Mercersburg, Peddie, St. Andrew's, and Lawrenceville Questions

Prep School Admissions
1

My son has applied to Mercersburg, Peddie, St. Andrew’s, and Lawrenceville. Although he will not know where he is accepted until Wednesday, he wants to have as much information about each school as possible before then. He has been accepted to a local private school and needs to make his decision there by Friday. Can you answer any of the following questions?

  1. My son loves math/science and aspires to be an engineer. Which of these schools have the best STEM programs? Can you provide further information on their STEM programs? My son has looked at all of their websites and thinks all of them look amazing, but he would love to hear from students or parents of students who have attended these schools.

  2. How is the food? All of the schools make the meals look great, but I am sure some are better than others. As a growing teen, my son eats a ton of food.

  3. How are the dorms? Do some of these schools have nicer dorms than others?

  4. At your school, which facilities are the nicest and which ones are in the most need for renovation?

  5. How is the community? Does the school provide enough activities to bring the student body together?

  6. How does each school lean politically? Can a child fit in regardless of his/her political beliefs?

  7. How much diversity is at the school? I’m not only talking about race. I am talking about socioeconomic backgrounds, political beliefs, religion, etc.

  8. Do you have any other comments about your school?

2

I attended Mercersburg in the 90s and my daughter applied this year, I think it would check all of your boxes. We visited a few years ago pre pandemic and I know the robotics team has won international competitions and the facilities are nicer than many colleges. My daughter is excited about the dance program.

2 Likes
3

I will answer your questions as best I can about Mercersburg. My son is in his third year there and has had a great experience. He has turned out to be a STEM kid (did not think that was the direction he would go), although more Chem and Physics and not so much Engineering. I believe the STEM program to be strong based on what he has told me. We really did not compare the STEM aspect to other schools when we were looking in 2017/18.

The community is friendly and welcoming, and is diverse in many ways. Politically, the administration leans left - I’m sure you know that is typical of most boarding schools. My son is center-right, and he says that he has friends and acquaintances on both sides of the aisle. I do NOT get the sense that the school population leans only one way. They host Courageous Conversations, which is intended for open, respectful discussion on difficult (or polarizing) subjects.

Based on interactions I have had with parents at sporting events, parents weekend and etc, I feel there is a fair amount of socioeconomic diversity. The school uses its financial aid to diversify the population and attract families who are not able to afford the tuition. My son says that money is not often discussed among students (generally speaking). I remember him telling me a story from his first year there - one kid was trying to be real flashy and braggy about his wealth. His peers told him flat out to tone it down, as no one cared about his wealth.

The dorms are very nice - out of all the schools we looked at, Mercersburg had the nicest dorms. I remind my son regularly (especially now that we are looking at colleges), that the dorms at M’burg are probably nicer than what he will find at most colleges. The facilities, overall, are amazing. The campus is beautiful, and whenever I am there, I don’t want to leave!

The food, well, eh, could use some improvement. The food service during his first two years was not so good, especially on buffet dinner nights. This year they changed to a different food vendor, and the fall got off to a rocky start. Granted, they had to make food that could be carried away to eat in a socially distanced manner outside or in the dorm, so it was a challenge. But food reviews have not been stellar, and the school does allow students to order delivery from local restaurants in the area.

4 Likes
4

comtnmom and dramakid2 have done a great job describing the Mburg experience. I also have a kid there (who has a science and history bent). Yes, I would concur that the food leaves a lot to be desired, but there was a switch to a new vendor, just in time for the pandemic. At one point we were touring a university and this kid said it didn’t really compare to Mburg - :roll_eyes:. This kid was priority WL at Peddie and didn’t apply to LV, so I will do my best to answer your questions. I also have a kid who just started at SAS who applied to none of the other schools on your list. Since it’s pandemic time, I haven’t had a lot of chances to see things in action, but I will do my best with the slivers I have seen.

  1. All the STEM classes at Mburg seem to be challenging and have good teachers. Fellow students seem bright although i sometimes hear grumblings that some kids are more diligent than others, which I think is the case everywhere but I was able to see this bc of online classes. BTW, Mburg did a GREAT job of pivoting to online classes and over multiple time zones. I’m not sure about engineering, but with the wealth of facilities at MBurg, I’m sure there is some kind of engineering space/lab, or your kid can easily make one or start a club. SAS also seems to have a good science program. It’s a much smaller school, so the relationships are probably more intimate, but teachers have to wear a lot more caps and do a lot more admin work than I think at a place like Mburg, so they are stretched a little thinner. SAS kid seems to like her the one science class she took this year. I also think larger schools can offer more course options. Mburg kid is taking an AP science class in this block and will take Stream Biology next. I didn’t see classes like this in the SAS course book, but then again, I wasn’t looking as far ahead.

