School comparison tool

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1

Hello, I am new here.

We are an overseas family (Asia but not China), set to send our child to enter grade 10 in Fall 2020. But send to where is the next question. Can you point me to a book or resource where I can make comparisons? Or if you have suggestions, our needs are:

  1. New England (within 1 hour drive or Boston Logan or NYC JFK). We prefer closer to Boston than to NYC.
  2. The kid is a city kid, so school needs to be within walking distance to a small town/has regular shuttle to a very nearby town. Cannot be a completely rural disconnected school.
  3. Coed.
  4. Total number of kids between 500-800.
  5. Academic but not cutthroat.
  6. Supportive environment with lots of trust and opportunities to explore interest.

Child is very mature and easygoing. Top 10% in class. On both sports and student leadership teams. Low 90s %ile SSAT.

We visited 3 schools last week and they were all so different! Unfortunately we don’t have time to visit all, so would love some input. I haven’t found an online comparison tool for the basic info I was looking for above.

Thank you so much.

2

Take a look at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry. It meets all your criteria, plus NYC is accessible by train, and the train station is an easy walk from campus.

3

Have you tried boardingschoolreview.com and boardingschools.com?

4

Boston area boarding schools within or @ one hour: PA, Middlesex, St Mark’s, Milton, Concord Academy, Groton (more rural), Lawrence Academy ( more rural), Governor’s Academy, Cushing Academy.
There is also an international school in Boston called CATS Academy. Dorm rooms are nice with private bath.

5

Also, the number of students you list puts many schools out of the running. That’s a big school for a BS. Most/Many schools have a class of 100-150 ( or even smaller). Very few are larger. Once you narrow down the schools, make sure to visit the town when you visit the school. The student is going to be spending a lot of time not only on campus but in the area. So if it’s important for your child to have something make sure it’s there. Also, some schools have a regular shuttle service/bus service, some are walkable and some are not.

6

OP: It would be helpful to know which 3 schools you visited and your likes & dislikes for each school, & which sport or sports your student plays.

7

Here is the ISL school list: https://www.isleague.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?G5genie=45

Most have fewer than 500 upper school students. You don’t say boy or girl: Belmont Hill, St Sebastian’s, and Roxbury Latin are boys only. BB&N, Rivers and Thayer are day only and Nobles is five day boarding. So that leaves:

Brooks
Governor’s
Groton
Lawrence
Middlesex
Milton
St Marks
St George’s
Tabor

All of them are more or less an hour from Boston, all have bus trips to Boston or more local cities and shopping, etc.

You can add
Concord Academy
Phillips Academy, Andover
St Pauls

There are many schools in CT as well, not to mention Western MA, the NH lakes region schools, and several others in Maine and Vermont.

8

Also folks, I’d watch the review sites very carefully. IMHO, niche.com is very far off in terms of ranking. They allow parents and students to rank. There is no accounting for actual stats. I have seen them list schools and I had to lol. Ask someone who knows the school or better yet has kids at both schools. Check the data metrics which matter to YOU.