That’s a topic that deserves a separate thread, and not derail this one, unless it’s to compare the drinking culture at the 3 schools that the OP is comparing.
Saturday classes are not the greatest, but do have some advantages. Allows spreading out the assignments. Also reduces the amount of goof-off time on Fri nights.
When I see some parents’ answers on the “value” of Saturday classes, I can’t help but wonder: Am I the only person who wishes they had Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine in order to see what they were doing on a Friday night in HS? >:)
One other point I forgot to mention: Lawrenceville (and several of the other high schools in the area) allow students who have maxed out their HS curriculum to take classes at Princeton University.
My son was going to take a class at Princeton during his senior year of HS, but ended up backing out because the timing didn’t work. But this allows students to get high school credit for a college course. I don’t remember all of the details, but I think its free as well, and shows up on their high school transcript.
Not sure if this same type of arrangement is available at Choate and Hotchkiss though.
@skieurope Given your vintage, I’m duly impressed with your command of pop culture from the days of yore.
I don’t know the exact arrangement, but some Choate students can take classes at Yale.
That’s why we value Saturday classes for our children.
Not sure if still true, but SPS had or has arrangements with two major universities for those students in need. I don’t know how it worked as both were in Massachusetts.
Just to make sure everyone is aware, Hotchkiss doesn’t have Saturday classes every Saturday, I believe it works out to roughly half of the Saturdays (with some clumps). You can google for the school calendar to get more details…
One other point I forgot to mention: Lawrenceville (and several of the other high schools in the area) allow students who have maxed out their HS curriculum to take classes at Princeton University.
My son was going to take a class at Princeton during his senior year of HS, but ended up backing out because the timing didn’t work. But this allows students to get high school credit for a college course. I don’t remember all of the details, but I think its free as well, and shows up on their high school transcript.
Not sure if this same type of arrangement is available at Choate and Hotchkiss though.
I think I heard that Choate students can do it at Yale too, but like in the case of L’ville it seems like only a day student with a car could actually make it work. It is not that far distance-wise but if you can’t drive (or pay for Uber/Lyft ec.) it does not seem doable logistically or financially.
@417whb wrote:
Both Lawrenceville and Princeton are located on Rt 206 (aka Nassau Street). My son didn’t have a drivers license upon starting his senior year, so I raised the same objection – that he would have to find his own way to get back and forth. I vaguely remember him mentioning that Lawrenceville arranges for transport. Not sure how.
But in any case, there are several bus lines that run along this route (NJ Transit), so its easy to catch the public bus back and forth. Since Princeton U classes meet 2x or 3x per week, this is more than manageable.
I would also say that you need to take the students’ reports of 11th grade being such a grind with a big grain of salt. Observing my two Hotchkiss kids from afar, I would say that I didn’t think the amount of work that they had to do that year (or any other) was particularly unreasonable. They would certainly moan and groan about how hard 11th grade was, but really I think a lot of it is that everyone says it is, so they all just buy into complaining about it. I don’t mean to say that it wasn’t challenging, just that it wasn’t unreasonably so. Both my kids actually had plenty of time to play sports, hang out with friends, etc.
11th grade tends to be the most demanding year at the elite prep boarding schools.
I’m with @Publisher on this. And I’d widen it by saying that 11th grade is the most demanding year at almost all high schools - public and private. Is it insurmountable? No. But looking at the 11th grade coursework at a typical HS plus standardized testing compared to the other 3 years, 11th grade is the most challenging by fay, IMO.
At most schools, 11th is a grind. For many students, it’s the year that will represent who they are as a student on college apps. The material should be genuinely challenging at this point. There may be standardized testing. Kids have leadership roles. It is truly a lot.
It doesn’t mean that there’s zero time for anything else, but most of the fluff has fallen away by this point, and most students feel it.