  2. The food at SAS is probably better, but I heard complaints there too. To the SAS food vendor’s credit, it seemed to be better than the independent day school that SAS kid previously ate. The food at Mburg was pretty bad when I was there on a non-typical parent visiting weekend (when parents are on campus is when they roll out the good stuff). I was glad Mburg switched up and I hope it goes better once the pandemic is gone. I think there is only so much goodness a chef can make with sysco ingredients.

  3. Mburg kid has lived in two different buildings in his time. They all seemed nice enough and have everything that is needed (including AC). SAS dorms are also nice, but older (so not as roomy and I seem to remember that there was no AC, but can’t remember for sure) and I think built out of stone. The entire grade lives in one dorm (separated by gender), which seems a little too much to me, but kid seems to like enough. This was one thing I wasn’t so thrilled with about peddle in that they have a larger day population, so the atmosphere there was less about the dorms and boarding. At SAS the 10th grade girls have their laundry done by a service bc the laundry room for that dorm was converted to a dorm room. During the pandemic, SAS kids had laundry service at no added cost bc I guess they didn’t want kids congregating around the laundry machines. One big difference at these schools is that at Mburg, the advisors are assigned based on your dorm, so if you move dorms (it’s a lottery system, I think) you switch advisors. At SAS, the advisor is different from the dorm parent. The good is that the advisor knows you well and for all 4 years (unless you switch) at SAS; the bad is that the advisor doesn’t see the kids on an intimate basis bc they don’t see them in the dorms. This was especially the case bc covid limited the free time that advisors could be on campus when they weren’t teaching or officially advising. Another difference about the SAS way is that the advisee cohort is co-ed (it’s only one gender at Mburg bc it’s based on the dorm).

  4. I honestly have to say that from what I can tell, neither of these schools need to renovate anything, although I’m sure something will get renovated anyway. Mburg just opened a new aquatic center and their arts building is amazing (it looks professional level to me). For Mburg, my guess is that some of the dorms probably need to have their infrastructure updated, like AC service, hot water, etc. SAS just opened a renovated science building, although I haven’t seen it up close in a couple of years and it was under construction back then. I’m sure something is always in need of an upgrade regarding infrastructure, but in terms of buildings, I can’t pick out anything specific. I guess one thing that would be nice to see would be an artificial turf field hockey field. Neither of these schools have this, but this is just being nit picky at this point.

  5. Mburg has an admin and staff just to do these kind of community things. If you look on Instagram, you can see all the activities they scheduled to keep the community alive. It must have been hard, so I appreciated their effort. SAS is a smaller school, so I don’t think they had staff or admin who does this kind of thing, but SAS kid just kept in touch informally with friends online during the pandemic and they seem to have a core of traditional activities that keep people engaged during normal times. The community at both schools in general seems to be welcoming and kind. It’s probably easier to find one’s tribe at Mburg, since there are a wider variety, and more, kids there.

  6. Both schools seem to have a variety of views amongst the students. My SAS kid was surprised to find a supporter of our most recent former president in her history class, but everyone seems to live and let live. Mburg probably has a higher number of middle of the road/apolitical/conservative kids than SAS.

  7. I think there is diversity at all these schools. SAS takes it very seriously. With fewer kids, diversity in an area might mean one or two kids, which was true for my kid and for the kid in history class. Mburg takes it seriously too, but it’s a larger school, so it’s going to be more diverse anyway.

  8. Good luck with 3/10; I hope this was helpful. In general, I can also add that the “suburban” feel of Peddie worried me (it seemed more like a local independent day school that happened to have boarding). I reached out to a friend that has a kid at LV, and she said the homework load at LV was crushing and sometimes her kid would just use study hall time to rest and zone out. We went there for a sporting tournament (pre covid) and the feel of the campus did seem like a larger version of SAS.

4 Likes
5

I’m a current Lawrenceville student.

