Looking for some insight here. We have two boys. One entering 7th grade, the other entering 4th grade. The soon-to-be 7th grader was accepted to the Hun School. Both boys were accepted to Iona Prep. Both boys are athletes who play baseball and football. The 7th grader is a super student looking for a challenging academic experience. Iona would be the easier choice because both boys could attend together in the fall, but our 7th grader wants to go to Hun. We would then have to hope our little guy gets into Hun in two years when he is going into 6th grade.
Does anyone have any experience with Hun or Iona Prep? How do the two schools compare academically? Socially?
I am not familiar with Iona but Hun is not particularly known for challenging academics.
If that part is important to him he might be better off waiting a year and applying to Peddie or Lawrenceville, maybe PDS assuming you are local to the area. He will find more like minded students at those schools.
I am not familiar with Iona. The kids I have known at Hun have represented a wide range of students-- ones who are driven and now at Ivies (so well served by Hun) and ones who felt school was a chore (who were guided throughhigh school). It is not a place that grinds the life out of kids and sports tend to be good. There seems to be a lot of structure around the day, and it seems there are students who need it.
Some students do move for 9th, so if it’s not for you, there’s no stigma in that.
At this age, I would try to keep life simple. I assume you will be driving, not just for school, but for games, get togethers with friends, etc. If you can do that with kids in two schools, pick the best fit for each, but if it’ll be hard, take the option that allows everyone the least stress.
Hun is located in a suburban area, very quiet. There a some boarders, but most of the students are day. Also well known for its learning center and sports. Lots of Hun students focus on athletics.
Are you planning on having your 7th grader board? I may be mistaken but I don’t think boarding starts until grade 9. But I could be wrong. If not boarding, then the distance between the two schools is unimaginable (New Rochelle to Princeton is about 2 hours).
Hi. Thanks for your reply. We are planning to move close to whichever school we choose. The 7th grader would be a day student at Hun and the 4th grader would go to local ps until he could apply there in 6th grade.
I don’t know much about Iona prep. But Hun is well known in the central NJ area. It is not a super selective school, but the kids who I know that attended really liked it. The class size is small and the educational environment is very nurturing.
The surrounding areas between Princeton and New Rochelle are very different. You’ll find a lot more suburbia in Princeton. There are also towns within driving distance that are more rural (Hopewell, Montgomery).
We looked at Hun for middle school (as well as high school). The middle school was small. Some neighbors had a kid there who was happy with it.
For the OP, there are lots of good middle schools, public and private, in Hun’s neck of the woods (including just across the river in PA) and even more high schools. I have known kids who left Hun for L’ville and George in high school. Not all have football, and Hun does, so if that is a driver, it is a good choice.
With an acceptance in hand, it’s a good option. I would say there are others as well if you are moving and unfamiliar with the area.
In brief, Hun has become a top football power…perhaps the best prep school football program in the Northeast.
Last season Hun handily defeated the Brunswick School out of Greenwich, CT.
How good was Brunswick?
They knocked off undefeated Choate in a post season bowl game