Agree, certainly came across as a warm and friendly guy.
P-Raw (Principal Rawson) was playing SpikeBall with some students the other day! :lol:
Middlesex revisit day:
Other parents were more what I expected from the BS crowd. A lot of what I would classify as the blond concord moms there (and that isnāt meant as a judgement itās just an observation). I think middlesex takes a LOT of kids from concord and that seemed palpable while I was there.
Faculty and staff again, totally welcoming and amazing. These were my favorite coaches of all the schools, super warm super supportive, communicative, excited about my kid, helpful.
Headmistress not as impressive as Grotonās headmaster, or maybe less my style? He just talked to us, she read a prepared speech.
Did not get to see classes with kids but went to a writing seminar āclassā just with parents and loved how they broke down writing. Actually had āaha momentsā in the class.
Bigger school size was apparent in the kid mix compared to groton. More boys who looked like men, more recruited athletes, etc. my daughter saw some kids she knows from various other activities ( basketball camps) and commented that she would not be excited to be in classes with them.
Parents didnāt mix as much or talk as much, or maybe we didnāt mix as much or talk as much? Not sure but, unlike Groton, I didnāt meet any parents that I clicked with right away.
MX head of school is off to St Paulās next year @dogsmama1997
@CaliMex yup but since the new headmaster is still in China sheās all I have to go on!
Do you think that the current head of school at Middlesex read a prepared speech because she is in a bit of an awkward position as she will be leaving in about 14 months to head another school ?
Did she take questions after reading the prepared speech ?
She is leaving in 2.5 months.
@Publisher no I donāt think that was it. She seemed perfectly at ease, I think it was just her style. No she did not take questions (at least I donāt think she did, her speech was on the long side so I could be remembering incorrectly).
To be honest, the headmaster of Groton is just super impressive, I think he would be hard to top.
They addressed the headmaster switch during revisit day. It didnāt seem like a big deal to anyone.
Iāve said this on another thread, and remember, I have no dog in the Groton race:
@Boarding2019
which school do you end up going? can you give more inside on how you felt differently among these 3 schools (Deerfield, Hotchkiss and SPS)? thanks
@AppleTree2024 I chose Hotchkiss. At the time I thought admissions, administration and other students were very warm and actually seemed to care about me, and that has definitely turned out to be the case. I felt some would-be future varsity teammates at Deerfield were cold and a bit entitled, and Deerfield admissions seemed to have an attitude. Walking around, it appeared not all students were really integrating, and since then Iāve heard that some varsity athletes donāt fully respect the arts students.
Hotchkiss and SPS communities seemed far more down to earth to me. SPS has had issues at the Board and administration level, and they hired the former Middlesex head of school to try and stabilize things and move in a more positive direction. The campus was nice, but maybe a little too woodsy for me.
The teaching and classroom experience at Hotchkiss has been amazing. Students are friendly, not competitive, lots of school spirit, and there arenāt dividing lines between students (nationality, ECs). Food has improved based on what uppers say. Administration seems to care, and when they make a mistake is open to dialogue. There is significant support with teachers and at the learning center, and they are easy to approach for extra help. The campus is great, and itās a short In Bounds walk to Lakeville for coffee, pizza, sandwiches. Many fun events and lots of culture, and a large percentage of students support music and black box events . Really happy about my choice.
PM me if you want more info. Good luck!
@AppleTree2024 - feel free to DM us @ more details, but kiddo had similar top 3 choices as a poster above. During Revisit that year, the students at Deerfield and faculty were the most engaging, as well as friendly. Our student was looking for balancing both athletics and performing arts. We saw few ācliquesā and groups compared to other schools - perhaps because of the sit down meals 6 or 7 times per week. I think there is a good balance between the arts and athletics - many students do both. I think that there are some sports where Varsity players hang out together more often - but think you will find this at other schools.
FWIW a parent on CC gave good advice a couple of years ago and I will pass it along again: Do not worry or focus too much on AOās because chances are that you will never see that person again once you start school - unless that AO turns out to be your coach. Less often, a teacher may be an AO. So, you will probably never talk to that person again after the admissions process - maybe during a brief āhelloā at Revisit.
Itās hard because that AO is the first and (sometimes) only adult/staff member you may meet at the school - or communicate with. They are there (in many ways) to sell you on the school, not just serve as a gateway to admissions. Some adults are better than others in communicating with students, or making you feel welcome. However, if you polled people on CC, very few would say that they interact much (if at all) with the AO they met during interviews.
Bump for 2021!
This thread seems like it has pretty valuable information considering that many of us are not able to revisit this year. I was going to start a similar thread to ask about revisit experiences, but found that this one already exists 
I think it is very hard this year-- Zoom exhaustion is a real thing. And it is very hard to get a feel for āvibeā when you are on a computer screen.
That being said - I think the topics covered and the āreal timeā views of classes can speak volumes.
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