1.) Lville isn’t exactly known for its STEM programs, but they’re certainly getting better and trying to attract more STEM-y students. The crowning jewel of Lawrenceville STEM is definitely Hutchins Scholars, which allows students to go and do research at labs over the summer between their junior and senior year—when I went to apply, they said they had connections with Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton (among others). I’ve had a pretty good experience with teaching in both departments personally, but I do know that a lot of it comes down to how lucky one is with the teacher that they get (however the better teachers are usually reserved for high-level classes, so that won’t be as much of a problem for your son).

2.) The food has improved a lot this year with the introduction of grab-and-go, but overall it was decent most days, with it being really good a few times. If one really doesn’t want what’s in the dining hall, the Bath House Café and eateries on Main Street are always available. The one thing that COVID has sacrificed, unfortunately, is the Make-Your-Own-Noodles/StirFry/FriedRice bar (dubbed as “Wok”), where, if you knew how to do it right, you could make above restaurant quality food for yourself.

3.) I’m a day student, so I can only comment on the freshman dorm (I’m currently a sophomore but we haven’t been allowed inside as of now). The dorm is fine, but when I was in it I do know they were planning for a renovation, so it’ll likely be even nicer by the time your son attends. The few times I was in Girls’ Lower (which was renovated in the summer before I was a freshman), it was very nice. The dorms aren’t dirty—I never saw any insects or anything, and there was not really any dust, however at least in Boys’ Lower the rooms are a bit small. This does get better in the Circle, though.

4.) The nicest facilities are probably GCAD (visual arts center), Pop Hall (language and religion/philosophy dept.), Clark (music center), and the Chapel. The ones in most need for renovation (the dining hall and athletics center) are actually currently under renovation, scheduled to finish late 2021-early 2022 for the dining hall and mid 2023 for the athletics center—all the other buildings are in prime condition.

5.) The school community is definitely very heavily built on the House System, so you’ll have the closest bonds with them (especially as a sophomore or junior). All-School Events are frequent and happen every Saturday night, and attendance is decent—it ranges from dances and karaoke to spikeball tournaments, concerts, and even going up on the ropes course! (usually, the more unique the event, the more people go). If the event isn’t particularly interesting, people will usually just hang out in/around their house or go to a friend’s house.

6.) Lawrenceville is definitely broadly left-leaning, however right-wing students are definitely welcome—most people don’t really talk about politics too often, so you tend to have a mix of political leanings within friend groups.

7.) In terms of socioeconomic backgrounds, about 30% of the student body is on financial aid. Socioeconomic status isn’t very heavily focused on though, most people will broadly know that of a certain few people (the “instantly-recognizable-last-name” type), but other than that it’s not really though of—it doesn’t determine friend groups or anything. In terms of political beliefs, left-leaning students outnumber right leaning students by a decent margin (maybe 70-30)? In terms of religion, there’s associations for every religious group, and religious events are popular among the student body. There is a system known as Explorations that requires all students to attend two religious events per term (although they could be irreligious, like meditation), so that helps students broaden their horizons. Additionally, the Hindu celebrations of Diwali (festival of light, aka fireworks) and Holi (festival of color, where we throw colored powder at each other) are celebrated by the entire student body—I’m not as familiar with the other religious traditions, although I do know that Lessons & Carols (around Christmastime) is pretty popular.

8.) Going here is a bit of an overwhelming experience—even as a day student, I would spend 12+ hours on campus daily. Because of this, you tend to often forget that an outside world exists, so make sure to try and stay connected with it. Also, be prepared to do a lot more work than you’ve ever seen before.

3 Likes
6

I forgot to add that SAS has a vastly different technology/screen time/phone policy than the other schools. It’s been widely discussed here and they are very open about it, so I’m sure you already know.

1 Like
7

Peddie has a cool maker space. L’ville has a much more intense atmosphere than the other 3. (If you had posted the question, “which one is the odd one out?”, L’ville is the one I’d have picked.)

@carpoolingma can give feedback on Peddie.

2 Likes
8

Haven’t visited Peddie, but SAS and Mercersburg have more of a laid back, family atmosphere than Lawrenceville, IMO. Lawrenceville has a more NJ/NYC vibe. Not a criticism, just an observation of the difference.

6 Likes
9

For context, my son recently graduated from Peddie. These answers are pre-covid. I don’t know how things had to change this year for logistical reasons related to the pandemic.

