New Forum: Prep School Admissions

<p>I remember going to Yale as a freshman many years ago. A classmate asked me whether I had gone to prep school. When I replied that I had and named the school, his response was: "That's not a prep school; that's a private day school."
I know that the comment was snotty and negative to me, but I feel that it has some merit. There are public schools, magnet public schools, private day schools and religious day schools, military schools, and prep schools - some good and some not so good. I see them all as somewhat different categories. I see prep schools as Andover, Exeter, Lawrenceville, and others of their ilk.</p>

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There are public schools, magnet public schools, private day schools and religious day schools, military schools, and prep schools - some good and some not so good. I see them all as somewhat different categories.

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<p>Semantics!</p>

<p>Where does that leave Fairfield Prep?? Name calls it prep. No boarding. Catholic all boys.</p>

<p>Actually, I think most 'prep' schools will describe themselves as independent college preparatory schools and further indicate if they are boarding or day or both. And additionally indicate their religious affiliation, if any. </p>

<p>I find it interesting that many schools trace their roots to a episcopal tradition boys boarding school and are now seriously ecumenical welcoming all faiths but still with non-denominational chapel, perhaps coed, perhaps only day school or perhaps boarding and day, and perhaps have added lower and middle schools. Lots of morphing and merging into today's versions!</p>

<p>My son is at one of those schools ... founded as Episcopal tradition boys boarding school in the mid-1920s, now a coed K-12 day school with a multi-ethnic and multi-religious school community.</p>

<p>I would call Fairfield Prep, which I am very familiar with, a private day school or Catholic day school. I would give Georgetown Prep and many other schools with Prep in their name similar treatment. If you go to Fairfield's website, they call themselves "a Jesuit Cathoilic high school." I - personally - would not call it a prep school.</p>

<p>I went to a public school and got into Princeton. Don't be fooled.</p>

<p>I went to Bridgeton Academy in Maine, and loved it.
I'd recommend it highly.</p>

<p>However, I won't send my children there because I'd rather see them attempt to succeed in college and fail than do fairly well in a post HS prep environment, like Bridgeton, then fail at college. </p>

<p>If a student is severely distracted, and needs a major change of scenery, especially in their sophomore or junior year, (I'm thing back to some girls I was chasing back then; yes we all could have used a change of scenery!) then I could strongly recommend a HS prep program such as that provided by Bridgeton Academy. It's a great prep school, but not in the traditional sense.
rb</p>

<p>I went to Andover (just graduated), and I'm going to Yale in the fall. It was the greatest academic experience of my life. You're supposed to have about 25-30 hours of work each week, so it's extremely, extremely time consuming, but you learn so much about how you personally learn, how you personally think, and you MOST DEFINATELY learn how to become a better writer. I"m from Kentucky, and I decided to transfer for my junior year (or upper year at Andover). Hell, it was tough. not gonna lie. Coming from a bad public school and then going to one of the best prepatory educational schools in the nation really challenged me, and my grades went down significantly my first two terms, but you get used to it, and from then on after my upper winter term, i was on the honor roll. I highly, highly recommend Andover to anybody looking at Prep schools...it might change your life.</p>

<p>The enviornment is extremely friendly. IT's not competitive...well, it is competitive, but you don't sense that while you're there. Everyone is willing to help you strive and obtain your highest academic goals.</p>

<p>Your 3x50 formula doesn't do the trick - it overstates the number vastly. New Jersey is actually one of the larger states in terms of population - at 8.6 million, it ranks 10/50; more importantly, the New Jersey population centers cluster around two of the largest metro areas in the nation (NY and Phila), even though those two cities are not in New Jersey. </p>

<p>As to boarding schools that have average SAT scores over 1350: </p>

<p>Concord Academy
Deerfield Academy
Groton School
Hotchkiss School<br>
Lawrenceville School
Middlesex School
Milton Academy
Phillips Academy Andover
Phillips Exeter Academy
St. Paul's School </p>

<p>There are also a number of private day schools that are in the same league, but I don't have a comprehensive list - but I would think that among them are:</p>

<p>Roxbury Latin (Bos)
Buckingham, Browne & Nichols (Bos)
Spence (NY)
Brierley (NY)
Collegiate (NY)
Horace Mann (NY)
St. Anne's (NY)
Episcopal (Phila)
Baldwin (Phila)
National Cathedral (DC)
St Albans (DC)
Sidwell Friends (DC)
Lakeside (Seattle)
Harvard-Westlake (LA)
U Chicago Lab School (Chi)
University HS (SF)</p>

