Dorm no more!
Really looking forward to the Inn reopening, though the title of My Favorite Bar In Town is now squarely with Elm Square Oyster Co.
I’d understand if you said La Fina and/or Privé, but the prices there are ludicrous and the service can be giggle worthy.
We loved the Andover Inn, and were super bummed when it closed.
I love our old-timey Mercersburg Inn right next to campus at Mercersburg too.
But my favorite Inn that had me giving a tiny vote to a school would have to be: Groton Inn. I LOVED that place so very much that I literally booked a room for revisit weekend after applying “just in case.” (Joke was on me though because this was 2020 and revisits never happened.)
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My fave Inn overall would probably be the Inn on the Bandstand in Exeter (they have a dog-friendly 2BR suite that’s perfect for BS exploration), and the adjacent Otis restaurant. It definitely gave points to PEA lol.
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Hopefully the food will be better this time around. It’s been mediocre for years now (although the setting is nice).
Hotchkiss student pens editorial reply. If link does not open, I’m hoping someone with a subscription will post it. Thanks.
In case helpful for others:
To the Editor:
Re “There’s Still One Big Trick for Getting Into an Elite College,” by Sophie Callcott (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 2):
I’m a student at the Hotchkiss School, and I found the claims made in the article about the “nationally ranked overachiever factories” contradictory to my personal experience.
As a scholarship student at Hotchkiss who previously attended New Haven public schools, I came into freshman year with my only knowledge of elite prep schools coming from social media and Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel “Prep.” I expected hypercompetitive peers and intimidating teachers. That’s not the case.
My classes are challenging, and my teachers have high expectations of effort and participation, but the atmosphere is supportive and kind. I’m a junior, and so far no teacher has talked to me about where I should go to college, and I’ve been dragged into zero meetings with a college counselor.
Ms. Callcott isn’t wrong in saying that spots at top universities are sought after and competed for. Students at Hotchkiss are ambitious, and they pursue prestige. However, my school is a place where education is coveted and valued, where the goal is to foster well-rounded, thoughtful, good people. It’s not a factory that disregards the mental and emotional health of students in the pursuit of Ivy League admissions.
Rebekah Oppenheimer
Rennes, France
The writer is spending the school year studying abroad.
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It thought I would throw this out there (I’m guessing it’s been brought up on other threads in the past). I’m finding that reviewing “Glassdoor” reviews of some of the schools on our list is really insightful. I know Glassdoor is typically most utilized by unhappy employees, but it’s very interesting to hear why some of the faculty are unhappy at certain schools/why they left. Taking it all with a grain of salt, but does provide another perspective that you might not find elsewhere!
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Just looked up my kiddo’s school. Mostly glowing reviews.
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Should have been Exeter vs Choate for the NEPSAC title but Exeter cheated this season and the school was ruled ineligible for post season play.
How did Exeter go from winning 2 games last season to becoming a New England football power this season? They exceeded the limit of permissible post graduates per NEPSAC rules and regulations.
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Wick has specialized in “reclassified” junior year transfers to avoid that issue since they don’t offer a PG year.
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Wow…yet another way to “game” the system. So, for all intents and purposes…Brunswick probably has the same number of “PGs” as Choate
That’s a raw deal for those non-PG kids who have worked hard and then lose out to the
semi-pros who come in.
Next thing you know, prep schools are going to be
in NIL deals with these PGs. Wonder why
trying to big-time this small space of prep school football
is important, in terms of there being some kind of big payoff in profit or status?
I suspected that football is one of the sports where coaches see that a year of getting bigger and stronger helps. So PG really can make a difference for some athletes.
Most prep schools are NOT feeders for top football programs, but they don’t do terribly in placing students in selective schools that have football. So I am guessing (and really, only guessing!) that PG football players attractive on a number of fronts.
And I am also guessing that leagues are also interested in limiting how many of these “semi-pro” players are on each team for many reasons -’ including the safety of younger smaller players.
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st. paul’s?
I know it isn’t a prep school, but I still thought it was eye-opening. After some deeper searching, I even found that one of the staff members recently worked at the Storm King School in NY. Schools like these still exist, and should be stopped immediately. Their basically child labor camps. One important thing, however, is to differentiate schools like this, and regular Boarding Schools which are usually the complete opposite.
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“…there is a similar familiarity to kids’ conversations about their parents…and I hear a similar refrain all the time: “Something happened to my parents.” Sometimes (especially at elite schools) they share stories about parents obsessed with their kids’ education.”
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