  1. Peddie has a great Maker Space and Robotics team. I can’t tell you more about either since my son didn’t use either of those resources. He is a STEM focused kid though and loved the EXP program (the Summer Experience in Research Science.) The EXP program involves a class for 2 trimesters (I think) Jr year, a summer spent interning in a lab, and then a class for 1 trimester Sr year. Of course there are AP classes and STEM related extracurriculars.
  2. Food - My son wasn’t a big fan. Then again, he is an extremely picky eating so it is hard to have an accurate read. I don’t know if they are still using the same vendor.
  3. My son was a day student the first two years so he got to bypass the Freshman dorms. The dorm he lived in Jr and Sr year was beautiful, air conditioned, and spacious (and new.) I think it was completed in Fall 2016.
  4. I don’t know if anything is in need of renovation. As mentioned previously, some new dorms were completed in Fall 2016. A new indoor track (and basketball courts?) were put in I think in winter 2019/2020 (maybe 2018-2019.) I think the maker space was put in 2016. There may be plans to do some sort of improvement with the music/arts facility (or maybe it has already begun? not sure…)
  5. Community is THE THING at Peddie. They work hard to eliminate any divide between day and boarding students. (Not sure about in covid-times. This may have changed this year for logistics reasons.) The student body comes together weekly through the chapel program (not religious, but held in a chapel hence the name) and also through extracurriculars, sports teams, music, etc etc. Advisor groups also take students from different grade levels and day/boarding. Plus, there are recreational activities and outings planned every weekend that appeal to a variety of interests. The sense of community was really what struck us during revisit day and it did not disappoint throughout the four years.
  6. There was a range of political beliefs among the students. I got the feeling that most of the faculty lean liberal. (But I certainly didn’t ask them, so I could be wrong.)
  7. Peddie is diverse on purpose to shape the community. My son loved that aspect. Not only did he encounter kids from diverse backgrounds (race, socioeconomic, political, religious, geographical) but he formed tight friendships with kids from diverse backgrounds. It was really wonderful. I will say that he actively liked engaging with and having deep discussions with kids of different backgrounds so I don’t know if everyone had the same experience. If a kid was interested in sports or music, my kid was there!
  8. It is hard to give objective answers because individual experiences will vary. We started this journey primarily to meet my son’s academic needs and secondarily so my son could participate in sports and music without having to choose. What he got out of it was so much more.
2 Likes
10

Wow! Thank you for these detailed responses! My son found the feedback very helpful. We are anxious to hear from the schools tomorrow.

4 Likes
11

let us know how it goes! I hope he gets whichever school he likes best!

12

I hope you had some good news on M10, if you would like to DM me I can do my best to answer some of your questions - I am most familiar with Peddie and Lville.

13

Not the OP, but my DS is strongly considering Peddie. He’s a little concerned about the size of the school. Also, he would plan to swim but is not looking to pursue swimming at the collegiate level. Any insights on the intensity of the program and if there is the flexibility to try other things as well?

14

What is the concern regarding the size of the school - too small or too big? Personally I find that range to be a happy medium.

The swim program at Peddie has swimmers of all levels, though non without previous swimming experience. Several will swim in college but many don’t. The kids on the team are very supportive of each other - I think this is true of the schools community in general. The expectation is that you always show up and do your best but isn’t that true of all teams?

1 Like
15

Peddie is known for its swimming and robotics, stem if you will. They have varsity swimming throughout the yr. They also constructed the ‘peddie aquatic center’ on campus, offering swim school, etc., proving how big they are on swimming. You can check it out here. https://www.teamunify.com/team/njpaa/page/home

16

^Peddie has a great swimming program. The list above is a where Peddie swimmers went to college. They did not necessarily swim at those schools.

17

Mercersburg has a strong swimming program that runs all year. Last year they opened a new aquatic center that made the old one look like peanuts!

Swimming on a competitive level is a year round commitment. Every school I know of - public and private- with a serious swim team, offers swimming every term.

1 Like
18

That pool is the real deal. A swimmers dream! Of course it doesn’t matter so much during the school year when competition is short course, but it’s beautiful.

1 Like
19

I agree with @gardenstategal that this is not a good representation of the “intensity” of the program.

The data is for the club team, which will include several but not all of the varsity swimmers.

Also, teams can successfully support a very serious athlete and still have a place for a more casual one.

20

I’m sorry I didn’t clarify it was for club members. I’ll delete it rn