I would appreciate any personal experiences! I know they’re extremely hard to get in and also competitive, but that’s basically it. Anything special about these schools?
*For Peddie, a comparison with Lawrenceville would also be nice
Thanks!
Groton is small with fairly intense academics.
Deerfield Academy is both academic & athletic. Same for Lawrenceville.
Just some general comments in order to help the thread get more replies.
There is a lot that is special about these schools. Can you maybe tell us what you are looking for in a school? It is hard to know where to start with such an open ended question.
Here is our impressions:
Groton is very small. Rural setting @ an hour from Boston. Campus very pretty and buildings situated in a circle around a center field. Very pretty chapel. The school also offers an 8th grade year. The 8th grade class is super small (like 26 kids total). There has been a big effort over the last decade to make the school more diverse and offer more financial need (GRAIN program). Dorms we saw for 8th & 9th grade were older and wonky - walls didn’t go up to the ceiling and no doors just curtains for the 8th grade rooms. Set up with a center living area. Maybe this has changed - not sure. Newer classroom building was nice. Big rival is St Marks School.
Deerfield - Mid size school @ 650 students, @90 % boarding & fac kids. Rural setting @ a little over an hour north of Hartford and @ 2.-2.5 hours west of Boston (depending how you drive). Rural setting but less than 30 minutes from Amherst area . Excellent academics and athletics. Very traditional vibe at the school. Many traditions. Dress code in Fall/Spring includes wearing a blue blazer to school - even online. Strong in math/CS/engineering/design as well as Humanities. Dance Company and theatre. New athletics center with indoor field, crew tank, and (wait for it)…golf simulator. The campus is located within a historic village. Check out a series on YouTube of campus tours. Rival is Choate.
@one1ofeach I just want a general impression, because I won’t be able to visit them and I’m pretty sure the website is biased. Was thinking about their best classes/opportunities/fields, location, student life, etc. Things you won’t really find on the website and personal accounts with people/the school
You asked about Peddie vs Lawrenceville. I think that while there are plenty of students at Peddie who care about grades and some enough to be competitive, it feels much less “amped up” competitively than L’ville. Peddie, being smaller, has a strong sense of community and prides itself on that. Lawrenceville creates community around its houses in part because it is a significantly bigger school. Lville generally has a cohort of PG athletes who are at a different level than the typical BS athlete. Both, of course, are excellent schools.
I’ll chime in here, to agree with @gardenstategal . My son graduated from Peddie last year and had an excellent experience there. The community feel is, in my opinion, what really sets it apart. I have said this elsewhere, but we chose Peddie mostly for academic reasons. Little did we realize how important the community, mentoring, coaching, peer groups, leadership opportunities etc would be to shaping who he is now, 4+ years later. The academics were really just a small piece. (DS did not apply to Lawrenceville as he perceived it to be too high stress. I don’t know what he, as an 8th grader, based that on. He was leading, so we didn’t push.)
We don’t have any experience with the other schools. Feel free to reach out if you have any Peddie questions.
I went to Groton. Just graduated actually. The teachers are amazing. The friendships you make are unbreakable. The academics will kill you, but everyone’s in it with you. We are a very very small school, so you will know the names of everybody in your class and the names of everyone in the year below you. Also, it’s in the middle of nowhere.
To the OP - do you have additional questions now that you may have had interviews or virtual tours?