<p>Add to that maybe 10-15 public magnet schools in the 1350+ category, and I think that's it for the entire US - so at the most, there are 45-50 high schools, out of 20,000+ in the US (1/4 of 1%), in that category.</p>

<p>Their is a handful of top non-magnet public schools in the US with SAT averages of 1250-1300, all in the most affluent, best-educated suburbs: Gunn (Palo Alto), Scarsdale (NY), Whitman (Bethesda, Md), Greeley (Chappaqua, NY), and one in Silicon Valley - maybe a few others, but not many)</p>

<p>Keep in mind that 1350+ is a very high average score, not even attained by the very best public universities (the average SATs of incoming freshman at the following top 5 public universities are all in the 1300-1345 range: UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, Virginia, Michigan, and North Carolina)</p>

<p>Good for you -- and going to Yale!</p>

<p>Tell me, does Andover teach grammar and spelling?</p>

<p>koo2010,</p>

<p>What other schools did you apply to? Were you accepted into all of them? Do you have any interview/application pointers? What made you choose Andover?</p>

<p>Hi rskibum - my understanding is that BA offers ONLY a POST GRAD year, is this what you did there/did you attend recently? We are just starting to look at PG's for my son, are you saying that despite enjoying your PG yr (?)... it wasn't helpful to prepare you for college?</p>

<p>I am posing a question.</p>

<p>Is it better to go to a less competitive prep school and excel or go to a top one and not be at the absolute top.</p>

<p>i honestly don't know. just go where you feel like you will get the most out of your next four years. boarding school is about the experience, not the college matriculation. the college matriculation will take care of itself wherever you go.</p>

<p>leanid..........OUCH! please do not proof read my STUFF, I'm from a public uni (UCLA) and that was many years ago. lol</p>

<p>That was actually meant for koo2010</p>

<p>yes I know lol</p>

<p>prepparent, i just wanted to thank you for all your help during the application process!</p>

<p>Boarding schools, college preparatory schools, whatever you want to call them are all very different from each other, and it is dangerous to lump schools in categories based on sweeping generalizations about academics, athletics, SAT scores etc...(I am not saying anyone did that explicitly here).
There are a lot of great preparatory schools, but they all differ, and its critical that you see which one fits a style of schooling with which you are most comfortable. </p>

<p>As for me, I attended the Mercersburg Academy in rural Mercersburg, Pennsylvania for four years, and like the Andover alumnus who posted earlier in this thread, it was surely the most significant and powerful experience I have ever had as a student. I graduated two weeks ago, and come fall I will attend Princeton University. The school has about 450 students now, grades 9-12, and the student population consists overwhelmingly of boarding students. The few day students are 'assigned' to a dorm as well and usually participate in dorm activities. In addition, all seniors are required to reside on campus, so the boarding experience is something every student gets to have. As for academics, the work was very difficult and time consuming. I took mostly honors classes (and AP classes in my later years) and I usually got anywhere between 3-5 hours of homework each day, more usually at the ends of grading periods. Various activities also take up much of your time after class, so the school forces you to find really good ways to get your work done, on top of a mandatory 2 hour study hall for underclassmen. The schools class schedule allows for you to find a way oftentimes. Overall, I made many good friends, students and faculty alike, and as I left campus I was astonished by how empty I felt after breaking away from the tighly-knit community. The social aspect of boarding school is really what made it so memorable. As koo2010 said, everyone will surely push and help you reach your academic goals, and its that atmosphere that makes it so great.</p>

<p>Tokyo- thanks for the report on Mercersburg, and congrats on your graduation!
We looked at Mercersburg for our son, and it is a wonderful place.<br>
The MAPL schools tend to get overlooked on this forum, but I would encourage everyone to look at the schools in this league. They have excellent academics and foster growth in all areas. The schools are in Pennsylvania and NJ, have great facilites and should be considered.</p>

<p>Wow, so I made mistakes...big whoop. lol
I wrote it down in about 5 minutes. You have a good sense of humor! </p>

<p>Of the Ivies, i applied to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Penn, and Brown. I had gotten into all except Harvard. I got rejected also from Northwestern, and waitlisted from Wash U in St. Louis, but I also got Tufts, NYU, etc.</p>

<p>wtidad -
Please add to the "private day schools averaging 1350+" list The Harker School (San Jose, CA).</p>