<p>We have just begun the touring and interview process for my 8th grade daughter and she is very interested in Deerfield. We live within 40 minutes of the school and would not have her board, but have heard the treatment of day students there is less than stellar. Can you comment on the relationship between day and boarding students is at Deerfield? For such an amazing academic school, the reputation of student behavior is horrible. Would love to hear from someone who is there and PLEASE be honest.</p>
<p>Can you be more specific when you say “less than stellar” so that we can answer the question? </p>
<p>The day student at any BS has to make effort to integrate him/herself into the community by participation. Deerfield has no problems with day student integration, in fact many of them love to stay on campus with their friends. Boarding students go to the day students’ homes as well. I don’t think the students think whether one is a day student or not when interacting. The integration of day students at Deerfield is so good that even day students are elected Student Body Presidents for the whole school.</p>
<p>No problem with Deerfield day student/BS student relationship. You would also have the opportunity to attend all of your child’s concerts and games and observe first hand. Deerfield is a great school . The recent bad press is unfortunate as Exeter, Andover, Hotchiss, Choate, Hill etc all have stories of scandals, problems, and bad behavior.</p>
<p>40 minutes seems like a VERY long commute for an intense prep school-- the kids have VERY full schedules. Average weekly homework commitment is 20 hours. An hour and a half spent each day commuting, means half the time equivalent for homework will be spent in a car. It’s doable, but far less than ideal.</p>
<p>D2 is not at Deerfield, but we are 40-45 min from her BS and it became clear that the only viable option was boarding. D1 went to a day school about the same distance away and that worked (although the driving got pretty painful)–but day school activities were done by 5 while boarding school activities can stretch into the evening, plus there are often Saturday events.</p>