<p>I just got into hotchkiss and middlesex, wait listed at groton...I have no idea where I should go!!! I'm on the ski team at my school now, and I take chinese, both of which middlesex has; hotchkiss has no ski team but their chinese program is sooo much better.
This is suchhhh a hard decision for me though, especially because I am a new freshman at my current school, and I hate it, the people are just really nasty. I want a school where the community is welcoming. Any suggestions??</p>
<p>You'll have a welcoming community at both schools. I think Middlesex has more traditions; at graduation you make a creative plaque with your name on it to show that you've been a part of the school. Thta's very unique. It's interesting that you want both ski and Chinese... what evidence do you have that the Chinese program is better at one school than the other? If you're attached to skiing, I suggest you try Hotchkiss. Being away from home is hard, and having comforts like that (if you enjoy skiing) can help, especially if it helps you bond with your new classmates. But of course you can have that at any school that is welcoming at first (and afterwards). Good luck!</p>
<p>well on my revisit day, the hotchkiss chinese 2 class was sooo impressive, i guess i am sort of making an assumption, but in school visits pretty much everything is an assumption. the middlesex chinese teacher seemed a bit ditzy - again, this is just the first impression of her</p>
<p>i have a friend at hkiss whose parents tell me she is working extremely hard, is tired and sick, but having a great time (?) however she isnt briliant shes one of those people who goes through the wall and not around it you know? ;)</p>
<p>I'd personally go to Middlesex. Hotchkiss is just too rural for me.</p>
<p>Middlesex was rated the second best high school in the Boston area by Boston Magazine. First was Andover.</p>
<p>being a hotchkiss student i dont think i am in the position to tell u where u should go. but i wanted to let u know that we have a ski project in the winter. Appox 30 people. You go skiing every wednesday and saturday.</p>
<p>"Hotchkiss is just too rural for me"
Yes. It is rural. but that helps building a real boarding community and we wont happen to have half the campus away on weekends like milton. :) plus you get whatever you need anyway, we have bus trip to the grocery store and CVS every sundays. plus there are always plenty to do :)</p>
<p>is hotchkiss the DEERFIELD kind of rural? like utterly in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<p>Yeah, it is. You can go miles in every direction and not see much.</p>
<p>Ironic thing is, my grandmother lives down the street.</p>
<p>If you want friendly, I can offer my anecdotal experiences. My S and I decided to drop in on Middlesex one afternoon while traveling around the area. No appointment. The Admission Office told us to just go ahead and take a self-guided tour. They gave us a map and off we went. We checked out the main building and all those neat plaques. We then walked out and a student saw us, asked us if we were visiting and what we were interested in, and she pointed out a few places for us to be sure to find. So we did. Then we moved to another area. And another student saw us, greeted us and pointed us to some other neat places. This happened several times. It was like there were these tour guides all over, very friendly, passing us off to each other. It was totally candid. And very positive. Very welcoming.</p>
<p>At Hotchkiss, you've got the one building (well, with the science building it's two buildings) experience. Classes, meals, arts...all in one place. As bearcats will tell you, this really helps build a sense of community. You see every other student every single day.</p>
<p>There's really no substitute for what you, yourself, have perceived. The vibes you got from your visits and revisits are -- at the very least -- the way your subconscious tells you which one you like.</p>
<p>I think, at this stage, a lot of kids are experiencing something they've never felt or experienced before: the fear of letting go. I don't think embracing Middlesex or Hotchkiss is difficult to do. But letting go of one of them is very difficult.</p>
<p>My S applied to a busload of schools. I kept reminding him that he can only attend one. That's a tough thing to do. Later on it will be college...then a job...and a spouse. These are affirmative choices that can be extremely difficult because of all the other doors you close by selecting one. One way I was able to grapple with this kind of choice -- for college in my case -- was to recognize that I was struggling with letting go of options, and less with trying to embrace one option. The question, then, is not which one to take. The question for you might be phrased in terms of which school is the one most painful for you to let go of...which is the one that closes the door to an experience that you most want to keep open?</p>
<p>Congratulations on the awesome options you have in front of you. You can't make a bad decision. You can probably make a better decision. And you and your parents are better situated than any of us to know what opportunities you want to keep and which ones you can let go of.</p>
<p>Good luck! And may you have many, many such decisions ahead of you!</p>
<p>A big reason my D ended up choosing Middlesex was because of the friendliness of the students and faculty. It seem so real to her/ us and it has not disappointed. I think you will find that most all boarding schools have kids that get sick. This is especially true during exams when the stress is higher than normal. Middlesex is not an exception. If you are headed to boarding school, understand that the work is real and it never ends till June. Good Luck with your decision.</p>
<p>My d is finishing this year at Mx and it has been an incredible experience - see my other posts. I am sure Hotchkiss is great but Mx has up through AP Chinese - wonderful teacher - and a ski team which is competitive but fun at the same time. Good luck - Mx has a warm and welcoming community as well as being near Boston and daily shuttles in to Concord MA for whatever. Good luck!</p>
<p>" I am sure Hotchkiss is great but Mx has up through AP Chinese"</p>
<p>hotchkiss has AP chinese, 5th year chinese and independent studies chinese :)</p>
<p>Hotchkiss...</p>
<p>nyprepster- what did your parents think?</p>
<p>my parents just keep saying its my decision, which is true, but at the same time it makes it so hard...i dont really expect to get off grotons wait list, and so i think im going to enroll at mx...any objections???</p>
<p>Don't ask us. Ask yourself. If you have any major objections that might be a sign that you should choose Hotchkiss.</p>
<p>I would choose hotchkiss.</p>
<p>the best advice is to talk to students currently at the schools- or teachers, whatever you are interested in. They are both excellent schools and you really can't go wrong with either one.</p>
<p>hotchkiss is known as the better school.
You've been to both.
the best thing to do is decide where you fit in the best with the people there, but clearly if you were let into both schools, both would be suitable for you, so just choose whichever one you liked even a little bit better.</p>
<p>i assure u that hotchkiss is not "the better school"
academically, hotchkiss and MX are about equal. tho hotchkiss might offer more electives and depth in some subjects due to a bigger student body and a bigger endownment. and true, hotchkiss might be better known if u want to go to prestige, but that's unimportant.
the environment is completely different at both school, so you should make your own decision.
again, academically, MX, hotchkiss, choate etc are peer schools, and this is coming from a hotchkiss student</p>
<p>I don't know a lot about MX but I choose Hotchkiss over Andover and Lawrenceville. It was a pretty difficult decision to make but in the end I decided Hotchkiss was the only place I could see myself attending next year.:D</p>