@preppedparent Thanks a lot for your advice, very helpful! I’m on my way to visit both schools.
Things I liked and disliked about Lawrenceville as a parent:
-Loved the proximity to NYC which is easily accessible via the train and the station at Princeton Junction isn’t far. Great for taking the kids when visiting from out of town.
-I liked the house system and got the sense that most of the students there were very house loyal. We did talk to a kid who wasn’t happy in his house but didn’t want to change because that’s not usually done.
-I also liked that world history is approached from a Chinese-centric perspective and that all students take those courses.
-The incoming 9th grade class is small compared to Exeter’s and you do feel special on being accepted.
-The L-ville student body as a group seems to be from more wealthy backgrounds than the kids at Exeter. Every student we met was great there.
-L-ville also seems a bit more regional than Exeter. Lots of kids from NY/NYC and NJ. Kind of an East Coast/professional-urban/connected vibe.
-My kids ultimately went to Exeter and the cost of attending was an influential factor.
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A couple of thoughts regarding Exeter.
- I am not a fan of the current trend of interdisciplinary study of social topics introduced into many classes. The students are expected to cover the same amount of academic material while diverting class discussion time to assembly topics and current events.
-College counseling at PEA probably won’t be what you think it should be. Be prepared to act as your own CC. I haven’t seen a huge difference between our local high school’s CC office and the output so far from PEA’s.
-It’s a large student body with some really great and smart kids. It does bother me that there’s no escape from the social justice nagging. My kids are sympathetic to SJW causes but are turned off by the 24/7 fervor.
-My kids have each had really good experiences with their advisors as advocates.
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@Xystus Thanks for your insider’s info about both schools! I’m replying this one on behalf of DD who will visit Exeter tomorrow and is traveling at this time.
Do you have more than one kid attending Exeter? How is the pressure/competition from academic side among the students?
Our friend’s daughter is a current lower at Exeter, though she is not yet involved in college counseling yet, her parents are also not impressed by PEA’s college counseling office based on the feedbacks from other parents they met over there.
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I do have more than one child at Exeter. There is significant academic pressure/competition among the students. Although, I have seen pressure at our local public high school in the AP classes and also at our local private day school. The students aren’t cutthroat at PEA and they don’t sabotage fellow students. Many of them are driven internally or by parents and that exerts influence on everyone.
I must note that some of the students come from schools overseas that are very intense academically (more than PEA if you can imagine) and they bring that work ethic and studiousness to PEA.
I am preparing for the college app process for my own kids after talking to parents of graduated students.
@Xystus Thanks again! I agree that those international students who got admitted into top boarding schools in U.S. not only are very smart but also have strong work ethic. For students from a particular country, the acceptance rate at PEA could be lower than 2-3%.
I noticed that PEA college college counseling office runs fairly active social media, facebook, twitter and instagram, but the feedback regarding the actual help students can get from the CC office doesn’t seem to be very good. Just wondering why.
Any parents of current students or recent graduates of Lawrenceville here?
Please share some insight about Lawrenceville college counseling office? Looks like they are adding new staff, found a recent job posting for an Associate Director of College Counseling. The online ad is expired now so I assume they just hired somebody new.
How helpful are the counselors in the CC office for your kids?
@LightSailor A few more thoughts that might be important as you make your decision. PEA doesn’t restrict access to the internet. Children can be online all day and all night. If your child avidly games online he might struggle to manage that limitless opportunity. It’s not unusual in some dorms for kids to be up very very late on the weekends to play online. Younger kids often go back online during the week after lights out after dorm fac has checked on the room.
The library at PEA is a huge, amazing unsupervised space. It is not the best space for quiet study because it is sometimes used for casual social gatherings/hookups.
Does L-ville restrict internet access late at night? I thought I remembered that they do.
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