Loomis faqs

Hi guys, I’m a current junior at LC and open to answering any questions! I know preview days are next week but if you have any small things you’d like answered (dorms food etc.). congrats on being a pelican and I hope to see yall on revisit day! :love_letter: :tea: :heart_hands:

Hi… my daughter got into Loomis and Taft. She can’t decide on which school to pick. Can you tell me more about the academics at Loomis? Is it manageable? Sports? What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about Loomis? If you had to do it again would you choose Loomis? Thanks for your help!!

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Hi - I’m a current parent and I can chime in. The academics are challenging and usually a bit of a learning curve at first but it’s something that the students get used to. Excellent study and time management skills are created in freshman year out of necessity. It’s also really easy (and common!) to drop down a level in a class if need be. Math and language placements in freshman year often have a good deal of movement.

My favorite thing about Loomis (and my daughter’s, too) are the people. The students and the faculty are largely exceptional humans - intelligent, kind, open-minded, and talented. I never would have imagined she would work so hard in high school and still be so happy at the same time and that’s because of the people she’s learning amongst.

If you have any specific questions about certain sports, classes or anything I’m happy to answer. Good luck!

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Is there a way for someone who is interested in math to be accelerated at a faster level?

yeah. you can reach out to the math dept and they also have placement tests at the start of school year. I know friends who started in CL Calc BC 9th grade.

Absolutely. My daughter is taking CL Calc BC and CL Stats as a Junior but there are many kids in her grade at a higher level. They always say the sky is the limit as far as math goes. And there are courses offered through the summer program to help you accelerate if you need certain credits.

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Hi! Congratulations to your DD. While I did not have a similar choice (for me it was more Peddie v. Loomis), I wasn’t able to visit the campus, so I took several more objective things into consideration when I looked into the schools. For me, I think the location and campus mattered a lot. I wanted somewhere that I could easily access a train, etc. while still having a sense of its own campus. I wanted a larger school and a focus on humanities. Disclaimer I am not saying Peddie does not have any of these things. They definitely do, but at the time the writing studio and history department made it very nice for me to envision myself here doing research etc. I also talked to the art dept teachers at LC and they helped me kind of tip the edge. For me I think that the history research paper and the general “less sporty” vibe I got from LC were better. I also did not do sports so I think that’s a big part. For me Peddie seemed much more culty in their peddie blair tradition and 8th grade me decided that wasn’t something I wanted. I also looked for an all gender housing option which Loomis had started my freshman year.

I definitely think this and i will repeat it again to whoever but Loomis is what you make of it. I came in and knew I wanted to take a certain path(pre law/psych) but I ended up doing something super different (right now I am thinking about english/history/econ). However I had a lot less ways to get involved due to being online and I think that taught me what I wanted to get involved with, what I didn’t, etc. You can do no clubs your freshman year or be active in 20, but it really is up to you at the end of the day. I think for me I knew I wanted to take harder classes and I accepted the work that came with so it def helped my mindset in terms of what to do.

my fav thing about loomis… I think the funding here is really good. I’m on aid and they give free books, fridges, etc. for you if you are on FA and generally if you want a project there’s always someone or something to back it. I have run events and initiatives before and every time I felt super supported by the lc community. least fav thing currently is probably more of a letdown than like… a complaint but I am a writer and it does feel like there’s not much room to actually do creative writing or expand on it within classes.

TBH sometimes I do wonder what would’ve been my life if I chose peddie but ultimately I don’t regret it? I have met a lot of interesting people (again, you can meet them everywhere), but I think LC was able to shape me in a way my old school was not able to, and it’s a space I truly value and would call my home. I heavily suggest going to revisiting days and just walking around campus to see if you like the school or not. But ultimately, I am just a silly user on this website anyways so who knows? Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

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Current sophomore at Loomis here, chose between LC and Taft as well. I think @foxrye covered most bases really well, but I’ll chime in with my own two cents.

In terms of academics, things will only be as difficult as you make them for yourself. It depends on the workload, the time management, after-school commitments, etc. I doubt you would find many differences between Taft and Loomis in terms of academics, though.

I like it here a lot. In retrospect, I find it hard to even pinpoint what exactly made me choose Loomis, but I think the revisit days played a pretty huge part in the decision for me. As for the favorite and least favorite things… I thought about this for a while. I think, for me, the people here are the best and worst part - maybe the fact alone that these are the only things I can think of means something, I’m not sure. I would choose Loomis again if I had the chance to, although I think your daughter will not go wrong with choosing either. In the end, it is a deeply personal decision to make.

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