Hi. My daughter is considering Kent. We were there today and really liked it. If you could spare a few minutes I would love to connect with you. Thanks so much
My kids have loved Suffield Academy all as boarders. Rowing is a new sport there. They have a great Theater department. We had been torn between Suffield and Kent and couldnât be happier with our choice! Good Luck!
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Iâve not been around much of late but reading through this thread makes me wonder why no one has paged @Calliemomofgirls for her take on MB 
Thanks for the page @DroidsLookingFor !
@S_A â Mom of 4 kids and considerer/visitor of over 25 boarding schools over the various admissions cycles. My last two will be graduating from Mercersburg this year. We very seriously considered offers over the years from almost every school mentioned in this thread. 
So happy to answer any questions about that. We are from California so we understand the challenges of sending kids across the country. For completely separate reasons, my two current BS kids ended up at Mercersburg and another (third) kid also ended up transferring to Mercersburg from another boarding school. So for us MB really met my very different kids in specific, different ways. It has been a truly wonderful 5 years being a MB family. There are so many wonderful schools out there and every school has its pros and cons â happy to answer any specific questions about MB, or any other programs we considered. My strong suggestion would be to apply and visit and decide later if itâs a good fit. Truly we found it to be a special place.
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I have two at Mercersburg, we live in the Western US. The travel is not too bad - direct flight to BWI or IAD and then itâs about 90 mins on a school bus to school. My kids have never really complained about it. The drive from BWI is super easy, all highway except the last 20 minutes. They really like the school and weâve been very happy with the collaborative nature of the community - great academics without the unnecessary cutthroat environment found at some schools.
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I agree with Peddie. My son is there and his PGA is Theater Tech and their weather tech program is incredible. So if sheâs into that, Peddie is a great option. Also swimming and crew are great there. But unlike many NEPSAC boarding schools, they have crew as a Fall PGA which will make her have to choose between field hockey and crew. Peddieâs boathouse is used by the National team.
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Or Peddie uses a boathouse used by a lot of other programs, including the national team?
Regardless, good school with a crew program and generally nice community.
A Kent Momâs Perspective
Hello! Iâm a proud Kent mom, and my son is currently a sophomore at this incredible school. I wholeheartedly agree with the other Kent parents who have shared their positive experiencesâKent is truly special. The atmosphere here is warm and welcoming, and the entire communityâstudents, faculty, and staffâare incredibly kind. The teachers genuinely care about the studentsâ success, and the administration is fully invested in their well-being.
My son had a small accident during a sports practice recently, and I was so impressed with how quickly and thoroughly the school responded. From the school doctor to the nurses, the care he received was exceptional, which is especially reassuring when youâre living far away from your child.
He absolutely loves his school and feels incredibly supported by the entire community. The administration is deeply connected to the students and their needs, which makes all the difference.
Regarding concerns about drugs and mental health, these issues are not part of the Kent experience anymore. The school has a strict zero-tolerance policyâthree students were expelled for drug-related issues this fall alone. Drugs and alcohol are not seen as âcoolâ here, and the administration takes a firm stance on maintaining a safe, healthy environment. The recent leadership change at the top has made a huge positive impact, and the school is thriving academically and culturally.
Kent offers a rigorous academic environment that pushes students to reach their full potential. There are always higher-level courses for students who want to challenge themselves, but there is also incredible support for those who need it. Whether itâs academic or emotional support, Kentâs resources are unparalleled. Iâve never seen anything like it elsewhere.
Our daughter is currently in the process of applying for next year, and weâre hopeful sheâll be accepted and have the chance to reunite with her brother at Kent.
The athletics department, which underwent a leadership change two years ago, is now focused on creating top-tier teams. The rowing and ice hockey programs are particularly strong, and the volleyball team continues to grow. The arts programs are also impressive, with a new upgrade underway. The music studio and photography darkroom are top-notch and give students the tools they need to excel creatively. The Dance program is excellent. We have a lot of very famous artists as alumni.
