Reply to Landon vs. Georgetown Prep Upper School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is the culture at Prep like?  I have heard it mentioned as a "homework driven" school; what does that mean?  I have also heard mixed reviews about the academics at the school.  Have things changed for the worst?  What do you think about the administrators and teachers? [/quote]

Quite curious as well, would someone who has knowledge about Prep answer these questions? Thanks.[/quote]

The "culture" of the school? That's a might big ask.

Let me take a shot at it.

Prep has small classes, some very good teachers and a lot of very bright students. It's possible to get a great education and get into a top college.

But, Prep also has some teachers who aren't so good and some students who aren't as bright and they don't work as hard as they might. But through these small classes and exposure to some of the very good teachers, your son will probably get into a better college than he might coming from some other school.

Both the top students and the not-top students will get a good education. And there is a lot of homework.

So if you have a top student, don't worry. If you have an average student that you want made into a top student, GP isn't the answer. I don't know of any schools that can do that.

But the "culture" of the school is goes beyond that. It's the totality of the experience. The whole thing. The student body. The atmosphere on campus. The activities. How the teachers and administrators deal with and relate to you.

We had three boys go through GP and each was thrilled. They loved it ... every day of it. They had a tremendous amount of fun and made great life-long friends. We never had any concern about where they were or what they were doing because we knew they were with boys from families that had good values.

Each of them looks back on those four years as a wonderful experience and they are still connected to the place.

Their high school experience stands in stark contrast to my experience in a large, highly-ranked public school in NY State. It wasn't close to being a wonderful experience. Being a freshman in that place meant running the gauntlet of upperclassmen daily and navigating among the various cliques through the four years. It was a veritable shark tank.

Given my own experience, I was very surprised at how well the incoming freshman and Prep were treated by the upperclassmen. How there was this school-wide cameraderie and concern and an understanding that these new kids were a little disoriented. But that they were all "Prep". That's the important part of the "culture" in my view.

High school can be a difficult time. I know people who never really recovered from the totality of it. If you can put them someplace where they have a great experience, you and they are very fortunate.

By the way, as yet another word of advice, if you are considering GP then you really, really ought to look also at Gonzaga. Don't be spooked by its location. It's location is part of the learning experience.

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