Exeter vs Choate vs Deerfield vs Lawrenceville

Prep School Admissions
1

Dear all,

I have been doing a lot of research trying to select “my” school since M10. Most of my questions about academics, sports and extracurricular have been answered. However, there are a few others that remain outstanding. Would be great to hear from parents or students with the relevant experience their opinions about these schools along the following criteria

  1. Intensity of the competition among the students - is it healthy or toxic?
  2. Amount of homework - let’s say hours per day, so that I can compare apples-to-apples
  3. Academics/fun balance
  4. Amount of stress experienced by students
  5. Quality of food
  6. General friendliness of teachers, support personnel and students

Thank you very much!

2

Current Lawrenceville sophomore here. Hope these answers help!

1.) The academic environment is very collaborative—I usually study together with my friends, and we even peer edit each other’s essays on a regular basis. I think the heavy frequency of groupwork thanks to the Harkness system really helps encourage this, and it’s definitely allowed me to flourish.

2.) It honestly varies a lot depending on the classes, but usually 1.5-2.5 hours.

3.) Academics are pretty intense during the day, but the “mandatory sports” in part exist so that students can get a break from it. On Saturdays, after class ends, the entire notion of “academics” disappears from everyone’s mind and the fun becomes really intense; in addition, there’s plenty of unstructured time during the school day to let loose (consult, lunch, etc)—I’ve even had fun during finals weeks.

4.) During most of the term it’s fine, the only really bad parts are major assignments weeks and “Turkey Term” (which takes place between Thanksgiving and Winter Break). Finals weeks are arguably the “chillest” part of the school year. If you do a lot of extracurriculars (especially varsity sports or theatre), the time around championships or productions will also be pretty difficult, but “the worst” is never more than 5 days or so.

5.) Decent, has gotten better since the introduction of grab-and-go during COVID. The best food by far is the “wok bar,” where you can make your own fried rice/noodles/stir fry (I’d argue it’s above restaurant quality), but it’s been an unfortunate casualty of the pandemic. There’s also a multitude of other eateries on campus and Main Street if the meal on a given day doesn’t appeal to you.

6.) Teachers and students are all incredibly nice and supportive. Many of my teachers have gone out of their way to help me out, and they’re almost always available if need be (I’ve even sought out help from teachers who have never taught me and had great responses). Other students will help you out all the time (there’s even a school sponsored “peer tutoring system”), which is really nice as it helps you fill in your strengths and weaknesses. People are also really inclusive, so it’s quite easy to make new friends, and being actively belligerent towards others is frowned upon. I haven’t had too much interaction with support staff but they’ve always been very helpful.

4 Likes
3

For Choate…

  1. Competitive, but healthy
  2. I have one child who does 1.5-2h/day as a junior and another who does 3-4+ as a freshman. Depends on the kid and their academic goals.
  3. Totally depends on the kid and the year. Freshman are inefficient and can be like a deer in headlights to the whole BS life. That year is one of adjustment. After that, some kids stay in their rooms and study all day for 4.3 GPAs. Most enjoy balance and settle into the middle of the bell curve.
  4. Again, totally dependent on the kid (and the family dynamic). Make no mistake…BS is hard and most kids will not be “the best” anymore. Overall, Choate is not a stressful environment.
  5. Sustains life. Not much to add beyond that.
  6. VERY. All members of the community are vesting in the success of the students.
2 Likes
4

Here is information about Deerfield from a current parent:

We had the choice on our March 10th to choose from many schools and had to weigh the balance against many (did not apply to Exeter or L’Ville). You are either a Deerfield person or Choate, Exeter or L’Ville person. The cultures are totally different. I would say this (at the risk of being reprimanded by @skieurope and totally attacked by others lurking on here), Deerfield “feels like” a more traditional and conservative boarding school. For example, I have only seen one kid with purple hair, only one with visible piercings and nobody dressed “Goth”. Likewise, students here are more focused on the community, academics, athletics and the arts. There is less of a “in your face” political vibe as has been reported at other boarding schools. There seems to be more visible conformity of dress at Deerfield (maybe also L’Ville from observation) due in part to the school’s dress code. So if you are not keen on wearing a blue blazer to class or to formal sit down.

  • Culture & Community: Deerfield has a very different culture than Choate. As you may know by now, the schools have an intense rivalry. Each Fall, there is Choate/Deerfield Day. The schools alternate each year which campus to hold the sporting events. There is a week of spirit activities leading up to this. I will say that our experience has been that Deerfield has more school spirit than Choate or Exeter. From what I have witnessed at athletic events involving L’Ville, I observed their students as also having strong school spirit.

Traditions seem to be a greater centerpiece of student life at Deerfield.