Overall, my sonâs experience at Kent has been incredibly positive. He feels safe, valued, and supported in a way that he never did at his previous school. The school fosters a nurturing environment that inspires students to excelânot by competing against others, but by pushing themselves to do their best. Even the more traditional dress code has had an unexpected benefit: my son, who used to dream of attending class in pajamas, now says that dressing in a more formal way actually helps him focus and work better.
I could keep sharing more great things about Kent, but one of the best things Iâve heard about the school is that itâs a âsilent giant.â Kent has been around for over 100 years and has always been among the best. Then stayed a little bit behind during few decades because of an old headmaster not incline to do any kind of change and the school lived on its reputation⊠but under recent leadership, (the new headmaster is wonderful and knows his job) the school is truly back to life. Kent is an exceptional school, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Finn M.W. Caspersen, Chairman of the Board of the Peddie School and father of four former Ivy League rowers, led the effort to build a boathouse the Caspersen Boathouse on the north shore of Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ. Yes it is used by many schools and the National Team, but I think itâs technically part of the Peddie athletic facilities. But I could be wrong 
Lawerenceville rows out of their as well.
https://www.rowpnra.org/pnra/history/
History of the boathouse. A shared facility built by a for several entities. Cool story!
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Could you please describe the vibe you felt while touring Lâville? Thanks.
Not the person you asked, but we also left Lawrenceville feeling like it was not at all a fit.
What I noticed during our tour is that Lawrenceville has structures in place that seem to separate kids and pit them against each other. For instance, seniors have a separate dining hall that we were not permitted to see during our tour. This is so different from other schools that actively mix different grades during meals. Dorm houses are constantly in competition with each other. Other schools, if they do this at all, limit it to a week of competition. And, every dorm at Lville had plaques with all these different awards for different positions. No other school we toured had that. Every aspect of life at Lville seemed like a competition.
Our tour guide was really full of herself. When I go on tours, I sort of ask myself if I could see my kid being friendly with the tour guide. Our Lville tour guide is the only kid I could not see being friendly with my kid. Our AO was completely uninterested in us. Kidâs interview was about 15 minutes. Parent convo was just, âWhat questions do you have?â I didnât even make my kid bother with a thank you note.
For context, my kid is currently at a Quaker day school. The Quaker ethos is VERY different than what we saw at Lville, and that heavily contributed to the feeling that it wasnât a fit. We are also looking at mid-Atlantic schools in PA/NJ/DE, and it may be that Lville is more like the New England schools.
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So funny! It was ages ago that we toured Lâville and my kid said as we were leaving âEverything at this school is about competingâ, and he didnât see that as good. I, otoh, could have seen myself responding well to that - in fact loving and embracing it-- at that age, so to each his own.
He ended up attending a Quaker BS and having an amazing experience. All about fit!
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This was exactly how we felt!
Hi
I think this is exactly why it is important for families to visit schools and attend revisit days if possible. I do agree that Lville is a very competitive school. The kids compete for most opportunities and positions (more than we realized). It is definitely tough given the amount of top performing kids. Even though the competition is steep, the kids are not cut throat. Actually the opposite, they tend not to discuss their grades, scores or colleges. They respect and support each other to reach their best potential.
We worried about the separation of dorms and dining halls as we liked the idea of mixing grades, but actually it helps make a big school feel intimate. Freshman have their own spaces: dorms, bowl (field for hanging and games) and the upstairs dining hall. Sophomores and juniors live in the same dorms together over two years and sit on the main floor of the dining room. The seniors have their own dorms (unless they are prefects) and dining hall for some meals (think Harry Potter). They eat lunch and meals in the winter, weekends in the main dining hall and whenever they want.
House pride is a big part of the culture and house olympics is a fun tradition. The students mix through sports, classes, clubs, activities, in the dorm and in the dining room. Day students are assigned to dorms and are so apart of life that no one can really tell day and boarding students apart. Like most of the larger schools. it does not have structured meals with assigned tables. There are all school activities and dorm mixers. Students are known and know each other (still understanding this is a school of 820 kids). Our daughter has very close friends across all grades.
