Concord Academy VS. Kent School

icy9ff8
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:31:50 +0000

We visited Concord Academy a few years ago and stayed in the town overnight. The town is gorgeous & quietly elegant. Concord Academy attracts a lot of students who are interested in the arts. It was about 50% boarding students at that time, but family friends living in that town believe that it is now over 50% boarding. I don’t know. Enrollment of about 350 students–similiar to Groton–and a beautiful but somewhat small campus ( 25 to 30 acres is my guess).Kent’s campus is huge & stunningly beautiful in the fall. Most recently I know faculty & their family that lived and taught at Kent. Never heard a bad word. The Kent School, like Groton & St. Paul’s School, is affiliated with the Episcopalean Church (which to me is a good thing, it may not be for you). My only concern with Kent is the significant number of PG (post graduate) students. An old edition of Peterson’s lists Concord Academy at 26 acres, but that may have changed in the last few years. The number of PGs has no reflection whatsoever on academics as there tend to be many strictly PG courses such as PG English.It has more to do with the size & maturity of the PG athletes and their effect on the social structure of the school. Of course, there will be good & bad, but PGs are typically male athletes preparing for Division I collegiate athletics.