more specific
about life as a boarder at all three of these schools but my familiarity
does not extend beyond Brooks in that regard. I can tell you that
there are 5 girls and 5 boys dorms at Brooks. They are all pretty nice
with a fairly high percentage of single rooms. The campus is quite
compact and all of the dorms are within a short walk to everything.
There are about 250 boarding students total, somewhat more boys
than girls. There are Saturday morning classes. On the weekends
sometimes there are dances or kids take trips to nearby malls
and sometimes into Boston. There is always something going on that
I'm sure would interest you. I think Middlesex students probably
have easier access to Boston from Concord. North Andover is further
out from the city but still pretty suburban. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>As most of you know I have a D at Middlesex. We have absolutely high praise for the school. I would encourage anybody looking for a small school to at least investigate Middlesex. Its academics are outstanding as is the Teaching staff. Outside of academics, you'll find that there is plenty of opportunity for all whether it's Theatre, sports, ceommunity Service, clubs, etc. Good Luck with your search.</p>
<p>I'll let you know what we think of St. Mark's. D #2 is interviewing next week.</p>