I attend Deerfield so these answers are from the DA lens.
How much homework per day? That depends entirely on what kinds of courses you take and what you are trying to accomplish in terms of course rigor. If you are determined to attend an IVY/ELITE/TOP LAC, then you might take more advanced level courses. Neither school has APs/IBs but they both have many advanced college equivalent course that will challenge you. If you learn how to adapt to a very structured environment and manage your time well, you will be able to complete your academics, co-curriculars (like sports/clubs) and still have time to have a social life at either choice. I don’t think either school has more or less homework.
Take a look at the course catalogs. Course Catalog – Deerfield Academy
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1620055646/choate/juktw9gs6nm17gs85xtr/choate-course-catalogue-21-22-updated-2021-04-20.pdf
*What do you think is one “Strength” of your school. Of course there isn’t just a singular one.*
Deerfield’s sense of community is strong one. This is evidenced by almost all 650 students being FT boarders vs. Choate which has 667 FT, and 202 Day Students. When you live with the same peers day in and day out, the bonds are stronger. All of us have to attend sit down lunches/dinners weekly where we rotate tables of 12 (students/2 teachers) every 2-3 weeks so we get to know the entire school. 2 of us must either be 1st or 2nd waiters regardless of whether you are an upper or lower and we eat and chat with 9th-PGs students. Our school spirit is incredibly strong and unrivaled. During rallies and school meetings, dance performances, orchestra concerts, students cheer one another on like hecklers. During the winter we build an outdoor ice rink for the entire school to use and in fair weather have beach sand volleyball courts right in the middle of the quad. The weekly “feeds” in the dorms are teacher led and can be anything from brownies, pizza, etc, another way to foster community. During all breaks and long weekends, many Deerfield students opt to attend learning field trips to Puerto Rico, the Deep South, and other destinations rather than going home. Deerfield’s dress code for boys are little more conservative than for girls. The majority of Deerfield cohorts thinks Big Green is the best school ever and never want to leave.
Support from teachers and advisors
My teachers and advisors are the best human beings I’ve ever encountered besides my close DA friends. All of them are extremely educated and many have worked in academia teaching college students. Even my college counselor is a Harvard Law school graduate. I’m deeply impressed with the depth and breadth of DA teachers/admin. The key to having a great relationship with the adults at DA is to treat them with respect and value their time. They expect you to be your best version of yourself so if they know you are working very hard both in and out of class you will be recognized. If you miss class, skip class, don’t turn your work in on time or have little or nothing to contribute in class, this will not serve you well. DA uses mostly socratic Harkness student led learning style so you have come to class prepared to advance the coursework. Some classes are Oxford Tutorial style as well. If you are used to getting top marks, you will need an adjustment period because DA has the most rigorous grading system of any boarding school in America. Compared to Choate, DA suffers from grade deflation. Only 7% have GPAs of 93-95 out of 100. While at Choate, 14% have GPAs above 93 and they all the way up to 100+ because it’s based on a 4.30 scale. If your GPA is 90.50-91.75 you are in the 3rd Quintile (40%-60% percentile) and that bums out people until they realize that all top colleges are aware of tough grading. DA competes head to head with every other top boarding school in terms of IVY matriculation at 22% of those that apply. Choate/Exeter/Lawrenceville are 20%, Andover 21%, Hotchkiss 22%, St.Pauls 23%. Matriculation to Elites/Top LACs are all over the place. Whereas Choate/Exeter/Andover place a lot of students at UChicago, DA’s target schools seem to be UVA, Georgetown, Middlebury, Williams.
*Stress experience for students*
Stress experience is a relative thing and different for each person. The big difference between stress levels at boarding schools is that everyone is high achieving to begin with so everyone is focused on similar goals and wants to power through class, homework, sports and co-curriculars. In public school, perhaps only 10% are grinding every day and night. So if you understand the practical necessity of teamwork, collaborating, helping your dorm mates and lowers that ask for help, you will not be thinking so much about your own stress because everyone is on the same team. What I do like about DA is there is a new health center with a highly qualified team of physical and mental health professionals that are there for you 100% if you need someone to talk to or something more organized like a weekly session. If you have a complete melt down you can check yourself in and they will nurse you back up to “full recharge” as well. I’ve know some peers that needed the full service treatment and it worked wonders.
Honesty, picking from DA or Choate or any other top Boarding school is splitting hairs. It’s like the difference of going to Yale, Harvard, Columbia or Brown. All these schools are excellent. You are going to make the best friends for life and have great teachers want to support your school once you are finished.
Yes, Deerfield won!
It really depends - and this goes for most schools. It depends on who you get for your advisor. My kiddo got sauced with the first year advisor, but we switched before second year and its been great. I think this is where Deerfield is weak - not enough support from teachers. What is their problem? They don’t have a commute to worry about. Most of them live on campus in pretty sweet digs, but they still are skimpy or no-shows for office hours? Again, this grading system is really tough - you can go to an earlier post and read all about it. My advice is this: During Revisit, ask Ivory Hills or the Heads of English/History about the 89 Mean. Also, ask about this when you attend the college advising magic show. “How does the grade compression (89-91) impact college acceptances from DA and/or scholarships?” So, I would say that Choate wins on this category.
by seeing girls in mini-skirts and thigh-high boots (that’s what I heard during the year it happened. Since then both girls and boys are equally annoyed by having to wear a collared jacket to class during the Fall and Spring Term (also FORMAL sit downs). It’s not a big deal and people get creative. There is one teacher who loves to DC people, so if you go to Deerfield - I will describe her.
