Hello everyone, I have been lurking for a couple months while still in denial that this boarding school thing is actually happening. But now acceptances are in, and we need to decide. And since week has passed, hopefully it is okay now to ask for advice on how to choose? While the child seems to like two of the schools more than the third, it is a close call and there is no frontrunner. We plan to go to revisit days for all three, but wondering if anyone here has personal insights how these schools compare in terms of academics. I know they all have the rigor, but is any of them more of a grind than the others in terms of homework and study load, any of them offers more balance for a student with heavy ED involvement? Also, how do the cultures compare, are there any major differences to consider? Thank you in advance!
I had one child graduate from Hotchkiss, and have a current 10th grader there. I can’t compare schools but happy to answer Hotchkiss questions. Revisit day may help clarify things for you btw.
@cinnamon1212: Are all, or almost all, classes held in the same building ?
Are there lots of NYC finance kids ?
Agree that revisit days can be quite helpful.
@cinnamon1212 How much of a grind is it? I hear 11th grade is absolutely brutal there. For a child who is also a serious athlete, do they still get to sleep? How much homework is there per night? Is the school good at balancing academics and sports (major assignments/tests right after far away games etc.).
Yes almost all classes are held in the main building. The Science building, very close by, has, you guessed it, the science classes.
How do you define lots of NYC finance kids? There are some, but that’s not the background of most kids. Hotchkiss does value diversity. It’s the only cafeteria where I have truly never seen "segregated " tables, there were always white, black, and Asian kids all mixed up. Unlike my own high school experience, where the black kids stuck to themselves, as did the white kids, as did the other groups.
My older son fell in love with those NYC types (we live in a rural area) and I must confess that he is out of college and working in finance.
My current 10th grader is a serious athlete, whose closest friends are from Shanghai and Ghana.
The key to success at hotchkiss is time management. It is critical! Often serious athletes excel at time management. My current student absolutely sleeps enough, but he prioritizes schoolwork, sports and sleep, social life less so. For example, he isn’t really interested in going to dances. My older son was a party boy. So it really depends on the kid.
The class presidents spoke at a recent graduation and said “There are three things at Hotchkiss:getting good grades, getting enough sleep and having a social life. You can do two, but not three” and I think that’s true for most.
The school is excellent about balancing school and athletics; a little trickier if you do sports outside of hotchkiss.
11th grade is a grind everywhere-- it’s the year before you apply to college. My older son who had poor time management skills did work into the night in 11th grade; I will be surprised if my younger one does. I do know my older son credits hotchkiss for where he is today, much more so than his college.
@417WHB @Publisher
Agree that 11th grade is quite demanding at several HADES schools.
My son was accepted at all 3 of these schools. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Academically they are all strong.
Choate is probably the strongest in science. Lville focuses on Harkness, and hence is good training for humanities. Hotchkiss has probably the most beautiful campus (lake view). In terms of diversity all 3 schools are very similar.
Hotchkiss and Lville have Saturday classes. Can’t remember if Choate does or not. The Saturday classes are tough on the students but prepares you well for college. My son attends a top college now and he is surprised that the classes are easier than he had at Lawrenceville.
I have some bones to pick with the Lville administration and how they bungled the squash program. But the academics were very good.
Go to all the revisits and then choose.
These statements apply to pretty much every boarding school.
@skieurope true, but some schools (more rigorous) require more time management. Probably the 3 in OP’s post are similar.
I am hoping the boarding schools will be slightly less of a grind than the top city high school my older son attended just because of the extra 2-3 hours a day you get by not having to travel to school and after school activities. I do not like idea of Saturday classes at all, however, high school kids are fried by Friday night in my experience and giving them only one non-school night and morning to sleep in must be really hard on the kids. So that is definitely something to consider and look into more during revisits. The whole idea of boarding school is to get more balanced HS experience (for our son anyway).
@417WHB I was also leery of the Saturday classes - my kid sleeps late late late on Saturday and Sunday. What convinced me was looking through the school calendars of the places we were applying. They get SO much vacation time compared to our public school. I am hoping that it balances out and my kid will not be exhausted by the Saturday classes.
@dogsmama1997 That is a very good point, I need to look at calendars and see how much time off they have, and also if the schedules vary by school.
@cinnamon1212 Really, you saw schools where kids were not integrated by tables in the cafeteria? That would be a red flag for me. Also, while someone mentioned NY finance kids etc, I would worry less about kids coming from various places as schools have geographic propensities. If it impacts kids interacting it’s an issue. But schools close to certain places are going to follow demographics somewhat.
Everyone at every BS and public school works hard in 11th grade. How about the other years? Are kids chasing GPA’s or learning to explore and learn (and get good GPA’s). Are the number of AP’s important? What about independent study? When can it start? How does it work?
Saturday classes are a choice. Our kid #1 really needs downtime and not having two days off to do sports and other things would have created a problem. I don’t think it would matter to kid #2. But then again,… who knows. I thought the idea of Saturday classes also varied. Some schools seem to point out that the extra academics kept kids on track. But if you are a sports kid when are you going to get your big sleep in days? Sunday only? And some schools require or some kids want to attend services on a Sunday so you are not going to get any do nothing days. Will be a non-issue for most.
BS have more time off. But that doesn’t matter during weeks before vacation and during the semester when there is a lot of work. Yes, the vacation time is longer but they are working hard so you can’t really say a longer vacation makes working hard easier.
Not sure if all posters understand that schools with regular Saturday classes have classes only for half a day both on Wednesdays & Saturdays in order to allow time for afternoon athletic & other EC activities. Makes for a more varied & interesting week while assuring that the campus does not empty out on weekends.
Yes, but while the class time is basically the same, I think the concern for some is losing the ability to sleep in a bit on Saturday.
Agree, but the benefits of Saturday classes also dictate to a certain extent what type of activities students engage in on Friday nights, and what type of activities students do not engage in on Friday nights. This was seen clearly as a benefit of a boarding school experience during visits back home & reuniting with the local kids whether they were attending private day, parochial or public schools.
Losing the sleep on Saturday but also losing the free night when you could go to the basketball game and hang out with friends and just chill instead of doing homework and cramming for whatever test you may have on Saturday. Also, the campus emptying is also not bad if your kid may be the one wanting to come home on weekends. No way to know if that will be the case or not.
My reference to Friday night activities referred to getting wasted, not in depriving students of participating in school activities or ECs.
Is there still that much drinking on boarding school campuses considering the low to no tolerance to it these days? Particularly on Friday night when activities go till late in the day? I have been told that pretty much all schools are very much on top of it these days.