Mercersburg Academy - Questions

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Having toured two other Mid Atlantic schools (SAS and EHS), DD toured and interviewed at Mercersburg during recent Open House. Aside from stunning campus and facilities, dancers be aware - they offer an excellent dance program; two studios w/Marley floor, wide range of classes, dance service trips, three performances/yr., and a dedicated dance director who is enthusiastic and professional. Big check. Tour guide was very personable, did not mumble - enunciated well, and walked at a comfortable pace. Check. Although the dress code compared to other schools was more casual, students were friendly and looked up or said hi when we crossed paths. Check. Academics offerings seem rigorous and MAPS program is intriguing. Our first impression was favorable and bottom line is DD liked the school and indicated she will apply. But - although only 1.5 hour drive from BWI, it seemed longer. I guess I am spoiled with the easy access to DS's school (EHS) which is 10 minutes from Reagan National. We live in the country in New England and we know remote. MB made our community feel like a metropolis. We drove down Main Street and up and down some side streets and grimaced. I'm used to DS talking about weekend trips to Gtown, DC museums, etc. and I wondered what do students do on weekends if they want to leave MB's campus? I've scoured CC threads and read about how the remoteness of the campus intensifies the sense of community. As a freshman or sophomore the remoteness may be a non-issue. But what about junior or senior year? </p>

<p>Would a MB's student or parent speak to the remoteness of the campus and how it has impacted you/your child? </p>

<p>Where do you go if you just want a break from campus for an hour? Is there a local pizza shop that kids can walk to? </p>

<p>Also how much does it cost to shuttle to BWI and what is your experience with MB coordinating transportation to/from BWI?</p>

<p>Lastly, despite the remoteness, what do you like or not like about MB?</p>

2

<p>Hey, current first-year MB student here.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t say Mburg’s isolation is too big of a deal, as the week is pretty busy, so there isn’t much time to get off campus anyways. For the weekends, one could just stay on campus and watch/play in sports games, hang out in the student center, or do homework and fill his or her time. </p>

<p>To get off campus, though, there are usually several student activities planned. So far, there has been day trip to Gtown, a day trip to DC, and several trips to nearby Hagerstown for movies or shopping at the outlet. If your daughter just wants to leave campus, she can walk into town basically anytime that she doesn’t have a required appointment (class, sports, meetings) as long as it’s before 8 pm. There isn’t much in town, but there’s a McDonald’s, a dollar general, a pizza place, a tavern, a burger place, and some other general stores.</p>

<p>As for shuttling, I can’t say much because I haven’t had the chance to use it, but it seems good so far. Mburg has several shuttles to airports/Amtrak stations that leave an hour after breaks officially end (12 pm 11/20 for Thanksgiving break) and shuttles back at around 5pm on the end date (12/1). For my shuttle to BWI, I just filled out a online form with my flight itinerary and they reserved a spot for me.</p>

<p>For your final question: in regards to the remoteness, I like that the campus is still active on the weekends, with lots of community involvement in activities or sports. I can always find people willing to hang out whenever.
On the flip side, I do kind of wish that the town was a bit bigger, but there’s nothing really lacking that I absolutely need.</p>

<p>Good luck on your search, and I’d be happy to answer anymore Mburg questions.</p>

3

<p>Well, I am a current student at Saint James, a rival school of Mercersburg. I was just at Mercersburg this past Saturday for a volleyball game. Even though I’m not a student there, my dad was, and the campus is very familiar to me. Mercersburg is remote. My school, Saint James, is about 5 minutes away from the outlets, so it would be a 30/40 minute drive to get there. The town itself has a few gems, the Irish Pub on Main Street has good food. Also, Whitetail Ski Resort is just a short drive away, 15 minutes at most. As a current boarding student, I can tell you there is never really a time that I’ve ever been honestly bored. I’m either hanging out with friends, going on a weekend trip, or doing homework. Any downtime is great. And when I was at MBurg last Saturday, I noticed that there were a lot of people there, and around the athletic center in general. The campus is amazing, it beats mine by a lot. With a campus that size with that many perks, there wont be any downtime. </p>

4

<p>We honestly didn’t consider “remoteness” in the equation, although distance and difficulty of travel were very important factors. We are in Pennsylvania and Mercersburg is still far from us, probably farther than some Connecticut schools. But it’s an easy drive; we don’t have to worry about going through or around NYC.
My son is new there, and he has certainly been busy enough. I know they do offer a lot of excursions (including DC), but there is also plenty to do on campus. We are about to test the bus service for the first time, albeit not to BWI. It is way overpriced, as I gather is typical for boarding schools; it does seem very well organized. I’m typing on my phone, so have been verbose enough, but my bottom line is that Mercersburg is a school worth going out of the way for. And yes, it is OK to end a sentence with a preposition! :-)</p>