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I noticed the other thread has over 350 posts already, and not a lot of people are posting there anymore. Maybe we can start another discussion about prep schools here. I'm especially interested in hearing from students who were accepted at Lawrenceville for next year.

By Leon (Leon) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 04:52 pm: Edit

I'm going to Lawrenceville next year.....why do you want to hear from them? are you going next year?

By Gianscolere (Gianscolere) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 05:28 pm: Edit

Well, I'm not going to Lawrenceville next year because I'm headed to Milton, but I just want to know what types of students are going to Lawrenceville. I heard this ugly stereotype that Lawrenceville students are more snobbish than the rest? Is that true? I don't really believe it just yet, but of course, I want to confirm if this is true.

And what happened with all the rest of the posters? Where is Andover05 and all the others who continually post on the other thread?

By Flkid (Flkid) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 01:12 am: Edit

My brother is going to lawrenceville. We thought
the school atmosphere was exactly what we were looking for - warm, friendly, competitive yet supportive and very diverse. The admissions officer's efforts in reaching out to us,throughout the decision process had a personal touch; very different from the "just another applicant" approach of other schools.

By Jmateoj (Jmateoj) on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 - 11:28 pm: Edit

All my family has gone to lawrenceville it is the only New England prep school with the English House System which is SO COOL and you truly make great friends. It has one of the nicest campus, people that go their are the same as andover, exeter, choate I mean they have financial aid, and also they have lots of legacy of lots of wealthy people its a balance. The school is very good and Princeton being near is very cool. I got into Lawrenceville, but decided to go to Choate for several reasons. Lawrenceville is not in New England, its has less international students, less sports, and other things.

By Nyu2010 (Nyu2010) on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - 11:27 am: Edit

Can you please post your stats Jmateoj?

By Jmateoj (Jmateoj) on Thursday, June 19, 2003 - 09:32 pm: Edit

Who are you what do u want to know

By Andymcgav (Andymcgav) on Friday, June 20, 2003 - 12:39 pm: Edit

I have decided against prestigious prep schools because, frankly I am not smart enough to get top 10, or even 20. In my school I may be number 1 or 2, and that is better for me.

By Rl4life2 (Rl4life2) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 04:58 pm: Edit

big fish small pond or big pond small fish? who knows?

By Celebtracker (Celebtracker) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 01:54 pm: Edit

. . . see www.celebrityprepschools.com for more about these schools!

By Exonian04 (Exonian04) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 11:17 pm: Edit

try boardingschoolreview.com too

By Nycgirl205 (Nycgirl205) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 11:24 pm: Edit

hey is anyone here going to hotchkiss or can tell me anything about it?

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 11:55 pm: Edit

Are all prep schools like Pencey Prep in Catcher in the Rye or is that just a stereotype?

I dunno, i go to a southern public school.

By Nycgirl205 (Nycgirl205) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 11:30 am: Edit

i have a freind going to lawrenceville next year, shes really excited, i was gonna apply myself but i live to close to the school and though i love my parents i wanted some distance between us, i jes thought itd make the whole experiance more fun. oh yeah i have a question is taft a better school than loomis or vice versa?

By Booson (Booson) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 02:26 pm: Edit

No not all students @ N.E. prep schools are like the character in the book... but even though I do go to a New England Boarding School, it certainly is one of it's kind, and can't be put into the categories of the schools discussed here...

By Etymology (Etymology) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 07:58 pm: Edit

taft is better than loomis

By Blazer1 (Blazer1) on Thursday, August 07, 2003 - 11:11 pm: Edit

10/29/00: Exclusive Boarding Prep Schools Engage in Reverse Discrimination Against Asian-American Students


Bronx High School of Science in New York City is one of the most prestigious and best secondary schools in the nation, either public or private. More than 50% of the students come from Queens, N.Y.. 45% are Asian, 36% white, 10% black, and 9% Hispanic. Admission is granted based on standardized testing. New York City's ethnic population is over 50% black and Hispanic and less than 6% Asian. Bronx H.S. of Science is second only to Stuyvesant High School in N.Y.C., which is the "best" high school in the nation in terms of academic achievement.

