Choate'2024 vs Lawrenceville'2023

Prep School Admissions
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I’m a student at Lawrenceville:

  1. I can’t really answer this lol, it was the obvious choice

  2. Alright, this I can answer. I don’t know the specifics for everything but here’s what I know. I’ll break it up into classes/courses, programs, and academic competitions.

STEM classes/courses are very very good. We have great teachers across the board, including STEM. There’s a wide variety of STEM classes, including some Honors courses that prepare you for APs, some very interesting and fun electives in both math and science, and advanced engineering courses. Math is structured typically, with students taking “Math 2” (geometry) their first year, although you take a placement test over the summer and you can move up. There are Honors/AP courses too after you clear Precalculus. If students clear all of Lawrenceville’s courses, they can go to Princeton for an undergraduate course. For science, there are two years of basic classes and then you have tons of opportunities including advanced research courses, specific electives, and Honors/AP. One thing I think Lville has that’s special is the engineering and design courses. There’s a new building devoted to design and engineering with incredible machines and tools.

In terms of programs, Lville has a thing for science called Hutchins. I’m not really familiar with it but I know they do research or internships. There’s is another program called Leopold Scholars that focuses on environmental science and sustainability. As far as I know, there’s is no advanced program for students who excel in math, but there is a program for English and History.

Lastly, competitions. This is where I think Lawrenceville seems to have a disadvantage when it comes to STEM. I don’t know much about each specific STEM competition that Lville has a team for, but I know that many students take the AMC 10/12 and some qualify for AIME, not sure how many but there’s definitely a good number. The Math Team competes at competitions in different places. Also, students take the open exams for USAPhO, USABO, and USAChO, but I don’t know how far students have gotten. Lville has a rocketry team that I believe was ranked nationally at one point. They also have a strong robotics team that competes in FIRST. There are also students that have done well at ISEF and other science fairs, but I don’t know the specifics.

The bottom line when it comes to STEM at Lville is that it is not the focus, the focus is on a well-rounded education that is equal in every subject. Compared to the average high school, there is certainly a disproportionately high number of students that compete and do well in STEM contests, but this number isn’t as high as Exeter, Andover, or TJ). There’s plenty of opportunities in STEM teams, clubs, and contests as well as research programs and great classes (the classes were probably understated, but in any top private school the classes are incredible).

  1. College counselling starts in junior year. From what I’ve heard its good. Check the matriculation stats for more.
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Random question- Do you do your own laundry at Deerfield or Lawrenceville or how does that work?!?

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Ps I’m still quite torn between Deerfield and Lawrenceville! Deerfield is better for my sport and both seem similar for my music interest. I like Lawrenceville location better and seems to have a happy culture. So I remain torn and without revisits it’s tough to differentiate. I already eliminated choate and Hotchkiss in an effort to narrow things down though they also seem great-…something about the virtual revisits not as helpful as real visits…:wink: both obviously amazing schools!

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@seattlegal511 , several friends at Lville were not happy with college counseling. Their kids were not hooked and based on matriculation lists they had seen, they were very disappointed- even upset- with their outcomes and rather bitter by the end.

It’s very hard to know, from where I sit, if they didn’t understand from the start that the school’s list was unlikely to be their kid’s list. It’s hard to know if their kids were encouraged to look at schools that would be a good fit and if the family rejected that. Two ended up transferring in college.

Clearly, a strong student at Lville will have lots of excellent options. The real question is what happens to the middle and bottom of the class -are they given good guidance and well supported (LOR, etc)? My guess is that the school is well resourced, but when you ask the question, you are asking something that is actually quite nuanced. You probably know that, but just sayin’!

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Thanks do you think Lville is more academically challenging than Deerfield. Somehow I thought they were both about the same…

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My son was accepted to both Lville and Deerfield. We went to the Deerfield admitted student day, but he ended up choosing Lville because it was closer to our home.

Academics are similar between both schools, but I got the sense that Deerfield had a lot more athletic type kids. The remote location also makes it a bit more intimate. A larger percentage of the Lville students are day students. I think each school has its pros/cons. But both are great choices.

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I chose Choate in the end mainly because of its geographical location and the chance to repeat. Thanks to all who responded.

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Thank you all for the input , we have decided to go with Lawrenceville for our daughter , appreciate all the insight.

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Thanks for your view. Could you expand on the issues with college counseling you noted? Besides the academics the key reason to send my son there is the focused college counseling.