On revisit day Abbott (the senior dining Hall- which is also used for other meals and meetings across the student body) is open as are a few dorm rooms, etc. (This is similar with most larger campuses given the amount of facilities, time for the tours, the amount of tours given, and need to not be too disruptive to the day to day happenings). Sadly, a tour guide does leave a lasting impression. We were fortunate enough to have an amazing guide. We do love the school.
It is important to get as much information about any school as fit matters. This is where your child is going to call home for the next several years. Luckily, there are many great schools. Good luck.
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Current Loomis freshman parent here. From out of state (remote CO) - he loves the school, also went for a sport and to get out of his small public school. He does joke that most everyone is from NYC/ CT which has some truth to it , but there are obviously people from all over too. Weekends are quiet but better once heâs in his sports seasons bc there are games every Saturday. It takes all day to get him home but overall he is liking it a lot and it was also his first choice.
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This was such a great thread with useful info! Curious what the OP @S_A ended up doing, now that admission decisions are done. How did the applications go? What were your choices and final decision?
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Hello all,
Long update after what has been an honestly exhausting admissions season for me with challenges I did not anticipate.
In the end my daughter got in to: Kent, Brooks, Williston, and a school we applied to a bit last minute on the referral of a relative, Episcopal High School in Virginia. She was waitlisted at Loomis, Deerfield, and St Andrews, thankfully denied at Choate, and we decided against applying to either Blair or Mburg to keep our sanity(Our list had grown a bit too close to the deadline and it felt like we were scrambling a bit in the end).
The school in Virginia was a quick no for us, we hadnât done enough homework on it, Virginia was really not on my radar travel-wise and I didnât feel comfortable making the decision to accept. In hindsight I should have said no to the referral, because I had to deal with telling them we chose not to accept after they had personally referred us. That was not fun.
Out of our choices, Kent, Williston, Brooks, and Episcopal, we were sold on Kent after revisits. I was ready to sign off and was browsing packing lists. Then an interesting thing happened. Her school, maybe unintentionally, began what I can only describe as a campaign to sell her on staying.
This past month or so she became the focus of her advisor, who also happens to be the assistant head of middle school, her theatre teacher, her swim and hockey coaches, the counselors and random teachers she had a few grades ago. Adults at school were suddenly invested in her decision and on having conversations about why she wanted to leave. She got lots of advice and personal stories from teachers that attended some of these schools or had personal knowledge of them.
She and a couple of other students that may also be leaving got to shadow students at the high school along with next yearâs new students. She met with the high school varsity coaches for Hockey and Swim, and a few teachers were vocal about how they felt she contributes and that she would be missed, which was awkward for her in some instances because she had not told any students she was leaving. She got a Coachâs Leadership award for swimming (their highest honor), and another for Theatre. She learned that her entire friend group was staying and a couple of kids, (one that was a close friend) were returning next school year.
Most of this excitement has died down in the last week since she let it be known that she was staying, though she will get the occasional âGlad youâre stayingâ high five from a counselor in the hallway.
I had not communicated to anyone outside of the teachers that we asked for referrals and the registrar that handles transcripts that she was considering other options. Iâm not sure how word got out all the way to the administration, but it did (I got an interesting email from the head of admissions). Frankly I didnât think they would notice or care. My daughter is a bit of a social butterfly/athlete/leader type and is probably a bit more âknownâ whereas Iâm a true introvert and engage with teachers and administrators only as needed. I had no expectation that we couldnât quietly exit. Iâm glad they care, but I was caught off guard by theâŠintervention? And the the lack of confidentiality. Maybe one waives that when asking for feedback.
