<p>What are the people like at deerfield? I’m more of a quiet person, but I will talk. I’ve never been one of the “popular kids” that like to talk or get involved with a large group. I imagine many of the Deerfield students to be the type that like to give speeches, act in skits, perform, etc, etc. I haven’t visited Deerfield yet, but I know that most of these prestigious boarding schools mold leaders. I’m not one of those people that doesn’t participate in class or is silent all the time, and I get along well with my teachers. But, I want to be sure that if I’m accepted that I will fit in with the other students. THANKS!</p>
<p>Well sarah5533, Deerfield looks for driven students that want to learn and it sounds like you fit that description. I can assure you that all students at Deerfield are not fantastic orators and while it is encouraged for us all to try new things not everyone performs in plays. And being a Deerfield student is not necessarily about fitting in but about meeting new people and branching out; being a student here at Deerfield enables you to surround yourself with students and faculty who will help you to grow as a person.
Hope this helped.</p>
<p>And to everyone I wish you the best of luck!!</p>
<p>I just got my acceptance packet today! I will be entering as a junior in the class of 2015 (maybe I’ll see you there :)) . My question is what are the best things to pack? Also, is there a store that we can buy school supplies at ( target, st a plea or office depot) Next, how do the students dress? I am currently attending a uniform school so will the dress code be . Lastly, have you noticed a divide between students who receive FA and students that do not? Also, ( I swear this is the last question!) is there a cheerleading team? Thanks!</p>
<p>I was also accepted to the Deerfield class of 2015!! I was wondering what y’all liked most about Deerfield and/or why you decided to attend. What do y’all suggest looking at/thinking about on visiting day? Thanks and hopefully I’ll see y’all in April and maybe even in September!</p>
<p>Our S and D were accepted at Deerfield, Lawrenceville, Westminster. We live int’l haven’t visited any. We got the email from Deerfield but awaiting the package. Anyone know the revisit dates for Deerfield in 2013? We are urgently planning revisit?</p>
<p>Also any thoughts on ‘arts’ at Deerfield vs. Westminster vs. Lawrenceville (our D is into theatre and choral/singing) and/on comparable quality of history programs and Boys tennis programs (quality of coaching/opportunity/team).</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>has anyone ever come off the Deerfield wait list?</p>
<p>thanks … helpful</p>
<p>I got waitlisted still hopeful 
and yeah same question as baseball25</p>
<p>thank you so so much! I really do. I will follow your advice :)</p>
<p>Hi Dfield14, how do they normally dorm freshmen? Which dorms are recommended?</p>
<p>Dfield14- Tell me your favorite 3-5 things about Deerfield. Tell me what you do not like about Deerfield. Compare Deerfield to Andover, Exeter, and SPS in terms of 1) stress levels, 2) assistance from teachers and other pupils with your school work, 3) Do kids genuinely help other kids outside of class with their schoolwork? Is that frowned upon? Do kids do work together?, 4) Do you play any sports? I’d love to hear your feedback and I’d also love it if you PM me anything you can to help.</p>
<p>How does Deerfield compare to Hotchkiss for academics and athletics? How’re your swim, waterpolo, and crew teams?</p>
<p>I would add the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>How competitive do students feel toward each other (vs. cooperative)?</li>
<li>Given all the demands on time, do the sit down dinners feel sort of forced or is this really a time where students can relax a bit?</li>
<li>What are the two-three things that Deerfield need to do better? (Kids never have a problem with the things they like and that work well…)</li>
<li>Are the Deerfield students as cheerful as they look in the videos? What is the secret to it (is it the selection process, my kids are cheerful! or is it the environment?)</li>
</ul>
<p>Are there many families (siblings) at Deerfield?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>-How are the junior dorms?
-What type of classes do juniors get to take?
- How is the snowboarding/ ice skating team? is there a newbie/novice team for these sports?
- What can we bring for our dorms ? can we bring our own mattress? ( I really don’t want to part with my tempur pedic).
- Is it true that there is no AC/heat in the dorms?
