Difference between Middlesex and Concord Academy

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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Hi. Can anyone tell me some differences between the Middlessx School and Concord Academy? They are both in Concord, Massachusetts.

My DC is trying to decide which one to apply to, and would be a Day Student.

We don’t know that much about the two schools. She is applying to some other schools also (Andover, Exeter, Brooks School, and probaly Deerfield). We are trying to keep the list manageable.

Also, do you know which towns are allowed as Day Students at these 2 schools? I am sure they only allow people from certain towns to be Day Students.

Thanks!

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Have you visited both of the schools? They attract very different teachers and students.

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The two schools are quite different. Concord is more of an arts school and although it has athletics, they generally aren’t athletically focused. Middlesex is a more traditional boarding school. It is very similar to Groton (even have the same mascot!), rigorous academics and athletics in the ISL.

As far as day students, I’m not sure if they have towns which are allowed to be day students. I know that Middlesex doesn’t. I know that Andover only lets certain surrounding towns apply as day students, but I haven’t heard of any other schools that have that rule.

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I’m not sure about what towns MX will allow to apply for day slots but I’m sure there are no restrictions for CA applicants.
Some differences:

CA is 50-50 boarding/day students, MX is 70/30.

CA is right in the middle of town and within a very short walk of the commuter rail train. A lot of kids take the train to and from school. MX is about 2 miles from the center of town. No one takes the train. It’s much more isolated and self-contained and has more land.

MX requires that all freshmen and sophomores participate in 3 seasons of interscholastic team sports. They do consider dance (offered only in the winter) a team sport. Juniors must do 2 seasons, seniors 1. In addition to competitive teams sports CA students can fulfill their afternoon requirement through dance, intramurals, phys-ed, the play or community service. CA has a well-known and well-regarded modern dance program.

CA doesn’t do awards. MX does.

CA tends to have more square pegs or artsier kids. MX is more traditional. This is a sweeping generalization and while you may hear from MX parents (correctly) that MX has strong arts programs, and from CA parents that there are plenty of traditional, sporty kids at CA (also true), I can pretty reliably tell a group of CA kids apart from a group of MX kids when they’re in town.

Both have rigorous curricula and excellent reputations.

IIRC, it’s easier to switch from day to boarding at CA than MX.

MX has more of a dress code than CA. For instance, CA students can wear sweats, MX students can’t.

At CA every senior does a chapel talk. Every MX student takes AP English as a junior and MX’s writing program is excellent.

Here are the student handbooks for each school.
https://caconnect.concordacademy.org/Family_Resources/About_CA/2016-17_Student_Handbook
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://www.mxschool.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/7_2016handbookfinal.pdf

I would not say one is better than the other, but often one is a better match for a particular kid. I’d encourage you to visit even if you aren’t able to schedule a formal interview.

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Hi everyone. Thanks so much for the responses so far. We have not visited CA or Middlesex yet, but my D plans to interview at and tour both.

I was just trying to see if we could choose from either CA or Middlesex BEFORE interviewing, and remove one from the list. Right now she is applying to 5-6 schools, but she is a 2-sport player, so this also involves talking with 10-12 coaches (2 sports x 5 to 6 schools). That seems overwhelming, but maybe it can’t be avoided.

She IS an athlete, but does not hang around with the athletic crowd. She hangs around with the math people and a few square pegs.

Thanks again for the comments so far. They have been super-helpful.

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Admission as a day student is very competitive to all the schools on your list.

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An additional piece of advice-if you live near enough for your daughter to be a day student I’d advise stopping by both campuses (and any other nearby schools she’s considering) to watch a game. You can learn a ton about a school from asking casual questions of parents on the sidelines and by observing coach and player behavior. Some things we noticed when we did this,

-A lacrosse player who purposefully chucked a ball away from the opposing team’s player who was due a throw-in and later threw her stick on the ground in a snit. She was not benched by the coach and parents said this was behavior they’d seen before.

-A soccer game where the score was 6-0 at halftime yet the winning team continued to run up the score and the kids and parents cheered loudly when the winning team scored more second half goals.

-A varsity team that showed up in force to cheer on the JV squad.

If your goal is an athletic scholarship school #2 might make your list, but our goal was healthy participation and sportsmanship so team #3, despite not having the best record, was the one that impressed me the most.

Adding another thought-
I would recommend driving the routes to these schools at the time you’d have to leave in the morning and evening. Boston area traffic can be a bear. In particular, the drive from Concord north on Rte 95 after sports on a Friday can be brutal.

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Oh, all good points. Thank you. So are CA (day student) and Middlesex (and day student) as competitive to get in as Andover (day student) and Exeter (boarder)? I was hoping these would be more backups for her, and Brooks also (day student). But the more I read, the more I am concerned she is applying only for competitive slots.