In the end my daughter decided she would like to give her current school a chance and apply for boarding school as a sophomore. Her reasons are probably valid even if she didnât arrive at them on her own. She has been at this school for 9 years, a decade next year so I guess that has some pull. I am glad she looked into these things, whether she had help or not but she gave me the following reasons:
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While the schools she was accepted at are great schools, and she can see herself at some of them; her current school has typically had a higher average SAT and ACT score than a lot of them for graduating seniors. (Her school is at par with Loomis, to the letter in that aspect (SAT 1410, ACT 32). We did talk about giving too much credit to test scores, given that those may be driven by class size, demographics and other factors but she did make this argument. Her school does do well academically but they do this with a smaller class size and a much smaller, perhaps even rigid curriculum. This is the one thing I am the least happy with and is my main reason for looking for other options. Other schools offer their students quite a few more options academically and itâs why I started this search in the first place. College placement at the NE schools also seem more impressive regardless of scores.
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While Brooks and Kent both have great Crew programs, she mentioned that it seemed that most of the accolades the teams have are for their boysâ teams. She in club now for Crew and Field Hockey and probably wont do much of that in boarding school and wants the competition and coaching level to be the same or better. I personally think that any decent school in the NE would have better coaching and competition opportunities than what we have now for those sports especially where field hockey is concerned - but I understand her wanting a âwinningâ team if sheâs going to leave home for it. She noted that Loomis and other schools we didnât apply to were far more competitive in field hockey and swim. She would like to research more of those. She plans on dropping the one sport she cannot find a good team for especially if she likes a certain school that doesnât offer it. Iâm fairly certain her current field hockey coach âhelpedâ with this research
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Her school is in the process of revamping their athletic program and is spending tens of millions on new facilities, equipment and coaching. The new facilities are available starting next year and I believe she wants to see what comes out of that.
In the end, this is one of the perks (and sometimes disadvantage) of a smaller school. Your teachers know you, but your teachers KNOW you and can get a bit in your business and maybe help, maybe influence, maybe confuse. In the end I believe everyoneâs heart is in the right place, and I appreciate their insights. I just wish they had provided those EARLIER in the process. Like when we first asked for feedback.
So our goal now.. .and we have started on this already, is to do this again this year; this time focusing on schools that have strong athletic programs not just in general but for girlsâ teams. We are still focused on mid to mid-high range schools academically. We are not interested in the tippy top of academic achievement, nor the pressures that come with that for an athlete. My daughter did get clarity through this process on her ambitions of becoming a college athlete so weâll have that in stronger focus. We didnât talk to many coaches, make compelling athletic submissions or dive deep into the details of the athletic programs this last go round but we will likely need to prioritize that this time especially since we are now very familiar with the other aspects of most of the schools.
So far she knows she wants to reapply to Loomis and wants to add St Paul (NH) to her list this year. We will also apply to Mâburg with an eye on their swim program on recommendation of her swim coach. I want her to reapply to Kent to keep the list attainable (and because I just liked the school). Iâm sure the list will grow by this summer but we will limit our final application to no more than six schools max and will focus on making sure they are an academic and athletic match. Iâm now aware that her current school will also be a contender, not just the safeguard I assumed it was this time.
Phew⊠So thatâs been our journey. Not thrilled that it isnât over, but happy that sheâs happy where she is for now and is more prepared for where she wants to go. Hope we get our targets this year because I honestly cannot, and will not do this againâŠSheâs on her own for college apps, I will spectate. 
Anyway hope this thread has been helpful as others have been to me and that most of you got the schools you were hoping for. Iâll decide later whether to add our 2026/27 application experience here or begin a new thread. Most kids donât have the K-12 setup so this might be a unique outcome, but for those that do, the lesson is donât underestimate your current schoolâs influence/position! (Especially if your child is a âliferâ).
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My daughter was a lifer at a smaller school where she was the shiny penny and loved. The school campaigned hard for her to stay and even followed up after she left. They let us know that the door would always be open to her. I offer these thoughts: Determine what you and your child want from their HS. Make a criteria list and keep going back to it. Does the opportunities presenting themselves meet the goals that your family were looking for. This helped us weigh out options, shut out the noise and focused the reason why. It really helped us weed out options that started to cloud the playing field. There was a reason we decide to look at BS so everything had to line uo with our brief (not to say you cannot evolve or make changes - but consciously). Good luck no latter what I hope she enjoys her HS experience.
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