<p>A friend of mine is trying to find a boarding school in the mid-Atlantic area that is comparable to HADES (or SADGE as some put it) in terms of academic rigor, college placement, financial strengths (with emphasis more on FA availability than the amount of endowmen) and prestige/reputation. She is looking closely at St. Andrews and Lawrenceville. What she has found out about Lawrenceville is that its tuition/fees is a lot more expensive than some of its peers in NE (A/E in particular) and seems more stringent in awarding FA (I have no idea since we didn't apply there). She likes St. Andrews but is worried the small size of the school may make it hard for her child (despite a very competitive candidate for any top school) to get in. From what I know on this forum, Hill, Peddie and maybe Mercersburg are solid tier 2 schools. The rest are "weaker" than the above mentioned. Is this about right?</p>
<p>She can also consider some schools in the Washington DC area, like Episcopal and St. Albans. It would be best for her to focus on fit before focusing on overall FA awards. If the fit and opportunities to contribute to the school are strong, the aid tends to follow. It would be wise for her to include some schools that put her child in the top 25% of admitted applicants. If the fit is right and her child is in the top 25%, then the chance of good FA increases, even at schools with endowments that are not in the top 20.</p>
<p>Many people would put Blair on the same level as Hill and Mercersburg. However, their endowment is lower than those 2 schools, and as a result they probably are not able to give as much FA.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, Burb Parent. The child is a strong candidate, but the distance between the school and home is a concern to the parents. They are trying to evaluate if there are enough schools of interest in the area before venturing into exploring schools in NE and other areas.</p>
<p>Distance matters–we wish we were close enough to come to sports games or performances or simply to meet some parents and teachers on weekends.</p>
<p>I’m at a day school in Delaware and what I can tell you is that St. Andrew’s is in a very secluded area about 45 min from the nearest city. It has a fairly good reputation academically for the area but the students are known to be a bit odd particularly at sporting events. This anecdote shouldn’t be a deciding factor of course. I have many friends at St. Andrew’s who are loving their high school experience. However, I strongly suggest that you look closely at the student body to make sure that it is a good fit for your child.</p>
<p>“odd” in what way，raiderade?</p>
<p>I second looking at Episcopal in Alexandria, VA. St. Albans is a great school, but doesn’t have a lot of boarders; it’s more like a day school with a few boarders. This may not be ideal if you are looking for a true boarding school (according to BoardingSchoolReview.com it only has 5% boarders.)
Re: St. Andrews - have they actually visited there? Our experience, when we were looking at schools, was that it looked perfect on paper. Then we visited and DS chose not to apply at all.</p>
<p>Kids don’t seem to have ordinary social skills. Seemed standoffish in a way. Not sure if it was coach induced or just the climate of the school. Wish I could be of more help.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Mercersburg. She is being challenged both academically and physically. She is taking mostly honors courses, and is working harder than she ever has before. For her, it has been a great fit.</p>
<p>We looked at George School for some of the same reasons - closer to home. I actually liked it quite a bit but in the end my daughter decided on Miss Porter’s in CT.
I found the community at George to be close knit, nice kids. Academics were strong but not like Exeter, et al. There seemed to be less of the dog eat dog competition that you find at some of the top end schools.</p>
<p>Peddie is no tier 2 school. In fact, its academics are on par with Lawrenceville, and its financial rewards are more substantial as well.</p>
<p>We looked closely at Lville and St. Andrew’s, and our child is applying to both along with a variety of the top N/E schools. There are big cultural differences among the schools we’ve examined. St. Andrew’s is a nurturing place. I particularly like that there’s no internet access in the rooms. L’ville is going to have a more urbane student body with all the attendant benefits/liabilities.</p>
<p>I visited St. Andrew’s recently and I do not find it to be secluded. The local town is a bike ride away where one can find almost anything. It’s just that it’s spread out with numerous strip malls. Like most of Delaware it’s flat which makes it appear remote. Most BS are, for lack of better words, in secluded areas. SAS does not get much play here on CC because it is not in New England. It’s yield this past year was higher than expected and currently enrolls about 305 students of which there are no day students. SAS is academically challenging with incredible arts & music programs along with an impressive college matriculation list. Most of all, I honestly have never witnessed such a display of school esprit de corps. The upper class students interaction with 9th & 10th graders has established a foundation of trust, communication, friendship and leadership that has perpetuated to become the norm at SAS. I contribute it to the Headmaster, Faculty, Advisor program and of course the students themselves. As for sports this past Fall almost all the varsity teams had a winning season. The sports go up and down as in all boarding schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input. L’ville and SAS are on their list for sure, but your input (including the PM’s I have received) more or less confirms their concerns about these two schools. I have consistently heard good things about Mercersbug (a little surprisingly). I think they’ll add it to their list. The conclusion is that they may need to expand their search to include some NE schools if they want to apply to 6-8 schools in the end.</p>
<p>*We looked at George School for some of the same reasons - closer to home. I actually liked it quite a bit but in the end my daughter decided on Miss Porter’s in CT.
I found the community at George to be close knit, nice kids. Academics were strong but not like Exeter, et al. There seemed to be less of the dog eat dog competition that you find at some of the top end schools. *</p>
<p>Admittedly my experience is very dated, but George School is the only other school that I applied to those many years ago. I attended Newtown Friends School which is the K-8 school right next door. At the time (I wonder if it is still true), out of a typical class of 30, all but 2 students would be admitted to George School. One of them would be the class discipline problem and the other would be the weakest academically. A longtime English teacher at the school would quietly encourage the parents of the most academic boy or two in the class (L’ville was still all-male at the time) to apply to Lawrenceville. Going away to school was never considered. We lived close enough to the Princeton area that there were plenty of strong alternatives nearby.</p>
<p>But, I had many friends at George School throughout high school and certainly agree with this characterization of the school. And although very few of the students who attended the school were actually members of the Society of Friends, the Quaker atmosphere still permeated the school. (George Fox was the founder of the SoF.) And the academics were certainly solid as my friends did end up attending a group of well-respected academic institutions (my best friend at the time went to MIT).</p>
<p>I didn’t know anything about George School. In your opinion, is it comparable with Mercersburg in terms of academic rigor, selectivity and general reputation?</p>
<p>I don’t really know much about Mercersburg. In this region we looked at George School, SAS, Peddie, and Lawrenceville. George and Peddie were recommended to us by an educational consultant. The other two were not.
George was a very warm and welcoming school. I liked their IB program and the Quaker philosophy. College placement seems on par with Peddie. George also received a huge contribution to their endowment 2 or 3 years ago. Take a look at it. I think it was probably a second choice for us but in the end my daughter decided on Miss Porter’s.</p>
<p>Your friend might want to consider Blair Academy too. It’s arguably one of the “hottest” schools in the country right now. In terms of providing FA, I think you’ll find that any school will extend scholarships to a deserving candidate. What one needs to look at is fitting the student with the right school, not fitting the “right” school with the student.</p>
<p>I am asking because they are trying to identify one “safety” school in the area, on top of L’ville and SAS. Mercersburg sounds like a good candidate. Should they consider George School, if it is comparable to Peddie and Mercersburg? Well, maybe they should visit all these schools, but I can see how quickly the list of schools to visit in tri-state and NE areas are growing…</p>
<p>rc1432, “one of hottest schools in the country”? Can you elaborate?</p>