I’ll probably be attending Peddie next school year as an incoming 9th grader, any Peddie students I can ask questions?
Hi Louis!
I’m Janner (not real name). I am a Peddie Sutdent. I’ve DM’d you, and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about Peddie, and the community!
Turns out I can’t DM you. Either one of us can’t or I can’t find a big orange button that says ‘Message’ So, here is fine. What do you want to know?
- Do students tend to self-study AP exams just for the sake of their possible future major or interests?
- How prominent are the MUN and debate clubs on campus?
- How do day students and boarding students interact?
- How is the food?
- How academic are most students?
- How important are sports to the student body?
- People at Peddie get their own computers, but do people tend to bring their own device like a macbook pro or a PC
- How is the humanities department, specifically in subjects like History?
- Any other tips?
Sorry for taking so long to answer. Peddie just started long weekend, so it was a little crazy.
I’m gonna do my best to answer these. I should have told you upfront, I’m a freshman, so my knowledge is limited.
- I don’t take AP, so I wouldn’t know. Most of the studying at Peddie is self-studying, as there’s never really anyone standing over you making sure you study. But people care about their future interests. (Sorry for the non-specific answer, I just don’t know a lot about how people study.)
- I'm a part of neither of those clubs, so I only know what I've heard from word of mouth. Almost every club is mainly student-ran. The Model UN has been very active this year, they went on a trip to a conference in Hershey, PA. The debate club hasn't done much that I've heard of, but they do meet. I don't know if there have been any interscholastic debates this year, either.
- To be honest, there isn't a divide between day students and boarders. I have friends who are day students and friends who are boarders. I don't usually group them like that, Day students can still go on SNAs (Saturday Night Activities) and they do. I just went on an SNA with some of my friends to see Ready Player One. There was a day student there, and they weren't treated differently or anything.
- I'll be honest, PFS (Peddie Food Service) isn't the... favorite of every Peddie Student. I think they do fine. They make a lot of different food for a lot of different people. Because Lunch is ~50 minutes (From getting out of classes to start of next class) there are some people who go off campus and get Mannino's (Pizza Place near Peddie, probably 4 minute walk from campus.) But the line is pretty long when PFS makes chicken nuggets or chicken cheddar wraps.
- Everyone is academically focused here. It's a boarding school. There are people who are more focused and people who are less focused academically, but we're all very academic. Some people do come in thinking that it will be like a summer camp, but those people get a rude awakening. That being said, I don't think Peddie is very cutthroat, and you have a lot of people waiting to help you if you need help. Your adviser, your teachers, they care a lot here.
- It's different with different people. To some, Sports/PA/Theatre is the saving grace at the end of a hard day, to some, it's a chore that they have to do on top of schoolwork. I'm somewhere in the middle, but I do believe there is something for everyone to do. If you come in as a freshman (or a sophomore, I think) you have to take an interscholastic sport for your first term so you can acclimate to being at Peddie. I know that that helped me to get a group of friends, even if I didn't end up staying with them, being on thirds soccer did help me make a few friends. (I was a goalie)
- Some people do, some people don't. You are allowed to connect to the Wi-Fi, but you won't be allowed to use them in some classes, because you need special software for them. Also, we have what's called FalconAlert, which tells us if there's some kind of drill going on. It'll make a loud, obnoxious noise, and the message will scroll across the bottom of the screen. You won't be able to get that on your personal laptop. You can, but it is in no way necessary to bring your own computer.
- I'm not a big history buff or anything, but I've enjoyed my Humanities class. My teacher is the main reason why. He's a really cool person, and he's just super passionate about the subject. He came from the Princeton religion department to Peddie, and that still astounds me, but also it doesn't. I mean, the man knows how to read Coptic. I didn't even know what Coptic was until he read it. In terms of the whole class, Humanities is a really in depth look at the society of the early world. We're right now focusing on early Christianity, and it's beginnings as a Jewish sect. We're learning things that even the Christians of our class didn't know. I really enjoy the class. We do have separate departments for History and English, so it's hard to get down the functions of the two departments. I did want to bring that up, because it seems like you think that we only have a humanities department.
- Try new things. You may find a passion. At Peddie, I found I love writing, when in middle school, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I also found that I love video editing, and I've been doing fun projects in Adobe Premiere Pro, which comes on Peddie Laptops (which is a w e s o m e)
Also, from your questions, I get the feeling that you’re scared that peddie is a place for athletes, and there’s no place for nerds. To that, I say, Hi, my name’s Janner, I play D&D and GURPS once a month for 8-10 hours for about 4 years before going to Peddie. I fit in, you will too. (Note: If I’m wrong about you being scared Peddie is a place for athletes, then, oh well)
*played I had to leave when I went to Peddie, felt bad.
@janner21, I am a parent of a Peddie kid but I answered @22louisl 's questions in a pm. I am happy to say our answers were very consistent! Glad to hear another kid’s perspective confirmed what I have heard from my kid.
Thanks for all your help! I’m not scared of sports more than that I’m scared that the sports I don’t really play/dislike are prominent on campus. I play tennis at the level of a varsity player, soccer, and basketball at the level of JV player. However, it seems like swimming is super popular and their program is quite prestigious. I’m entering the 9th grade. And yes, I did know the English and History departments were separate I just wanted to generalize it a bit more to make the questions less specific.
You will be fine athletically then. My impression w the swimmers is that they at every close to each other and do their own thing as a group. If you don’t swim, the swimming program won’t affect you negatively or positively.
And the basketball courts are often available to shoot hoops with your friends. 