  • Sit down meals - 6 or 7 times per week. This serves many purposes. First, I believe it is a way to foster and sustain the strong sense of community. Second, it’s a way to limit the number of cliques. Students are sitting at an assigned table with students from all grade years, as well as a faculty member. It’s a lot better and more fun than it sounds. Students also take turns waiting tables. Same thing.

The campus vibe is very different at each school. Choate is closer to a city (Wallingford) and feels like a smaller campus because of the street running through it and the hill. Not sure of acreage. Deerfield is more rural and is centered within a historic village of colonial houses. The campus is surrounded by farms and the mountains that ring the Pioneer Valley. The closest Chipotle and Starbucks is 20-25 minutes away. There is plenty of shopping, dining, and fast food in Amherst or Hadley - about 20-25 minutes south, or fast-food, pizza, and shopping 10 minutes north in Greenfield.

Deerfield students tend to be multi-dimensional in terms of interests and talents. Most students I know do at least one sport - many do 2 or 3 sports. There are some students who are into Dance and Theatre - that’s their EC, rather than athletics. At Deerfield it is possible to do both dance, music, theatre and a sport. You can take a performing arts class and also mix in some other art as an EC.

Academics are more rigorous than you may realize. The grading system at Deerfield is IMHO tough. There was a recent Scroll article on this. It is not easy to get an “A”. There isgrade compression and deflation. The school work is manageable IMHO. The higher level courses (Honors Pre-Calc) have more work - so if you come in as a Freshman at a high level in math or foreign language, you will have more homework than your roommate who is taking Geometry and Spanish 1. Get it?

Dorms - There are many varied types of dorms at Deerfield. Generally, they are smaller than the ones we saw when visiting Exeter and Choate. THe L’Ville house system is unique. At Deerfield (except for this past year with COVID), Freshman get doubles. Everyone else gets their own single room.

NO CLASSES ON SATURDAY at Deerfield. :partying_face:

2 Likes
5

The 5 qualities or concerns listed by OP can be experienced in varying degrees at all 4 listed schools.

Other common concerns which do differentiate boarding schools:

Saturday morning classes & percentage of day students.

P.S. Number/frequency of seated meals is also a differentiating factor to consider.

6

Forgot to add: I believe Deerfield is @ 90% boarding students now - also 90% of faculty live on campus. The relatively low number of Day students provided a “bubble” for COVID control this year IMHO.

7

Not sure why I would reprimand; no ToS violation here. And I agree, Deerfield will feel more conservative than Choate and will also have more of the traditional elements many associate with BS

2 Likes
8

I agree with @Altras and @Publisher. Most of the answers to these questions depend on the student, not the school.

  1. Intensity of the competition among the students - is it healthy or toxic?

I doubt anyone will say that anything about their BS is toxic. How a student responds to perceived competition can be healthy or not, but that is a personal decision. In all my time here, I’ve never read any genuine post that says students at their school are anything but collaborative–no matter what the outside perception might be. For example, anytime someone posts that they’ve heard that Exeter and Choate are cutthroat, within minutes, someone will debunk that from their experience. I would say that Choate is collaboratively competitive in a very healthy way. :wink:

  1. Amount of homework - let’s say hours per day, so that I can compare apples-to-apples

Most boarding schools say they give about 40 minutes of homework per class, so approximately 3 hours/night, but how long that actually takes depends on how organized and focused the student is.

  1. Academics/fun balance

Again, depends on the student. Any student can make school a grind, but none of the schools are set up to be that way, and most students are able to find a healthy balance. In general, BS students work hard and play hard.

  1. Amount of stress experienced by students.

Ditto. Depends on the how the student deals with demands. Stress is not something a school places on a student. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand, so only you know how you respond to and deal with stress. Boarding school will give you plenty of outlets for blowing off steam and plenty of support if you feel overwhelmed.

  1. Quality of food

Edible at all schools, some better than others, but I’ve never read any post claiming that the food at their school is abysmal. Choate’s was very good. NMH’s was better. You’ll have multiple dining options at every school, so no worries there.

  1. General friendliness of teachers, support personnel and students

Again, I’ve never read any thread that didn’t praise the friendliness of and support at their schools as posted above.

I don’t mean to be flip, but none of the questions listed will tease out meaningful differences among boarding schools, especially the four you list as they are generally considered peer schools. My opinion is that these questions are mostly hair-splitting among your choices.

OTOH, there IS a difference in size, setting, and feel among these schools. Deerfield is small compared to Exeter and Choate. The Lawrenceville campus is not as open as Exeter and Choate. So, there are some physical/tradition/feel characteristics that distinguish among them if that makes a difference to you.

And, I agree with @Golfgr8, Deerfield is the outlier on your list, very different culture and look/feel than the others even though similar in respect to your questions. A Choatie would never pick Deerfield, and vice versa. :wink:

6 Likes
9

One thing that will be different at Deerfield next year is the class schedule. This year, students were on a Block Schedule aimed at de-densifying the buildings/classes. Next year there will be another schedule aimed at enhancing deeper learning and conversations. Please ask about this in your zoom sessions or when speaking to parents, as this was only recently announced by the school.

