Are Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville Less Intense Than Andover?

Prep School Admissions
1

My DS is considering these three schools. He likes Andover, but has heard it’s the most intense boarding school. Parents with experience at these schools, would you say it’s accurate that Andover is more “pressure cooker” than Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville? I know all three have large workloads, but Lawrenceville and especially Hotchkiss are known to be more lenient graders than Andover.

Would Hotchkiss or Lawrenceville be more ideal than Andover for a student that wants a challenging, but not overwhelming experience?

2

Here is a link to the Hotchkiss school profile.

The average grade is an A-minus. The workload there is significant but generally not crushing.

There are important differences among Andover, Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville. IMHO, grading standards would not be one of them.

2 Likes
3

Correct, but I mentioned that Hotchkiss is more lenient in grading than Andover, so you just emphasized my point.

4

Given what I’ve heard lately about Andover, Hotchkiss is NOT more lenient…

Here is a link to the Andover school profile:

If you look at how they convert their grading scale, they say nearly 80% of their students have the equivalent of a 4.0 GPA or higher. So, an easier grading situation than at Hotchkiss, if anything.

2 Likes
5

Yes, but that conversion is brand new. Prior to 2022, A 5 was considered a B+/A- Most Andover kids that graduated with a 5.0-5.2 GPA had a 3.4-3.5 on the 4.0 scale.

6

One thing I can say about lawrenceville is there is absolutely no leniency I have seen in grading. In fact I think teachers are discouraged from giving multiple As. Tests and finals are extremely difficult.

2 Likes
7

Are you doing revisit days? They are super helpful in figuring out fit.

I am only familiar with Hotchkiss; I thought there is less hand-holding at Andover, though I have no direct experience.

8

You don’t want grade deflation because you want your kid to go to an Ivy (as evidenced by your many posts on this subject)

Andover has the strongest college matriculation to highly selective schools among BSs (for whatever reasons, and if only marginally). Does this mean Andover will help your kid get into an Ivy? Impossible to say.

Consider less overanalyzing of something that is impossible to predict, and simply let your kid revisit and choose what feels right for them (and not you).

5 Likes
9

Do you or anyone also have Lawrenceville School profile?

10

I do not.

11

Thanks anyway.

12

Lville definitely makes students work for As. It is meant to be hard by design, but not crushing. I agree that Andover has less hand holding. Lville has study skill classes and pass fail classes 1st trimester to help ready students for the challenges to come as well as Built in study halls and multiple weekly opportunities for advisor checkins. These are 3 excellent schools with different feels. Attend revisit days if you can or reach out to as many ppl as you can to get a feel for them.

13

Lawrenceville’s school profile doesn’t list the grading distributions, but they do give them to us students. Here’s the one for my class (2023):

image
image1082×1157 121 KB

I personally do not think any of these schools meaningfully differ in intensity. Even if one has more grade inflation than the other, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “easier”; the amount of work the students do is roughly equivalent.

I graduated in the top decile. My personal opinion is that it’s not too difficult to get an A- if you put in the effort, but As take a significant amount of work, and A+s are a mix of ingenuity and luck (I estimate that around 10% of students in my year received 90% of the A+s). I don’t mind that paradigm; it seems quite reasonable for a school of Lawrenceville’s selectivity.

5 Likes