<p>I’m currently a junior looking for boarding schools. I was looking at Suffield Academy, Westminster School, Berkshire School, Lawrenceville School, Blair Academy and Brewster Academy. Can anybody tell me anything about these schools? Like how important are athletics (I play tennis), how are the arts (I dance ballet and love to act), and the dorms and social life at these schools. I’m applying as a repeat 11th grader. Any information you have would help a lot!!</p>
<p>Out of those I think that Lawrenceville would have the best arts program. I am very into the arts as well, and that was a big factor for me when I was looking at schools (I’m now at Northfield Mount Hermon- which, by the way, has one of the best arts programs out of boarding schools). Berkshire has practically no arts or arts facilities at all, and and i was extremely disappointed with them, as I had really liked the community sense there.</p>
<p>Have a look here it compares them all for you!</p>
<p>[Berkshire</a> School vs Suffield Academy vs Westminster School v…](<a href=“http://boarding-schools.findthebest.com/compare/113804-115525-115583-118967-132734-142312/Berkshire-School-vs-Suffield-Academy-vs-Westminster-School-vs-Brewster-Academy-vs-The-Lawrenceville-School-vs-Blair-Academy]Berkshire”>http://boarding-schools.findthebest.com/compare/113804-115525-115583-118967-132734-142312/Berkshire-School-vs-Suffield-Academy-vs-Westminster-School-vs-Brewster-Academy-vs-The-Lawrenceville-School-vs-Blair-Academy)</p>
<p>Thank you for the information! Anybody else wanna add anything?</p>
<p>Boarding schools tend to have very different “personalities” based on my experience. If you can visit each school, then do so before committing.</p>
<p>Not sure that the comparison chart noted above is entirely correct as I believe that some of these schools admit PGs (post graduates). If I am correct, then I think that the “highest grade” category is misleading since it doesn’t let prospectives applicants know whether or not PGs are enrolled.</p>
<p>Find the Best’s website has VERY out-of-date and in some cases COMPLETELY INCORRECT school statistics, which I discovered quite easily by searching for a few schools with whose statistics I’m very familiar. And where the statistics are wrong, they’re in areas that students tend to focus on, like acceptance rates, tuition, SSAT %iles. So, caveat emptor.</p>
<p>[Find</a> Schools | BoardingSchoolReview.com](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/researchschools.php]Find”>Find Boarding Schools) has SOMEWHAT more up-to-date school statistics. They don’t have the side-by-side comparisons, but for many schools, they do have well thought-out reviews based on a standard question set.</p>
<p>And there are always the school websites themselves. You’ll find the most up-to-date (if slanted toward the school itself) information on any school’s individual website, compared to review sites.</p>
<p>Great info. girlgeekmom. I do, however, like some of the features on the Best website.</p>
<p>I agree, Axelrod, that the ability to compare schools is nice. And some of the information, while out of date, is at least “relative” – for example, if tuition is based on several years ago at one school, it’s likely to be similarly out of date at another school. But test scores and admit rates can change quite a bit over the course of several years, so I wouldn’t pin my hopes or considerations on these stats. Likewise the listing of clubs and ECs, and especially AP courses. As anyone who’s read enough of this forum knows, many of the most competitive schools don’t have AP classes, or don’t have them in every AP subject, but nonetheless their students routinely take, and excel in, AP exams.</p>
<p>My biggest concern is, once again, the lack of info. as to whether or not PGs attend these boarding schools. Maybe it’s there & I missed it.</p>
<p>Schools each handle PGs quite differently, and thus probably do not publish “quick stats” about PGs – which is where most of the review sites get their info. And since the majority of seekers are not looking for PG year, such info could easily fly under the review sites’ radar.</p>
<p>So the best way to find out about PG acceptance and experience at any school is still directly from the school. Start with the website, then move on, if needed, to a call to Admissions. It’s okay to ask questions even if you don’t end up applying, and it doesn’t harm you to have been on the radar if you do.</p>
<p>I have experience with boarding schools. I’m not at a loss as to where to find this info., just disappointed that it was not included in the Best comparison as it is important to many parents & applicants.</p>
<p>Of course. But others on this forum and thread, including, I’d infer from the original post, the OP, do NOT have experience with boarding schools. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, why is the lack of PG info your “biggest” concern? It seems a fairly specific “want” considering the relatively small percentage of BS applicants who are looking for PG. I am unsurprised that the PG stats would not be listed on a general comparison or review site like FTB or BSR, just as I am unsurprised at the lack of info for homeschoolers, or any other very small subset of the seeking population.</p>
<p>@anna0507, if there is not a SPECIFIC reason you are looking at the schools you listed, consider a search on Boarding School Review and plug in some of the criteria (dance, e.g.). Or, rather than asking about the schools themselves, start a new post about schools that are good for ballet and for theater, or whatever other passion will drive you toward a particular high school experience.</p>
<p>Many parents & applicants are concerned with whether or not a school admits PGs. There are a variety of social, athletic &, to a lesser extent, academic reasons.</p>
<p>Yes, true. But so many of the statistics that parents and applicants are reading on these sites are off that I would caution ANY visitor to FTB or BSR to do further research, EVEN IF something they are looking for in a particular school appears to be missing (anna, are you listening? ;-)).</p>
<p>Returning to the point of the original query, the OP is looking for information about a half-dozen schools to which she (I’ll guess from the name) is interested in applying as a repeat Junior. So, its value to OTHER families notwithstanding, PG stats will NOT be the OP’s greatest concern, nor the focus of <em>this</em> particular conversation.</p>
<p>Actually, the presence or absence of PGs has a significant impact on the social, athletic & , to a lesser extent, academic environment of any boarding school. So, Anna, if it isn’t, it should be a consideration.</p>
<p>Great book, I recently talked about it on another post, it’s a book about all secondary schools. It’s called private secondary schools by Petersons!</p>
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<p>Why are PGs a consideration? My understanding is that they are usually only about 10 - 25 or so (depending on the size of the school) in any year.</p>
<p>I’d be interested to know more about that as well. But perhaps that’s a subject for a new conversation. I’ll start one! In the meantime, let’s let anna have her conversation back ;-)</p>
<p>Haha thank you, @girlgeekmom and @axelrod for your suggestions! I actually wouldn’t mind there being PG’s. But if a certain school doesn’t offer a PG year then I’m not very bothered by it. I think I’m neutral! :)</p>
<p>Probably the best way to generate a thoughtful discussion about PGs at boarding schools would be to ask posters why or why not PGs should be admitted to boarding schools. Obviously, there are pros & cons.</p>