10

Agree with @ChoatieMom - one of the important things we agree (even though we are on different sides of this rivalry) on along with Army football and choice of golf courses. Deerfield is probably one of the most “traditional” feeling boarding schools out there - this is great if that is what you are seeking and if that is the setting you want.

Athletics and social life around athletics is also big. Students really do show up for games. There is a pretty big outdoor - recreation scene due to the proximity to the Berkshires, ski areas, etc. Kiddo and friends go hiking almost every weekend, skiing (before COVID), biking, etc. If you are into the outdoors, it’s a great place.

Best thing for us is that the Deerfield Inn is “on campus” - students go there for dinner and also order out. This is an even nicer perk for parents because we don’t have to drive.

2 Likes
11

Choate has the lovely Sally Hart Lodge B&B right in the center of campus as well a Fairfield Inn and Homewood Suites just down the road.

Sally Hart Lodge-Campus B&B
Sally Hart Lodge-Campus B&B1296×759 362 KB

3 Likes
12

From a Choatie mom- according to my junior the competition is healthy. The amount of hours of work and workload is completely dependent of how rigorous a schedule you decide to take and how many hours you decide to take. It also depends of which sports you decided to play. My son played football, wrestled, and did track. He always took 6 classes. He ended up deciding to drop football so he could do the Science research Program. most would just drop down to 5 class but he did not want to- he loves the classes too much. He said the food (pre-covid ) was great. The teachers are amazing and everyone is “really, really nice”- his direct quote!

3 Likes
13

One of the things I wish we had done when choosing between schools was to look at the school profile and the grading policies, as well as grade distributions. For example, I believe PEA has a unique way of grading.
We know it is very difficult to get anything above a 91 or 92 at DA. See charts below. You can get these online. There have been earlier posts about it. If you or your parents are going to have major stress over GPA, then think carefully about this. The grading system at DA causes a lot of stress IMO and also competition.

image
image1668×755 180 KB
image
image1668×853 315 KB
image
image1668×1229 247 KB

3 Likes
14

Deerfield’s grading seems fine as about 40% receive at least an “A-”.

Also, Deerfield awards a 4.3 & “A+” which is not a widespread practice.

15

@Publisher I do not believe DA awards a 4.3 - there are no letter grades and NO weighted grades. There are higher grades at Choate, with a greater percentage in that 3.99-3.75 range. Unless you know something that I don’t know, which may be very possible :nerd_face:
In 2019 only 1 student earned a 95 Average or above (that is listed as 1%). There were @40% who earned a 91 and/or higher in the Junior year. The chart is misleading because few get that 92.5-92.99 that is listed Most students, IMHO, are between 89-91 at DA. I see that Choate awards 4.0-4.3. Choate’s chart is below the one on top without the GPA listed. Maybe @ultmacroix can weigh in on this?

16

Are weighted grades a thing at boarding school? Neither of the schools my sons attended had weighted GPAs.

18

Choate seems to be amongst the few that weights. Regardless, not what the OP asked, so let’s return to topic.

1 Like
19

Cate has weighted grades.

(Sorry for the digression. Carry on)

1 Like
20

Sorry, I misread the chart that you posted above. I failed to discern that the charts were for separate schools (Deerfield & Choate).

OP: Although there are differences, you cannot make a bad choice among your four options.

Congratulations !

2 Likes
21

Apples to apples, from the unweighted charts above, if 93=4.0, 13 out of 224 Choate students fall in that bucket (5.8%) and 19 out of 176 Deerfield students are at or above that (10.8%), so I’m not sure where the heartburn is. It doesn’t matter whether a BS weights or not, colleges adjust for that.

Everyone, please understand that Deerfield students are not being compared to Choate students or Exeter students or any other BS students. Your student is being compared to his/her peers at that particular BS who are subject to the same grading rubric, so it doesn’t matter what that rubric is. The school could use the sparrow, bluebird, and eagle groups as delineators; it just doesn’t matter. All colleges are looking at is where your student falls in that school’s pile by decile, and they can determine that pretty easily. If the complaint is that it’s hard for a student to be in the top decile, welcome to BS – no one argues that at ANY BS no matter how each racks and stacks. Deerfield is not harder than Choate or any of its peers. If it’s difficult to get above a 91 at Deerfield, it’s equally difficult to get above whatever that top cutoff is at any BS.

@groel: All of the schools on your list are academically rigorous, and you will work hard for your grades. No matter what grading scale you end up under, you will not be hurt by it. You will get a great education and end up at a college that is a great fit for you. You have amazing choices. Let us know what you decide and how you came to your conclusion.

5 Likes