chukkerhead

Episcopal's dorms are really nice and the laundry rooms are spotless. Probably the nicest I saw this fall.
Choate didn't show us their dorms, which was the only school that didn't.
I have stayed at voarding shills for camps though and some of the beds were really awful, like foam mattress-like things for camping on top of a wooden board. Do people ever bring their own mattresses? Four years of that sounds pretty harsh.

chukkerhead

Boarding schools, I meant. This keyboard stinks.

PelicanDad

Yes, kids bring mattress toppers, anyway.

muffett

My daughter and I toured Episcopal's dorms (separately) and we thought they were pretty nice. Although they do not show the bathrooms, I did ask to see them (it must be the mom in me lol) ...I just wanted a peek to see how big/small they were. They were pretty clean too.

preppossibly

I LOVED lawrencevilles houses.... They were really nice

lynnie14

As much as I love Choate, I must say that the girls freshman dorms are quite small and stuffy, (or maybe it was just the room I saw). Also, I visited at the beginning of the school year, so i'm guessing that the girls simply didn't have a chance to decorate yet. However, I do enjoy how there were signs saying 'no cowboys allowed beyond this point' (cowboys refering to boys) My mom definetly got a kick out of that one! I also saw Taft dorms which were very nice, and the girls definitely decorated them accordingly. They were also very spacious for a dorm room!

chukkerhead

I wonder if Choate's sophomore girls' dorms are better than "small and stuffy." That sounds depressing.

For any riders out there, Stoneleigh-Burnham has beautiful dorms (clean, nice, newish renovations); Grier has kind of oldish dorms with very vertical stairs and the rooms get very hot and stuffy-plus the beds are VERY thin, Ethel Walker needs a redo BADLY, and finally Garrison Forest's are huge with giant closets and overhead storage.

LiveForMusic

Does anyone know about Peddie dorms? They don't seem to be mentioned here..
Thank you

SevenDad

I think the new dorms at Choate are for the sophomores (or juniors?). Very nice, new facilities.

98beebee

I went on the Andover tour, and saw a boy's dorm (?) They were pretty big. Exeter's were the same size, but seemed a little older. However, Exeter's dorms just felt more close and house-like. Lawrenceville house dorms were AMAZING. I didn't like the actual Hotchkiss dorms because they were pretty small, BUT the places to hang out and do hw in the dorm building were so pretty, comfy, and warm. But it really depends on the dorms that I toured, and the dorm you get at boarding school.

SevenDad

@chukkerhead: I think most schools would NOT let you bring in mattresses from the outside...for liability reasons. In the odd case that someone brought in a bed-bug infested mattress or perhaps a fire hazard.

I know that in my daughter's school handbook they are very clear that you must use the school-issue furniture. No swapping of a desk chair, etc. Again, I assume this is for liability reasons...what if a student brings in their own rolling desk chair and is standing on it to get something off a top closet shelf and it moves and they break their ankle on the fall?

Alas, I fear my daughter does most of her non-study hall work sitting in bed crouched over her laptop. Not very ergonomic.

dodgersmom

This problem is easily solved by raising the bed to loft height. My son used to do his homework the same way . . . but the perceived risk of dropping his beloved laptop to the concrete floor below ended the "slouched in bed" study sessions. The laptop now stays safely on the desk below.

Yes, the child might fall and break . . . but the laptop will be safe.

choosingwisely

On the East coast, we liked most (not all) of the dorms at Groton, Deerfield and St. Georges. We visited Cate and Thacher on the West Coast, too. Overall, we liked the Thacher dorms the most. The rooms were nice and the buildings are designed to leverage the warm, southern California weather. Our second choice is probably Deerfield.

If you're comparing campus settings, that's a different question with different answers.

prepster123

lawrenceville has the nicest dorms I've seen (I visited 9 schools)

financialAneed

Groton so far has had the nicest dorms I've seen... Only speaking for the guys dorm though :P