My 8th grade son is evaluating school options and has narrowed the list down to Hill, Deerfield, and Hotchkiss. SSATs @ 95%+ in each of the three subsections, (98% overall) and As in middle school.
He is tall (6’4”) and will likely grow another 4-6”. While basketball is not his gig, he loves swimming and has recently tried a bit of rowing, but is built more like a cyclist (think tall and lean).
I don’t know anyone who has applied to or is currently attending a boarding school and am not particularly familiar with the culture of these schools. He’s not turned off by a coat and tie, so that’s a plus, given the list.
I can imagine that many schools (and the ones he’s identified, in particular) will have teachers/staff who will help him find his passion for long-term fulfillment. Is that accurate? Do any of these options skew more “sink or swim” vs. a nurturing (even overbearing) “hand-holding” approach?
Does anyone have perspective on whether these schools have generally friendly and well-grounded children (e.g. not caught up with who has $ for doordash or comparative spring break travel plans), and appropriately competitive (cool to be smart)?
How about free time to go for a 10-15 mile bike ride on a Saturday? Would that be an issue relative to school rules?
With the inability to visit, or even drive through and see the organic interactions amount students/staff, it feels uniquely difficult to identify what ‘vibe’ these schools may have.
I can’t speak to Hill or Deerfield but Hotchkiss has a welcoming and supportive culture. My kid’s advisor was both an avid cyclist and the coach of the basketball team. My dad died spring of junior year, which completely derailed my kid. Her advisor couldn’t have been more supportive in every way. The area around Hotchkiss is lots of rolling hills with very little traffic, 10-15 miles on a Saturday would be no problem. Also, there is a rail/trail in nearby Millerton.
My kiddo has been at Deerfield for a few years. We also applied and were accepted to Hotchkiss (great golf course BTW). Very similar stats to your son upon applying. Now to culture and fun…Given your DS’s stated interests, I can share the following.
Athletics are a centerpiece of school culture at DA. Lots of school spirit. I think both Hotchkiss and DA are well known for that. Swimming and water polo are huge at Deerfield. Great teams and amazing facilities. The new field house is spectacular and the pool is one of the most beautiful of any school. Check out the videos online. The entire Deerfield community shows up for games - in the winter, especially basketball and hockey. Deerfield is known for shouting down other teams with noise and having dress—up events for fans.
Dress code has been relaxed somewhat during this year due to the COVID situation. Generally, there is formal dress code of coat & tie for boys - jacket/blazer for girls - in the Fall & Spring terms. Winter is informal dress. School/formal dress code for during lunch (Fall and Winter) and on Sunday evening meals. The formal sit downs are one of the best traditions at Deerfield. This is how you make friends from different grades as well as different backgrounds. It also enhances the close knit community.
Class sizes are small. Most kids know the names of everyone in their grade and other grades, too. Teachers really get to know the students because they also sit at your table during meals.
Crew - if your DS wants to get involved with Crew, then you must consider Deerfield. I believe their team took 4th place at a national championship in 2019. You should go the school website and click on link to athletics for more information. There is Fall crew training and the program is extremely competitive. There are many crew traditions at Deerfield.
Please feel free to ask me questions about Deerfield.
I’ll defer to other parents to speak to those particular schools, but I’d definitely suggest crew or rowing for a kid that tall entering high school. Swimming is also excellent. His muscle mass will adapt to whichever sport he chooses during his 4 years of high school.
Few schools have competitive cycling teams. Cycling is a great sport to participate in throughout life, but most competitive cyclists are between 5’9" and 5’10".
My daughter is 5’11" (age 13) and the water polo coach at one of the schools she visited for a tour was practically foaming at the mouth to speak to her. She’s never played WP before but he didn’t seem to care.
Am thinking crew might be interested too.
If she gets admitted to her target schools (her hook is sports recruit) then I’ve no idea how she’ll get any work done because of all the sports.
Curious about these cultures as well since I also applied here. I will say Deerfield and Hotchkiss are big sports schools and as a 2 sport athlete I am incredibly excited about that however I also enjoy theatre. I was wondering if anyone can speak more about arts at a more sports focused school and if athletes are strictly athletes or also interested in arts?
I think anyone can pursue their interests at any of these schools. As it happens, my son is a serious athlete, and will be playing his sport in college. Last year he also had a leading role in the school play, and enjoyed it so much he got on the board of the Hotchkiss Dramatic Association. So yes, athletes can also pursue their interest in theater.
I am sure you know this, but at Hotchkiss you pick an art to study as part of the Humanities program, so you could pick theater as your art, and act that way for 2 years too.
@cinnamon1212 Thank you so much! I definitely want to do both like your son and it makes me happy to hear that is common and doable. It can be hard to be involved in both arts and athletics and I definitely want a school where I can do both.
@bostongirl123 - I know both Deerfield and Hotchkiss have many students who enjoy athletics and performing arts. My kiddo is a multi-sport athlete who also participates in performing & visual arts programs. One of the reasons we chose Deerfield over SPS at the time was because kiddo wanted to be able to participate in Dance Company and play on a Varsity team for a specific sport. We realized that Deerfield could make this happen.
For those of you applying to schools: Do assess your expectations for yourself and of the school. What are your realistic expectations? Also, realize that very often students discover new areas of interest, new sports and new performing arts activities once they arrive to boarding school. This happened in our case.
Thank you for the response! Again I’m really glad to hear of another person being able to do both like I plan too. I love Deerfield and their school spirit is incredible. Do you by any chance know how hard it is to get accepted for junior year and what the odds are especially this year? Did a lot current students return despite the pandemic?
Yes- there is so much school spirit. To your second question - i do know there are many students who enter as Juniors - some as repeats. I think your odds are good this year.
Do you know the size of the freshman class year this year? And is it different/bigger than usual?
I was talking to an AO early in Fall, and she implied that that one year DF felt that the applicant pool was very strong so they took in more freshman than usual. They subsequently will offer fewer sophomores a place since that class is already large. I think that was the 2024 class, although I could be wrong and it might have been 2023.
I just realized that I wasn’t clear. That question was supposed to be aimed at Golfgr8 for Deerfield.
It could be that there were more Freshman this year - can’t confirm because some were online and the class was spread out among other dorms in singles this year. That being said, I believe that (due to COVID) this is a fluid situation with multiple factors impacting the number of admitted students to each class.
my daughter is waitlisted at Deerfield. That would be her frist choice. She is also waitlisted at St Marks, Milton, and Choate. She got into St George’s and Brooks. Do these waitlists move at all.
I am thrilled she made it somewhere --its a competitive year.
My daughter attends one of the schools on your list. One of her current classmates was offered admission, from the wait list, late last summer. It’s only one data point, but it is evidence of movement.