- How’s the cheerleading squad? Is it hard to make the team?
- What are the most commonly worn clothing brands?
- Is the dress code for class and school functions different from what students wear to sit down meals? It appeared as if students dressed more formally for meals than for actual class. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post. Thanks!</p>
<p>Can debaters at Deerfield participate in Tournament of Champions (TOC) bid tournaments, and what math competitions other than the AMC’s and AIME’s are there?</p>
<p>I am also interested in bshopeful13 and europarent’s questions and think this forum would benefit from answers to them. But please don’t feel pressure to answer the questions immediately because I know y’all are on spring break. Thanks!</p>
<p>What are the academics like?</p>
<p>Hey guys!!! It’s been forever since I’ve posted in here last and I want to get to as many of your questions as possible so here we go…</p>
<p>@HT2465 I’m in the class 2015 too woohooo!!! What you want to pack varies from person to person but I’d suggest that you bring little trinkets from home that’ll make your new space seem more comfortable and familiar to you. It helps with the homesickness that plagues some people. There’s a mall near school so if you’re not exactly sure what to bring, no worries because after you scope out your room you can see exactly what you want/need. At that same mall there’s a Target so you can get school supplies there or you can choose to purchase them from the campus store, The Hitchcock House. For dress code, boys wear a blazer, shirt and tie, and anything goes on the bottom as long as it isn’t jeans or sweats. Girls have a bunch of freedom in what they wear. You can wear dresses or skirts that have to at least be as long as a salute’s length above your knee. You must wear a second layer (cardigans and blazers qualify as second layers) Girls can also wear pants. Again, they are not allowed to wear denim. I haven;t noticed a real divide between students on FA and those that aren’t. People are very accepting of everyone, regardless of their financial standing and honestly, it doesn’t matter to anyone else how much money you have. And DA does have a “cheerleading team” but not in the traditional sense. Our cheerleaders are more people who are the ultimate fans, they love to get the crowded rowdy and amped up. They leads us in our amazing cheers but they aren’t the sort of regular cheerleaders with pom-poms.</p>
<p>@thehistoryfan I’d say that my favorite thing about DA is a tie between the welcoming and encouraging environment and the caring and attentive teachers. The community at DA is one that accepts that everyone is an individual and encourages people to explore who they are and grow as a person. People are uplifting for one another as opposed to being consumed with competition with the next person. Faculty members at DA are also one of my favorite parts of the Academy. They aren’t just your teachers, they’re your hall residents, coaches, table heads, and confidents. You build relationships with them and a lot of the time, you forge close bonds with a teacher and they become like a DA parent to you. And all of those things are in addition to the fact that they are all highly trained and engaging educators. For your revisit day, I’d suggest that you pay attention to the way that classes work and the interactions that you revisit day person has with other people. Both are very telling of the typical life of a person at DA. It’ll give you insight on what to expect socially and academically upon arrival in the fall. Best of luck on revisit days and I hope to see you there!!</p>
<p>@europarent The revisit days for this year are April 2nd, 5th, and 8th. All dates like this can be found on our website [The</a> Daily Bulletin « Deerfield Academy](<a href=“http://deerfield.edu/daily/]The”>Bulletin – Deerfield Academy). I’m not a person who’s talented in the arts but construction begins on our new arts center next year to provide more and better quality space for the arts at DA. I can’t tell you much about how DA compares to others school in the arts, though I can tell you that I’m sure that the comparison is good, I do encourage you to contact the directors at the schools about the specific art program that you’re interested in–they can tell you most accurately how the arts program is. Our boys tennis team does fairly well. The coach for the team is retiring this year but he was an excellent coach an I’m positive that he’ll find an adequate replacement.</p>
<p>@baseball25 Yes, people do sometimes come off the wait list. It’s not something that happens very often, but I do personally know some people at DA now that were originally placed on the waiting list.</p>
