Mercersberg Academy

[Anonymous]

Experiences with this boarding school in PA?

[Anonymous]

My good friend went there and several kids from my children’s school went there. I’ve only heard glowing things from them.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful school. My DC attended and loved it.

[Anonymous]

The CC prep school board is very high on this school and we plan to check it out.

[Anonymous]

Mercersburg is wonderful. Its very large endowment (top 10 among boarding schools - north of $300m) means they are generous with fin aid, and the facilities and programs are fantastic, considering there are only 435 students enrolled. Very warm, kind community.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of DMV families at Mercersburg. Including mine. Happy to answer any questions.

[Anonymous]

https://www.mercersburg.edu/define-yourself-here

[Anonymous]

How is college placement?

[Anonymous]

https://www.mercersburg.edu/sites/default/files/2018-2020%20Matriculations.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.mercersburg.edu/sites/default/files/2018-2020%20Matriculations.pdf

The most by a mile - 18 - to the the naval academy? Is it considered a feeder school to military academies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.mercersburg.edu/sites/default/files/2018-2020%20Matriculations.pdf

The most by a mile - 18 - to the the naval academy? Is it considered a feeder school to military academies?

I think a number of USNA athletic commits do a year here. I always thought it was a post-grad year, but maybe they “stay behind” a year to do it? There are a number of them on the baseball team typically.

[Anonymous]

There are about 10-15 PGs on campus each year, with about half of those being service academy PGs. Mercersburg is one of the original boarding schools to partner with Navy and West Point for offering a PG year to accepted cadets. PGs are fully integrated into all aspects of life at Mercersburg, subject to the same rules and privileges, and are an important part of the community.

Many are athletes, but not all. Some just need an extra year, as determined by Navy. This year there are swimmers and baseball players, but there have also been female volleyball and softball players, runners, and football players in recent years.

[Anonymous]

I truly do mean this sincerely and hope I get serious answers to my question but I fear I will get much snark but will ask anyway.

What is the story behind kids going to Mercersberg Academy but then only going to Penn State - Altoona, Penn State - Erie or even West Chester U. for college?

These kids received a wonderful education from Mercersberg. I assume they also have good college counselors to walk them through the process.

You could say the kids had to pick those colleges for financial reasons, but after receiving a Mercersberg education and having their college counselors guide them through the process, couldn't the counselors have guided them to schools that would have given them good merit aid?

It just feels like their opportunities at Mercersburg (educational opportunities, college counseling, all the benefits of a small private school) were wasted when it comes to college selection.

[Anonymous]

First, it's MercersbUrg.

Second, like any school, Mercersburg sends kids to a spectrum of schools for a variety of reasons. No school is going to send 100% of the senior class to all ivies and top 10 LACs. The largest group of students come to Mercersburg from Pennsylvania. Mercersburg, even with generous fin aid, is expensive. I makes sense that some families, especially local day student families, would choose Penn State for financial reasons, esp if they have several children. Maybe they chose a particular school for reasons having to do with a major. Maybe the kid didn't do well on the SAT. Who knows.

Just like at local private and/or independent schools, you send kids to a variety of colleges along a spectrum. I'm sure there are kids at SSSAS and BI and Episcopal who go to JMU, or UMD. Just because a kid goes to Penn State doesn't mean the experience was wasted. A Mercersburg education is about so many things, college placement is just one of them - though outcomes are a big part of the equation, especially since that's what many parents, like you, demand to know. Mercersburg places a premium on helping students develop their passions, their authentic selves, become independent, develop critical thought, build lifelong relationships with students and adults who will help form them.

Hope that helps. And no snark.

[Anonymous]

Those children might have gotten generous merit aid. I can’t say enough wonderful things about the school. We toured it and it was amazing. It’s gotten wildly competitive in the past 10 years.