Hello, I am a first-time user here. I am excited to be accepted to some amazing schools as an incoming prep (9th grader). I will mostly likely revisit Hotchkiss and SPS in a few weeks and make a decision.
As many people have mentioned, there are a lot of similarities between these two: both are mid-sized, almost all boarding, with strong and rigorous academics and a warm community culture.
Any feedback and advice on these two schools, especially what to look for on revisits, will be appreciated. Thank you and have a great day!
It might depend on some of what you want to pursue. If you like skiing or ballet, for example, then SPS. If you are more interested in music or debate, for example, then Hotchkiss. One useful feature of Hotchkiss is that most of the classes are in one nice, long building, which saves a lot of time. I don’t know about tennis.
I wouldn’t worry too much about advice on this forum. You’ll know after revisit day. My child is a freshman at SPS, and before revisit day she was confident that Andover was the school for her. It all changed when she got to experience the warmth of the SPS community on revisit day, which is incredible.
You should just feel what’s right when you visit again. Both schools are great academics and athletics, and both campuses are beautiful. You can’t make a bad decision!
My son is also deciding between SPS and another HADES school. What I keep hearing as one reason to choose it, is that SPS is more “academic.” I’m trying to figure out what that means in the context of other excellent schools. Does this mean the curriculum or teaching is better? Does it mean the student body as a whole is more academically minded (vs. more athletic, etc. at other schools)? Does it mean the school puts more emphasis on academics vs. extracurriculars (e.g., Saturday classes)? Does it mean the academic outcomes are better? I would love to hear from anyone who can speak to this.
Every time I’ve heard someone say a school is more “academic” it has always been in relation to how much the school is known for their sports/athletics.
I like SPS. I wouldn’t say it is more academic than the others. I would say it gave a more serious vibe. This is definitely a case of which atmosphere feels more enjoyable to the student, as all of those schools will challenge all of their students.
Well, Hotchkiss wins many, maybe even most, major private school debate tournaments on the East Coast every year. SPS never does. The Hotchkiss faculty advisors for debate are among the best professors in the entire school. Three of its student debaters are at Worlds right now, and a fourth turned down the opportunity. (The other good debate teams among boarding schools are Choate and Deerfield.)
As for music, the school devotes tons of financial resources, has a beautiful, excellent performance hall, has excellent faculty (especially for piano, but other instruments as well) and enables more advanced students to play multiple times per year in a professional-level orchestra, The Hotchkiss Philharmonic. The only non-music boarding school that compares is Exeter, maybe Choate. My understanding is that SPS’ student orchestra plays in a basement on campus, something like that. I think the music director there is likely a fine musician, however, as I believe he is a former horn student (many years ago) of Myron Bloom, the great, late, former principal of The Cleveland Orchestra many years ago.
Do you agree that SPS does not win debate tournaments and that SPS music students play in a basement on campus ?
The resources at St.Paul’s School are outstanding and well-funded. And, as noted above, the SPS debate team performed well at the Groton debate tournament finishing first among 14 teams with the novice debaters earning a superlative 12-0 record.
P.S. Both Hotchkiss & St. Paul’s School are highly respected boarding schools. Both report endowments placing them among the wealthiest high schools in the country. (SPS reports an endowment of $760 million for its 540 student school, while Hotchkiss last reported an endowment of $554 million for its 614 student school.) Both schools are wealthy & both schools provide outstanding support to their respective students.
Congratulations to SPS on the debate win at Groton. One thing to keep in mind with debate tournaments is the later they are in the season, the fewer top debaters attend. That’s because once debaters qualify for World’s, their incentive to attend additional debates drops, and their teams want to give other debaters a chance to compete. One incorrect thing I wrote is that Hotchkiss sent three debaters to World’s this year. The total is actually four, while an additional debater also qualified.
I was told personally by a top member of the SPS board (after my child was admitted four years ago) that the music facilities were subpar. I thought he said the orchestra rehearsed in a basement. I apologize if my memory is faulty on this detail.
But I certainly agree that both SPS and Hotchkiss are excellent schools. I view them quite similarly.
St.Paul’s School offers funding for extracurriculars as it is both a wealthy & generous school. I have never heard or read any complaints or concerns about any music facilities at SPS, but any school may be lacking in a specific area of interest to a particular applicant.
We found the single building for almost all classes at Hotchkiss to be a huge turn-off as it was less like a small college campus and more like a regular public high school.
Another poster whose spouse used to work at Hotchkiss and whose children attended Hotchkiss (not sure if they boarded as they lived nearby) shared that some science classes may be held in the then relatively new science building. If accurate, then that would be a plus.
Regardless, both are great schools but different in that one is more isolated and less like a college campus, while the other is located in a small state capitol with a large spread out campus. Personal interests & personal preferences should dictate any choice between the two.
How long has it been since your child attended SPS? I think it’s been quite awhile, and unless you are actively involved as a trustee, or on-campus, or in some current and significant way, I would defer to kids and parents with more recent experience with these two schools.
Poster in this thread has posted incorrect info. re: SPS. I corrected it.
Incorrectly stating that SPS does not do well in debate when four months ago SPS debaters won a tournament at Groton, beating 13 other teams while SPS novice debaters went a perfect 12-0 at the same tournament suggests that the other poster has an axe to grind with SPS.
The same poster also recommended SPS for skiing. Let the readers judge for themselves.
I think you are responding to the wrong person. I have not referred to skiing or debate, nor mentioned, at all, the significant pros of either school.
What I did post: “How long has it been since your child attended SPS? I think it’s been quite awhile, and unless you are actively involved as a trustee, or on-campus, or in some current and significant way, I would defer to kids and parents with more recent experience with these two schools.”
However, I must say, your response seems a bit on the “young” side.