Berkshire or Hotchkiss?

JSGNDLH
Fri, 10 Apr 2020 12:39:20 +0000

@sloth317 - I am not aware much about Berkshire, but can share personal perspective about Hotchkiss. My daughter is currently a prep at the school.

When she joined Hotchkiss, the first few weeks were settling-in period for her; especially her time management skills were average and this was her first time living on her own. Slowly she figured it out with help of her advisor, dorm proctors and other seniors in school. After that, she has done extremely well. During last few months, she has been actively involved in several extra-curricular activities (performing arts, sports and clubs), while maintain very good grades. We strongly believe that she is genuinely enjoying her time at the school, and that shows in her confidence.

Regarding academics, here are a few comments. Besides Math and Language (where one is placed at the appropriate level, based on the placement test), the other subjects are English, Physics, Theater and Global Thinking. Although my daughter is more of a STEM person and she is getting excellent education in her areas of interest, but she has really enjoyed exposure to Humanities curriculum, which is one of the key strengths of Hotchkiss. The well-rounded academic experience has been very valuable to her. In particular, she has enjoyed how the humanities classes are conducted and what she learns in those classes. Let me share an example. In ‘Global Thinking’ where they cover religion and philosophy, which provides an enriching perspective about the world (from viewpoint of different philosophers). Here is a typical assignment in this class: “You have read Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Descartes’ Meditation on First Philosophy, and Nozick’s Experience Machine, and we watched most of the Matrix in class. For this assignment, you must address these 2 questions. Your paper should be no more than 600 words. Compare and contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences?

The academic pressure at Hotchkiss would be as much as at any other equally good school. Academics are rigorous, but there is enough support. The faculty is available during the evening and weekend to help out, as and when needed. This has been very useful for our daughter.

In regards to your query about “being happy”….The kids at Hotchkiss are very happy, and it goes back to a couple of comments I have made in other posts about the culture which Mr Bradley is pushing for. I distinctly remember he mentioned during the Revisit Day that he was interested in the Head of School position at the school (four years ago), because in one of his prior visits to the school he felt students were genuinely happy. He has built on that culture, and you can see the impact. Our daughter finds the environment to be non-competitive. The kids care for each other and build strong bonds in classes, in dorms, and on field, and are happy for each other’s success. For example, in an audition, my daughter ‘lost’ a role in a theatre play to another prep. In her middle school, she would have shown element of jealousy and would have been vocal about having lost the role. But to our pleasant surprise, she shared with us that she was happy for her friend and that she will try for the role in next term.

We have seen our daughter blossom during her prep year. She has improved her softer skills (empathy, time management, leadership, team member), besides doing well in academics and getting amazing EC opportunities. We feel we made an excellent decision in having our daughter join Hotchkiss.

Hope this helps! Good luck