<p>We are just beginning the process of looking at boarding schools for our daughter. We are somewhat familiar with many of the really well known schools, but ran across this recent post about NMH. As a newcomer to this forum, I was interested in getting any feedback from others about this school and opinions as to if you agree with the poster or not. Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
<p>From "prepdad":</p>
<p>Ok, we all know that Keylyme is the #1 proponent of NMH on CC. I post this to provide a prospective from an "outsider" and not someone who has a child at the school. My kids went to other boarding schools in NE that are considered "top tier". The only reason I know anything about NMH is that one of my nephews will be attending next year and I have learned about the school through that process.</p>
<p>I predict that Northfield Mount Hermon School will be considered one of the top 10-12 boarding schools within the next fours years and here is why: </p>
<p>1) The consolidation into a single 1,100 acre campus has lowered the student population from 1,100 to 600. In reducing the number of students and focusing the school's resources to a single campus, the school becomes more selective, SSAT & SAT scores go up and college matriculation (already good) more closely mirrors peers in the "top tier". In other words, all the data that perspective parents/students initially consider from Peterson's and BSR, etc., will steadily and rapidly improve to "top tier" levels. This is already happening now. We all know reported data on these sites is generally old news. For the "top" schools, it hardly matters because their stats don't change very much from year to year. For NMH, the updated data will change radically. When this year's data is compiled and updated, NMH's acceptance rate will drop from 51% to somewhere in the high 20s to low 30s and average/median SSAT scores will go from the mid 70s to mid 80s. SAT scores will also rise 100-150 points overall. This is already happening now and will continue improve over the course of the next four years. </p>
<p>2) The NMH "product" is one of the best kept secrets in boarding school education. Next year ('08-'09) will be the second year of the semester "block" scheduling, a wildly successful academic structure that mirrors how most courses are taught in college and provides for three major courses per day with classroom periods of 90 minutes each. This gives teachers/students far more time to completely cover each subject in depth in a single classroom period. The NMH faculty are fantastic, enthusiastic and very professional, but rather than spend a lot of time comparing to other schools, for the sake of this post suffice it to say they are as fine a faculty as you would encounter at other "top tier" schools. The faculty, in combination with a rigorous and very effectively unique (for boarding schools) academic structure will propel the academic "benchmarks" even further than just the net effect of reducing the student body and refining school resources. </p>
<p>3) NMH is distinctly positioned as an alternative to the "traditional" prep school experience. Much like the Andover experience compares and differs from the Exeter, SPS or DA experience, NMH offers top academics with a less formal structure/dress code, etc.,allowing students to make more choices, while providing an excellent student support infrastructure that schools like A/E lack (I have personal experience with both), as well as all the bells and whistles (in many cases even more) than the "top" schools. </p>
<p>4) NMH has one of the most beautiful campuses (much bigger with greater natural resources than A,E,D,H,etc), with top-notch academic facilities, buildings, sports facilities and the newest and by far the best Music & Arts Center in NE. All for the enjoyment of 600 very lucky kids. The constant and continual upgrades to this already well endowed campus will be a driving component of an already constantly rising pool of applicants each year.</p>
<p>5) NMH is in the process of "ramping up" their communications & marketing and will have a much greater presence in the boarding school "marketplace" than ever before. A new Director was recently hired and more resources are being directed to these efforts. The campus consolidation and subsequent academic/enrollment/facility adjustments had to be made and fine tuned first. Now they are all in place and working magnificently.</p>
<p>All in all, It is my opinion that NMH is THE boarding school in NE, who's "position" in the most common boarding school "rankings" will most dramatically change within the next 2-4 years for the reasons stated above. The school is in a great position and the flash point for all this change relates back to the campus consolidation that was implemented in 2005. This was a complicated and well executed strategic plan within the Board of Trustees which was finally adopted (after endless debate I am told) in 2004. The benefits to the school/faculty/students and parents are and will continue to be enormous.</p>