International Student Admissions

Lawrenceville offers its students an education that not only prepares them for college but also teaches them to be active, thoughtful members of society. Lawrenceville’s most distinguishing features are its house system and its conference-table classrooms. Both give Lawrenceville, a large school of extensive educational and extracurricular opportunities, the feeling of a much smaller, more personal school. Students are stretched and challenged by their talented peers and teachers in an environment that is both supportive and encouraging. Lawrenceville has been coeducational since 1987.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, the School enrolled 815 boarding and day students, who come from 33 states and 33 countries. As of June 30, 2009, its endowment stood at $215 million. Lawrenceville received 1,778 formal applications for entrance in fall 2009, of which 245 were enrolled.

One of the oldest prep schools in the U.S., Lawrenceville was founded in 1810 as the Maidenhead Academy. As early as 1828, the school attracted students from Cuba and England, as well as from the Choctaw Nations. It went by several subsequent names, including the Lawrenceville Classical and Commercial High School, the Lawrenceville Academy, and the Lawrenceville Classical Academy, before the school’s current name, “The Lawrenceville School,” was set during its refounding in 1883. An 18 acre area of the campus built then, including numerous buildings, has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark District, known as Lawrenceville School National Historic Landmark. A newer portion of the campus, not intruding into that district, was built in the 1920s.

The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates. Hotchkiss strives to develop in students a lifelong love of learning, responsible citizenship, and personal integrity.

The diverse student body at the school comes from 40 states and 38 foreign countries. With over 223 courses, Hotchkiss offers a large-school academic experience with a small-school feeling. The average class size is 12, and facilities include: an 87,000 item library, a visual arts center, two theatres, new state-of-the-art athletic and music complexes, a golf course, and tennis courts, all on a 810-acre campus. Over 36% of students receive need based aid from a financial aid budget of over $7.2 million.

Boarding Grades: 9-12,

Enrollment:
Boys: 299
Girls: 296
Boarding: 543
Day: 52
States: 40
Countries: 38
Courses: 223

This is the third segment in our review of The Ten Schools Admission Organization. The Hill School is an American preparatory boarding school for boys and girls in grades nine through twelve. 

Founded in 1851 The Hill is located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The school is devoted to academic excellence, learning, and achievement. Teachers work closely with students, preparing them for the finest universities and colleges. The curriculum stresses critical thinking, analysis, and writing in the areas of the sciences, humanities, languages and mathematics. Hill’s athletic teams regularly earn regional and national recognition.

The Center for the Arts houses a 750-seat theater, studio arts, and a diverse music program. The Hill School offers over $4.4 million in need-based financial aid, assisting 40% of our student body. Hill seeks to develop the strong moral values that remain the foundation for a successful life.

Enrollment

Boys: 277
Girls: 216
Boarding: 375
Day: 118

Following on from our description of Choate is their chief rival – Deerfield Academy.  

Founded in 1797, Deerfield is known for its high academic standards and cohesive school spirit.  Deerfield nurtures its students’ intellectual curiosity with a rigorous curriculum, as well as encourages responsible citizenship.  The 280-acre campus provides extraordinary facilities including the Boyden Library, housing a broad-based collection of more than 75,000 items, an Arts Center, and the new 80,000-square foot Koch Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology.  Students, 37% supported by over $6.2 million in financial aid, are selected on the basis of academic promise, leadership potential, diversity of background, and the willingness to contribute to the school community.

Foreign students for whom English is not their first language may take the TOEFL in place of the SSAT or SAT. In most cases, Deerfield requires a minimum paper-based TOEFL score of 600, or a minimum computer-based score of 100. To meet the application deadline, a candidate should take the TOEFL in November or December. Since the TOEFL is designed for college-bound students, younger students may therefore be better off taking the SSAT rather than the TOEFL. Students can take both the SSAT and the TOEFL if they want.

The Ten Schools Admissions Organization is a group of highly selective college prep schools that cooperate in their recruitment of prospective students. These schools consider their strengths “high academic standards, rich institutional histories, and a commitment to educating the whole person. As boarding schools, they create intimate communities of learners in which students and teachers live, work, inquire, discover and recreate side by side. As institutions dedicated to instilling the qualities of leadership, they afford young men and women the opportunity of spending their formative years in a setting where character, achievement and intellectual endeavor are highly valued.”

The first school we will examine is Choate Rosemary Hall. 

Choate enrolls approximately 630 boarding and 220 day students representing 41 states and 41 countries. 38% of students identify themselves as persons of color. For the 2008-2009 year total fees were $43,380 for boarders and $33,030 for day students. Financial aid totaling $8.5 million was awarded to 33 percent of the student body, the average award being $33,570 for boarders and $22,400 for day students. For the 2009-2010 year there were 1,682 applicants for 269 places.

The faculty numbers 109 full-time and 10 part-time instructors, 70% of whom hold advanced degrees. There are in addition 48 administrative faculty. The student-faculty ratio is 6:1, and the average class size is 12. Edward J. Shanahan has been headmaster of Choate since 1991, when he arrived from Dartmouth where he had been Dean of the College. Each spring Shanahan teaches a senior elective course on Irish Literature.

There are five college admissions counselors at the school. From 2005 to 2009 the most popular college destinations of Choate graduates were Georgetown with 48 matriculating, 33 at NYU, 32 at Yale, 27 at Boston University, 26 each at Boston College and George Washington, 25 each at Brown, Columbia, Cornell, and Tufts, 24 each at Harvard and Wesleyan, 23 at Dartmouth, 21 each at Princeton and Penn, 20 at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, 19 each at Johns Hopkins and Colgate.

The admission process for international students is the same as for domestic students. However, students whose first language is not English are expected to take the TOEFL exam in addition to the other required tests.