Lawrenceville School review by California Institute of Technology student.
The caliber of academics is very high, but competition amongst students is minimal. For example, everyone takes English together for three years, so there's no 'honors English' in which students are catty. Advanced math and science classes are very collaborative and engaging, as opposed to cutthroat. There's a fair amount of work, but the new block scheduling means that you have a maximum of four assignments a night due the next day. Classes follow the Harkness method, which involves discussion around a large oval-shaped table at which the entire class (and the teacher!) is seated. For sure entering freshman are awful at Harkness discussions, but pretty soon everyone gets the hang of participating without overwhelming others, etc. Great literature never was (and never will be!) as exciting until I was almost out of my seat arguing that Ophelia was more an independent woman than you think. Teachers are always available outside of class, whether for extra help or just a casual conversation on the material covered. Major assignments are evenly spaced, and finals are preceded by a free day to catch up and get a head start on studying. The breath of humanities classes is astounding. There are so many interesting electives and full-year courses in English, History, Interdisciplinary, the Arts, even the Sciences (especially in biology, anthropology, etc). Math courses, by their very nature, are limited to your standard full year courses, but there are two years of post-BC math available for those who qualify (very unusual for a high school), and there are enough students every year to fill out 2-3 sections of about 8 students. Teachers range from competent to words-can't-describe-outstanding. It's definitely worth it to take courses with certain teachers.
While the college counseling office allowed anyone (even freshman!) to schedule meetings with the counselors,.... Get the real inside story on college counseling at Lawrenceville School as experienced by former pupil and California Institute of Technology student — Login or Sign Up to access full review
Sample insights on college counseling
They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...
The admissions process exactly models the college admissions process (with a few key differences). Interested.... Get in-depth insights and personal advice on admissions to Lawrenceville School by former pupil and California Institute of Technology student — Login or Sign Up to access full review
Sample insights on admissions
For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...
I loved the House system! All students are put into a house their sophomore year, and your affiliation runs really, really deep. On the whole, students love their house, their housemates, and their prefects, and everyone gets really into house spirit. It breeds friendly competition (with inter-house sports and year-end prizes) and provides a school-within-a-school. It makes a dorm so much more than a dorm; it's a real, legitimate home-away-from home with lots of siblings. Curfew also became more stringent for freshman throughout my four years there, but upperclassmen have reasonable check-in and curfews, with extended-lights available for students who.... Get the real inside story on quality of school life and extracurricular offerings at Lawrenceville School as experienced by former pupil and California Institute of Technology student — Login or Sign Up to access full review