STEM at Groton and Deerfield

positivevibe
Thu, 22 May 2025 01:11:42 +0000

Nothing at these schools specifically, but since our DC had similar aspirations, I thought I would chime in about our experiences. I think the key is to get a sense of how well defined the support for a given STEM activity is. You have to remember that these schools have VERY ambitious students. You can find examples of students who compete and thrive in any of the math/science/engineering competitions at all of these top schools. BUT, the real questions we wish we had understood a bit better is how guided, supported and advertised these opportunities are.

Let me give you an example, we have a family friend whose child attended a STEM magnet school and they had a science research track. The students were guided as part of this program and had a significant research project as part of their coursework. It was baked in and so every student had the experience with many going on to win awards at various science fairs. Given the rigor of these schools, having it be part of your curriculum is a real advantage. There is no need to discover the opportunity yourself and ask for support from faculty.

Another consideration is location, location, location. Some of the schools near campuses will have more connections with academic labs, or those near big research oriented companies may have formal opportunities there. These may be harder to come by or harder to access when in a more rural area. If your school doesn’t have great opportunities during the school year, perhaps you then want to at least have experiences that help build a resume for many of the summer programs (i.e. RSI, RISE, SSP, Simons). Keep in mind also that many of these superstar students have academics/researchers/executives as parents and that may help facilitate opportunities that may not be universally available.

Finally, we found that though some schools have competition teams in various STEM areas, it is very important to get a sense of how much time is dedicated to the activity. Some schools have club blocks but to encourage being well rounded will swap those out on a periodic basis. Many competitions are season oriented however. So the teams tend not to be as competitive from those schools simply because they are not competing the entire season. We had one school tell us explicitly not to go there if our goal was to compete in a particular competition for this reason. We appreciated the honesty.

Anyhow, just wanted to mention these points as it’s sometimes challenging to discern how much the school does to set the student up with these opportunities versus how ambitious/connected the students who go to the school are that enables them to have these opportunities. One really good source of info imo are some of the AMAs regarding RSI applications. Many will offer insight into how they were able to get the opportunities they had.