<p>Hi, I am looking at a bunch of schools for late application, and I was wondering what everyone's opinion is about Pomfret. </p>
<p>1) Do you think they have good College Matriculation?</p>
<p>2) What are their average SSAT scores?</p>
<p>3) What is the social atmosphere like? </p>
<p>Any opinion about the school is appreciated whether its good or bad.</p>
<p>I visited a friend there once, and the school does have an excellent social atmosphere.</p>
<p>According to BoardingSchoolReview, the acceptance rate is 52%, but that varies, and the website is outdated.</p>
<p>The only thing that I don't like about Pomfret so far is that its small and its also really rural</p>
<p>Pomfret is a fine school, with handsome red brick, neo-georgian buildings, excellent facilities and the most beautiful neo-gothic chapel I have ever seen in a school!</p>
<p>Headmaster, Brad Hastings, is top notch too. The school has all the requisite offerings but, unlike some of the "top" schools, is not trying to be a junior college. That refreshing philosophy of actually being a high school for high school-age teens can be credited to Mr. Hastings.</p>
<p>I just got the brochure or whatever you call it yesterday. The campus really impresses me, but so did Hotchkiss's when I visited it, and Hotchkiss felt too pressured.</p>
<p>Well in terms of acceptance rates, Pomfret is way out of Hotchkiss's league. Pomfret would probably be a good safety school if you are planning on applying to schools in the same caliber as Hotchkiss. </p>
<p>Hotchkiss definitely has a more rigid atmosphere than Pomfret. Pomfret is more warm and friendly, in my opinion. It really depends on what qualities you're looking for in a school.</p>
<p>What other schools are like Pomfret?</p>
<p>Academically? Or socially?</p>
<p>Both academically and socially if there is any school/s like it.</p>
<p>I know someone whose child goes there now, and they are very happy with the program. If you do a search of Pomfret, you will find a few discussions. There used to be a parent who posted here, perhaps his sign-on was "bignfer" or something similar. He has a daughter there. If you search for Pomfret, you should find his posts. There is something to be said for warm and friendly, especially when you are looking for a home away from home at a young age.</p>
<p>If you want warm and friendly with great academics, athletics, arts offerings and college matriculation, take a look at Blair Academy. I saw in your other post that you are from Greenwich. Blair is not that far away (maybe 80 miles), and there are some students from your area.</p>
<p>I think Berkshire, in Massachusetts, is a lot like Pomfret socially and academically. </p>
<p>I loved this school; it had a really amiable atmosphere. It's absolutely gorgeous as well, encompassed by a mountain.</p>
<p>Is Choate friendly, or is pressured like all those other schools?</p>
<p>When I visited Choate, I thought the student body as a whole was VERY friendly. It's an excellent school, but it's not as pressured as, say, Hotchkiss. It is in that caliber academically, but it is a much more relaxed school.</p>
<p>Oh, I heard from someone it was very pressured too. Is Hotchkiss the most pressured school out of them all or are there others that stressful?</p>
<p>I think the parent posting about Pomfret had the screen name "biffgnar."</p>
<p>Arguably, Hotchkiss is one of the most stressful prep schools nationally.</p>
<p>However, I'm sure many of the top tier schools are quite stressful, but not in a negative way, in some cases. For example, most students at schools like Exeter and SPS push themselves to achieve goals like getting into top colleges. This is clearly conveyed in the college matriculation lists for those very schools.</p>
<p>Obviously, the types of atmospheres of these top schools range from very rigid to very friendly. Although most students at Choate get into very good colleges, but it has a warm atmosphere. Essentially, amounts of pressure vary from school to school, but it doesn't necessarily result from the school's academic quality.</p>
<p>We have a friend going to Pomfret next year that is thrilled with the school. She said it had a really warm feeling. We never visited.</p>
<p>We did visit Choate and know several people who went there or their kids went there. The kids did seem very friendly, but we were told that it was a high pressure school and that you needed to be very confident to fit in. One parent felt that it hurt his daughter's chance of getting in to some top schools that she was interested in. (Not sure how to say this so it is politically correct.) Of all the schools that we visited, this one seemed to have an excess of kids with a lot of money. In spite of all this, my son still liked the school.</p>