<p>@Sunfest All freshmen will live with other freshmen and sophomores. Other than that, housing for incoming students is totally random. The returners are placed tan then the housing committee places you around those students keeping in mind the need for diverse communities within the dorm. I’ve lived in both Harold Smith and MacAlister and they’ve both been great to live even though one is small and one is large</p>
<p>@chloes Hotchkiss and Deerfield are pretty similar in both academics and athletics. I am probably biased when I say that I believe that DA is more challenging academically and for athletics, I think it depends on which sport you choose to compare, though some of them are at the same level. Our swim teams our very strong. Boys won New England’s this year and girls came in 3rd and every year, we see very strong finishes/championships from both boys and girls swimming. Both crew teams and both water polo (more so boys) are strong.</p>
<p>@europarent Students aren’t as competitive towards each other as they are at other prep schools. Of course some friendly competition exists–it’s only natural that it does-- but I have experienced that students at DA are very supportive of their classmates and enjoy seeing everyone have success. Going to sitdown meals can be a bit trying at times but they are something that I love and I think the community as a whole does. It’s one of the DA traditions that can at times seem a bit bothersome and with our incredibly busy schedules sometimes seems to lose a bit of their importance but the truly do serve as a place to interact with people you might not have before so they do end up being a bit more relaxed because you’re having engaging conversation with peers and faculty. Deerfield needs to work on it’s pace of life. There are times when you feel like you have 30 hours worth of tasks to complete but there’s only 24 hours to do them. You always have something that you need to do and there isn’t much space between one activity and the next so it feels like it’s so hard to slow down. Also the introduction to residency program to DA is steadily improving but I think that the housing committee should reform their ideas on how to initiate bonding between students without the sessions being awkward and forced. I’m a tour guide and one of the questions that I receive on nearly every single tour is whether or not people are actually as happy as they are in the videos and the answer is yes. People here truly love being here and through all the stress from home, sports, homework and social life, there’s always time for a laugh with a friends and I think that as people grow and evolve at DA, they come to realize that being happy is fun and while you’re happy, it makes things WAAYYYY easier to deal with so we find joy in situations and while I know it seems almost staged in the videos, it’s legitimate cheerfulness from the students. There’s a good amount of siblings/cousins at DA but so many that literally everyone has someone who’s a family member at school.</p>
<p>@HT2465 Juniors live with seniors and the dorms are pretty nice. There are 3 of them: Pocumtuck, Rosenwald-Shumway, and John Louis. They’re all very nice ( I think JL’s the nicest of them though) and all have a fair ratio of juniors to seniors. I’m not sure about snowboarding/ice skating but if it’s not an activity provided by DA, you can apply for an exemption and still do that activity. You should refer to The Deerfield Academy Daily Bulletin under the campus guide (scroll over residental life then click packing list) the list will provide list of items that are prohibited and give recommendations on what to bring. Unfortunately, I think it’s a new rule as of this year that you can’t bring your own mattress 
It is true that their isn’t any AC in any of the dorms but 1 (an underclassmen boys on) however it’s completely untrue that their isn’t any heat. All the dorms are heated. If you look up one post I’ve already explained the cheerleading situation at DA but I should add that you aren’t allowed to try-out to be a “cheerleader” until junior year, and it’s a very competitive group to get into. You shouldn’t worry about brands coming into school, where what you like and if you happen to like what someone else is wearing, ask them about it but don’t feel like you need to wear a certain brand at school. Dress code is the same for all dress-code required events. At least for girls the dress code is very loose so it is quite possible that you could’ve seen people wearing completely different things form one another–one casual and one not. And ask all the questions you;d like, I’m happy to answer!!</p>
<p>@oxfordman Academics are very rigorous but that’s to be expected at a college preparatory school. Classes can be hard but they’re interesting and keep you wanting to learn more. Teachers are always eager to offer you one-on-one help if that’s something that you need. The homework load can be pretty rough sometimes but teachers try to keep to the 45 minutes per subject rule for how much homework can be given.</p>
<p>How is your boys soccer team ?
Is it highly regarded and popular ?
Thanks.</p>