Alright, so I just got an email from Lawrenceville informing me that I got off the wait list. Up until now, I was pretty set on going to public school at Princeton HS. I thought that Princeton HS was perfect for me, and that it was academically just as good, if not better than Lawrenceville. Now that I have a spot, I’m kind of second guessing my original decision. So please tell me, does anything really separate these two schools? Thanks.
They will be 2 totally different experiences in nearby zip codes. One is free. I guess the question I would ask at this point is why you applied to Lawrenceville in the first place. What has changed since then? Why do you think Princeton HS is perfect for you? In general, public high schools such as yours can provide very good academics. BS can do that and offer more engagement as well as more of an “experience” in large part because it can create its community from a greater pool than the local community, and it’s residential. You’ll need to work through what you want from the next 4 years and which environment is best for that.
Education is what you make of it. Will you learn the same material at Princeton HS vs Lville? Absolutely yes.
But there is a lot more to a boarding school education. It’s not for everyone. Boarding school students form a strong bond with each other. The style of teaching (Harkness) also lends itself to becoming very good at critical analysis and writing.
Is this worth $60k per year? Not sure but it depends on what you’re looking for.
Learned so much from Lville. Would do it all over again.
I was also in that spot a couple of years ago, having to choose between Lville and PHS. I finally decided to go to Lville and it was such a great decision. Looking back, I feel that Lville is a lot more personalized than PHS, as each advisor has about 6 kids compared to about 150 kids per counselor at PHS. Teachers are also much more attentive and willing to help at Lville, and each child is more unique and special at Lviille. Also, Lville has consultation periods for students to meet with their teachers, which really helped me. Finally, instead of only having one college counselor like PHS, Lville has a whole group of qualified college counselors to help each kid. Overall, Lville has state-of-the-art facilities, a beautiful campus, and opportunities are more readily available at Lville than at PHS. Of course, both are great schools and I wish you luck with your decision!
Is it common for students to come to L-Ville as a Junior?
At most prep schools, starting as a junior is the least common, but most, including L’ville admit some.
I transferred from a public high school to Lawrenceville as a new junior last fall. While it’s certainly not common (I only know of a few new juniors), my junior year was amazing. The house system really helps with the social transition. One thing to bear in mind is the fact that entering as a new junior can be really academically challenging for most, as Lawrenceville expects new juniors to hit the ground running (unlike freshman fall, where everything is pass/fail). All in all, coming to Lawrenceville was one of the best decisions of my life.