<p>I think you nailed it...or at least it matches up neatly with my observations and even more so with my son's.</p>
<p>The 9th grade dorms at Groton are basically an old-style dorm -- with many beds in one great room -- except that there are "cubicles" (with walls separating the units into 2-student segments...but the walls don't go all the way up to the ceiling). It's easy to hear everyone...which has its obvious drawbacks, but I suppose it could promote a "safer" boarding experience, too. Compared to other schools, though, it's downright freaky. I regarded it as a throwback to different times -- though these buildings were built long after those days ended. </p>
<p>I think there were 8 students to a section. So there'd be two "doubles" on one side of the "hall" and two on the other. But it's really just a large room. As you enter one of these "doubles" you enter in the center. There are two desks facing each other. The desks have hutches on top so they further separate the "double" into two discreet halves. The beds are on opposite sides of the double. Repeat 3 more times and you've got the layout for the entire floor of 8. A flip of the light switch and everyone's lights are out. (Though our guide noted that there's a small light on each desk that students can study by later on without disturbing everyone else.)</p>
<p>What struck us as being most odd at Groton was how there were several students openly snickering at us. Now I'm a big man, played lacrosse for a major university and have never been one to be snickered at...but I did check my fly to see if it was open! It was just...odd. (Yes, my fly was zipped.)</p>
<p>My son and I compared notes and he noticed the same thing. And he said he even looked at his reflection in a window to see if his tie was on backwards or something weird like that. We never did figure it out.</p>
<p>But worse than that...as I was meeting with an admissions officer my son was supposed to meet with a faculty member. The faculty member asked him to sit outside the faculty member's office for a minute. And then the faculty member totally blew off my son...and was actually rude to him. My son never did have that meeting. When I got out of the interview I immediately saw that something was wrong with my son. He wouldn't talk about it until we got into the car...</p>
<p>These sorts of experiences are personal and shouldn't be grossly generalized into something like "Groton faculty members and student treat students - or prospective students - rudely." Still, for us, we can't ignore those kinds of firsthand impressions. And we needed to narrow the choices.</p>
<p>But it's always interesting -- precisely because I know my experiences can't be extrapolated into a universal truth -- when someone else, a total stranger, echoes the same experiences/impressions that I've formed with not one, but two schools.</p>
<p>What's really more important is hearing views on schools that my son is still seriously considering (and, at this point, has applied to). Obviously, for him, I'm not talking about Groton here. But the perspective on St. Paul's is very useful to compare and contrast. If he's accepted, it's valuable information to consider. You've added a couple points I hadn't considered...and I think your perspective is useful to me because it's so foursquare with all my other impressions of both Groton and St. Paul's.</p>