Could anyone use a few words to describe each top boarding school?

Prep School Admissions
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<p>Hi, everyone. I'm thinking about a question recently. We always say that "the good match" is very important for both students and boarding schools. Could anyone use 3 words or more to describe the distinguishing features or emphasis of any top boarding school you are familiar with? </p>

<p>eg: Loomis Chaffee: art<br>
Middlesex: writing,small<br>
Lawrenceville：humanities<br>
Taft: athletic, service-oriented, close relationship (a little old-fashioned?)
Exeter: large, science-y?
Andover: cluster system, large
Hotchkiss: non-cell-phone
Gprep: all-boy</p>

<p>I need more (DA, Choate, St.pual, Peddie, St.andrew, EHS, St.Mark....etc.)</p>

<p>Thx</p>

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<p>St. Mark’s: close-knit community</p>

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<p>Exeter: Harkness table, diverse student body and curriculum – large and scienc-y were definitely not the factors that made it a fit for my kid.</p>

<p>Three words is a fun exercise, but will probably lead to limiting perspectives more than helping with fit, which is a complex, multi-faceted thing. I’ll bet if you asked the student body at any of these schools, they’d all come up with three different words…</p>

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<p>The Hill: sporty</p>

<p>DA: preppy </p>

<p>:D</p>

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<p>Exeter: Harkness</p>

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<p>Middlesex: tradition, athletic, writing, preppy</p>

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<p>what about SPS? I’m curious as to what people think.</p>

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<p>SPS: Outdoorsy, Athletic, secluded
Choate: Artsy, Sciency (maybe)</p>

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<p>prepforprep, are you kidding?</p>

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<p>i concur with catg DA is by far the most preppy school without a doubt in my mind</p>

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<p>Maybe prepforprep thinks being “very very nice and welcoming” and being preppy are mutually exclusive.</p>

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<p>For Hotchkiss, let me share a Lewis Lapham quote about his prep school: “Hotchkiss, like Yale, like Harvard, is about setting wealth to music.” I’m not sure that this quote now applies to Hotchkiss; but I’m not sure that it doesn’t. If it does, I doubt that Hotchkiss is the only BS that fits this quote these days. So maybe we should say for all of the top BS’s: “wealth set to music”.</p>

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<p>Lawrenceville: House System, Harkness, Location, Athletic</p>

<p>Peddie: tight-knit community, swim team (or so I’ve heard)</p>

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<p>Exeter: diversity, huge library, abundance of courses</p>

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<p>St. Paul’s: Community, spectacular campus, talented</p>

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<p>Maybe 70% schools have the characteristics of community, spectacular campus and talented students; I think the comments are too general. I hope you all post the features of the school rarely existed and possessed in other schools and can represent the school. I mean when the school’s name occurs to your mind, what words could you think of?</p>

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<p>deerfield:
preppy to the power of infinity. not exaggerating.</p>

<p>hotchkiss:
rich… antarctica… mars bars, debate club</p>

<p>andover:
liberal</p>

<p>choate:
ultra liberal</p>

<p>exeter:
hugely diverse, large asian population, pressure cooker**</p>

<p>SPS:
hogwarts</p>

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<p>Yes. Please don’t say things like “close-knit community”, “small class size”, etc.</p>

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<p>Actually, I like winterset’s description of SPS as: Community, spectacular campus, talented</p>

<p>It is spot on! For those who get to know these schools at a deeper level, adjectives like preppy, rich, etc. just perpetuate stereotypes that aren’t overly accurate and therefore serve little purpose.</p>

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<p>Exeter: Harkness, Largest Library, Highest SAT’s :D</p>

<p>And, incidentally, Exeter, Andover, and a few others are all about 25% Asian or Asian-American. Exeter is by no means unique in that regard.</p>