Thank you, will look into Milton. Is the town safe? I kept hearing that it’s not the safest?
hi stalecookies. i have no issue if the only thing required is for the kid to login to an app to notify school. but it’d be cumbersome if they need to go to town and they need my permission every time. overnight stays are a different story.
And yes, we prefer a more relaxed environment to a more formal one.
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The Town of Milton is certainly safe. but the town center (such that it is) is not exactly walking distance. Certainly not in comparison to other school mentioned
I just dropped off my kid at Hotchkiss. It is not the school for your family. Very remote and a bit of a dress code.
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I was basing that on your having felt George was isolated. The town is “quaint” in that Bucks County way, but compared to many BS locations, there’s a lot in town that can be accessed on foot, like Starbucks, pizza, chines, bubble tea, ice cream, shops, barber, supermarket, etc. This made me think you were looking for a bigger local destination - more than a “village”. Sorry if I misinterpreted that!
Choate could fit what you are looking for.
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Milton is a small, fairly affluent town that is close to Boston. You can check out Massachusetts's 20 Safest Cities of 2023 | SafeWise and it is ranked at #14 based on low Violent Crime and low Property Crime (Andover is not on there which is odd, but it would be similar imo, impacted more at the edges). For Milton it’s about a mile walk to the MBTA (the transportation system). It’s also about a mile walk to the town center. Just to give you a point of comparison, I’ll use Andover since it’s on your list…Andover has a nice downtown with restaurants and shops (i.e. CVS). It’s about 3/4 of a mile to walk to that area. To get to Boston from Andover you can take the commuter rail which is about 1.2 miles from campus and then an hour or so to the city. Milton is slightly less time as it’s a bit closer (caveat: it obviously depends on where you are trying to get to in the city). And if you want hiking, Milton is near to the Blue Hills Reservation and Andover is near Harold Parker State Park. I see them as similar in many respects honestly. One thought that may help, use google maps and pick some place your child might want to go and then use street view to see what the walk would be like. Coffee shops (i.e. Cafe Nero, Dunkin, Starbucks)? Restaurants? We have walked both though and never felt unsafe fwiw. They are both very nice towns.
Another thing to consider is that different schools will have school provided transportation for things. Milton, as an example, has trips to the local mall or into Boston. It’s not “on demand” but the students seem to take advantage of that as well. Hope that helps!
Thank you for clarifying.
I think you need to add some higher admit places than Concord.
You should look in the Hidden Gems thread. There are so many lesser known schools that check your boxes, plus boxes you didn’t know your kid had!
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Thank you positivevibe! very useful details.
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My Emma Willard DD just hopped on a weekend school shuttle bus to go to Target. School does ask that kids go out in pairs and check out at least.
If you can see the weekend calendars at schools, you might get a fuller picture beyond walkable excursions. I know kids at our school often walked to Starbucks during the day, but had other options on weekends. Our calendar always posted where vans were going - movie theaters, thrift stores, mall, frisbee golf course, etc. The students picked the destinations so it also gave a hint at vibe.
Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, NH checks the boxes. Casual dress, Saturday classes every other weekend, close to town. Wolfeboro is a really cute town and very safe.
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I would encourage you to visit each of what you believe to be the ‘town’ associated with any school you’re seriously considering. I am somewhat or very familiar with a few of the 5 schools you name, and there’s one in particular I wouldn’t consider the town, such as it is, much of a benefit.
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I will Chime in on this for my observations on Williston and Easthampton.
Williston is effective IN the town and the town while having a few small streets is def ‘in bounds’ for students to go buy something they need or go grab a coffee or dinner or lunch etc as they wish.
The town didn’t look like much at drop off bc it was raining and I clearly didn’t want to be walking anywhere but for this past parents day weekend - I had the opportunity to walk around and dine in a few places and it’s perfect for this 14-18 age group
Williston organizes weekend shuttle to the Hadley mall area which has all the main players - target, Walmart, B&N, TJ, Whole Foods etc etc etc and they also organize a shuttle to Northampton which has more quirky. Stores and restaurants
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Loomis walk takes 10 minutes by foot. Pretty loose dress code (same as andover/exeter atp), and we have no sat class. Feel free to dm more if you want info!
As a current student at Concord Academy, I would definitely recommend CA. While Andover and Choate are close to town, CA is literally in the dead middle of Concord. It also has a very relaxed atmosphere for dress code, which I really appreciate especially during finals weeks.
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