At Stuyvesant, 51% of the students are Asian, 5% black and 5% Hispanic. Admission is also granted based on the same standardized test. These percentages represent admissions numbers which are unfettered and not distorted by racial and ethnic quotas. They represent the highest percentages of Asian-American students in any of the top schools in the nation both at the secondary and college levels.


Only students who reside in N.Y.C. are eligible for admission testing for Stuyvesant or Bronx Science. There are no upper limit quotas imposed on Asians for admissions to either school. The SAT 1 mean for Stuyvesant seniors is 1400, the highest mean in the nation for a class of over 700 seniors. The SAT 1 mean for Bronx H.S. of Science of 1350, also tops in the nation.

Since opening in the early 1900s, these schools' student bodies consisted mostly of an all white male Jewish population, mainly immigrants and sons of recent immigrants admitted after having passed a similar test. Unfortunately few of these Jews were admitted to Yale or other colleges because of quotas placed on Jews at that time. Admissions were based on "entitlement", mainly of WASP's and specifically, Episcopalians.
In the late 1960s, Yale adopted a meritocracy and subsequently Jews and Asians became the most populous minority groups on campus, each outnumbering Episcopalians. Sources: Yale Alumni Magazine, "Birth of a New Institution" by G. Kabaservice, Dec. 1999 and The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy, by Nicholas Lehmann, Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1999.


In contrast, the elite and private Phillips Exeter Academy, considered one of the top secondary schools in the nation, has an admissions policy today based on "goals" and/or "quotas" disguised as a mission of recruiting "youth from every quarter". Exeter's entering class in 2000 is 21% Asian, 8% Black, and 4% Hispanic. The Asian percentage of 21% is a decrease from 25% from previous years. The Black percentage of 8% is an increase from 5% of last year's entering students. Source: The Exonian, "Unprecedented Exeter Diversity for 2000-2001", June 11, 2000. The decrease in the number of Asians was caused by Exeter's admissions policies, not by any decrease in the number or quality of Asian applicants, which have both increased year after year.

Of the "top ten" boarding schools, both Exeter and Andover have the highest SAT 1 scores with the exception of Groton School's average SAT 1 of 1400 which graduated only about 80 seniors in 2000. Among boarding schools, Exeter and Andover also have the highest percentage of Asians in their student bodies. Exeter's seniors had an average SAT 1 score of about 1370, the highest of any elite boarding school with over 300 graduates in 2000. The seniors at Phillips Academy, Andover, Exeter's chief rival, had an average SAT 1 score of about 1350. 18% of Andover's students are Asian. The other top boarding schools' senior average SAT 1 scores include Choate's 1300, Hotchkiss' 1285, Taft's 1285, Milton's 1310 and Lawrenceville's 1310. All students admitted to these schools had to take the SSAT, a standardized test similar to the SAT 1. Other admission criteria include grades, talents, sports, alumni parents, and ethnic and racial backgrounds.

There is a direct correlation between the average SAT 1 scores, exclusive of all other college admission criteria used, of these boarding schools and the percentage of its seniors admitted to the Ivy League and to the U.S. News Top Ten Lists of colleges. Groton, with average SATs of 1400, has 34% of its seniors going to the Ivies, whereas Exeter and Andover (average SATs of 1370 and 1350 respectively) have 30% of its seniors going to the Ivies in 2000. Choate, with average SATs of 1300, has 20% of its seniors going to the Ivies. Hotchkiss with average SATs of 1285 has 19% of its seniors going to the Ivies.


To the extent these exclusive prep schools are limiting the number of Asians they accept, they are limiting the number of Asians who attend Ivy League colleges and other top colleges.

By Gianscolere (Gianscolere) on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 03:16 pm: Edit

Thanks for that article, Blazer.

By Blazer1 (Blazer1) on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 08:31 pm: Edit

To Gianscolere

Your are most welcome. Thought most of the participants of this forum may be interested.

I am the author of this article, "10/29/00: Exclusive Boarding Prep Schools Engage in Reverse Discrimination Against Asian-American Students "

I researched and wrote it.

By Pens16 (Pens16) on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 01:43 pm: Edit

I am looking at Deerfield, Berkshire, Hotchkiss, Taft and St. Pauls both for education and sports...particularly ice hockey. Any opinions or suggestions?