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They’re all pretty competitive. CA and Middlesex are highly competitive, and while Brooks is slightly little less so it’s no one’s back up. I’d be happy to recommend some less competitive day/boarding schools. Are you definitely set on prep school and if so, boarding schools? Where in general do you live?

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I will second @Sue22 's advice on visiting for games. If you’re applying as a day student, you’re close enough to do this, and it is VERY revealing of the general culture. We did this when DS was applying and found that the behavior of the teams, the coaches, the parents, and the spectators in general provided information we did not get in any of our tours. (We’re in NJ, so different schools.)

And if you go the day student route ANYWHERE, definitely drive the route when you’ll be doing it. If you’re going to accept driving hell every day, it helps to have it not be a surprise.

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@KathyAd, none of the schools on your list are back up schools. To put it in perspective, Brooks has an admission rate of 24%. That means they turn down 3 out of 4 applicants.

And then again, at Middlesex, out of every 10 students, only 3 are day students. So only 3 out of every 10 acceptances go to day students.

All the schools do give “hooks” weight. Hooks are (roughly–look it up on this site for more details): legacy, development potential (as in, can the parents give a dorm?), athletic prowess, students who add diversity to the student body, (SES, ethnic, geographic). There may be more.

If you are looking for a day student spot for schools in Concord and North Andover, you should check out Rivers, Nobles, St. Mark’s School, Governor’s Academy, Dana Hall, Groton. I have heard that BB&N has a bus service that goes out to Concord. url

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If the OP is in range to be a day student at Andover or Brooks I’d rule out Nobles, Rivers and Dana. They’re all 30-45 minutes south of Rte. 2 during regular morning or evening traffic.

Depending on the OP’s location, as safer schools I might add in St. Marks (although it would be a hellacious drive if she’s in the Andover area), Governor’s, Pingree (tough from the Concord area) and Lawrence Academy. Lawrence has busses from both Concord and Andover. Cambridge School of Weston might be barely within reach but it has a school culture I don’t think would work for the OP.

Groton’s a great school, but it’s in the PA or PE range for acceptances-very hard, and their first admissions year is 8th grade, making 9th less of an intake year. They also admit very few day students.

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Thanks, everyone. This is great information.

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Andover and Exeter have a list of towns specifying day/boarding options. Most other schools are not as specific. While Concord and Middlesex are different schools, my son applied to both and liked certain things about both schools. Concord does not allow access to the dorms during the day, so day and boarding students don’t feel that different during the school day.

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I agree that the schools you are currently looking at are not “safeties”. However, you have an advantage if a coach wants you and/or the school needs to fill a void.

If Milton isn’t too far away, you could add this to your list. If Concord and Middlesex are within your driving range, it would behoove you to visit both.

Good Luck.

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All of these schools are very competitive. Being from the area actually makes it harder because they get som many local and Northeast/NE applicants.

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@center Does this mean that applying as a boarding student from outside of the NE would give a student a slight advantage over applying as a day student from the Boston area?

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@AZBound , BS, like colleges, tend to like geographic diversity, so often, all other things being equal, the more "exotic " student has the edge. With that said, all things are rarely equal!

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However, the day student and the boarding student are not in direct competition. A school determines how many day students it will accept. For day schools, that’s 100%. For St. Paul’s, that’s 0%. For schools in the middle, it is a set percentage. According to boarding school review, 70% of Middlesex’s students are boarders. Thus, 30% are day students.

In general, the day students are competing for a smaller number of openings at boarding schools, but they’re different pools. Sometimes a student who applies as a day student will be told he/she would be accepted as a boarder. “Local boarders” can sometimes switch from day to boarding and vice versa.

If I were living outside of New England, I would have better chances applying as a boarder from that state, than I would if I moved to the Boston area to apply as a day student.

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Hello KathyAd, Our son is at Concord. He loves it, and we think it’s great. Talented teachers with high expectations in every subject. Very hard graders. Reminds me of college in the late 70’s when some professors just did not give A’s. Great mix of day and boarding students brings a rich blend of experience to the school. Also many parents of day students volunteer and form parent seminars, book clubs etc… It helps all the parents get a feel for whom their kids are in school with. And they do communicate with the boarding parents.

Regarding a comment that CA is an art school, maybe I have been asleep but I was not aware. Our son is into math, science, legal thinking and some music. He is thrilled with the new Labs, and wont go near the art building etc… I did attend a great theater production there last year though.

Every communication that the school sends out makes sense; they know what they’re doing.

Spend time there with your child, but go your separate ways. You will figure it out Good luck.