Posh American Prep Schools

The best are the Phillips Academies (Andover and Exeter). Yes, the campuses are beautiful. No, they are nothing like the movies.

Choate, Ms Porters. When I used to perform I did a show in Sharon CT which was home to a bunch of prep boarding schools. Gorgeous area!!

Eastland Academy, Peekskill, NY

Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut is one of the best.

They even have their own 18 hole golf course!

Five students for every one teacher, and 12 students per class.

Taft School campus is gorgeous!

Why are you old fags obsessed with prep schools and pedigree?

Same reason why you're so angered and hostile about it, R6.

Don't be such a hater.

"I love movies like Dead Poets Society and School Ties, because of the beautiful prep schools."

Not for the whiteness and anti-semitism?

I guess you were dazzled by the shower scenes to miss the point of School Ties.

Anyway, as a non-white student at a prep school, I wasn't quite as enamoured of the experience as you seem to be.

But then real life is rarely the movies.

R6 grew up in the gutter with R8.

Don't forget Le Rosey in Switzerland! Lovely campus on Lake Geneva, and ski semester in Gstaad!

There's one repeat "tell me all about upper class this or that" poster and then the occasional stray social climber.

It's pathetic, really, what you need to know to "pass" you can't learn, it can't be acquired. It's the connections and the relationships with other families from birth.

"[R6] grew up in the gutter with [R8]."

You sound like a deplorable who voted for Trump, because you too are going to be a "rich" grifter one day.

"It's pathetic, really, what you need to know to "pass" you can't learn, it can't be acquired. It's the connections and the relationships with other families from birth."

The rich don't live in a hermetically sealed bubble, my dear. You think the rich are born with magical qualities? They learn behavior like everyone else. Their weaknesses and foibles are just as observable and exploitable as anyone else's. And as much as they want to live behind walls, people of all stripes pass through those walls every day,

The belief that you are more special than others will always be your downfall.

But you tell yourself what you need to.

Just like everyone else.

I went to one. There was a feeling of those special teachers and experiences like in the movies and it was familiar seeing it depicted onscreen. Some teachers really cared and we got quite a good education. Expensive, obviously. There was also a lot of crap like hazing and humiliating pranks and other stuff. But I have good memories.

I was tag teamed by 2 tall, darked-haired, blue-eyed, horse-hung, blue-blood hockey players at "Hot Kiss".

The school that Chelsea Clinton went to.

Sidwell Friends, I think.

R15, there's a difference between day schools (which Sidwell Friends is) and prep schools. Students live full-time at the latter, or at least most do.

Thank you R11

The other part they don't get is that "bad behavior" (from manners to dress to home decor choices) and all the other random things they so carefully self-monitor for, are dismissed as quirks or barely noticed by the people they so desperately aspire to be.

Add in that most of their observations on the topic can be traced directly to The Preppy Handbook or movies like Philadelphia Story and as such have not been even remotely true for 40 years.

As for the topic--as someone who went to a "posh" day school in NYC, I used to envy the kids who went to prep school for their last two years, as they seemed to have so much more freedom.

But in retrospect, many (not all, but many) were from fucked up families where the parents were too busy working or socializing to deal with the kids and so sent them away--there were a lot of drugs in my school, early 00s, but nothing compared to prep schools.

Tell us all about the shower situation.

[quote]Was it as amazing as it seems?

If by "amazing" you mean "amazingly inaccurate representation of prep school life," I agree. It's 2020. Half the kids at any given elite prep school are POC – large Asian-American populations, along with international students from six continents – and quite a few top schools are now coed. As is now the case at most university campus dorms, prep school residence halls have coed floors and even coed bathrooms!

Also, I realize Hollywood actors who've played prep school kids are hot, but they're almost always well into their 20s despite playing 17-18. Real-life teenagers are still as gawky, scrawny and laden with zits, acne & orthodontic braces as ever – and won't be "hot" or "cute" even after finishing puberty.

[quote] It's 2020. Half the kids at any given elite prep school are POC – large Asian-American populations, along with international students from six continents

This x 10000000000000000

And those "international students" are more likely to be from China or India than from Scotland or France.

Is Northfield-Mount Hermon posh?

Yes it is.

But it's a bit bohemian in culture.

In college, I met may people from those Posh Prep Schools. About half seemed normal; the other half, however, were completely psycho. They had grown up away from their parents and started drugs and sex early. They were literally nuts--having drug overdoses, committing suicide, raping women, etc at high rates.

I would never send kids to these boarding schools. NEVER

Yes, nothing but snobby yet dirty, sexual degenerates!

Which prep school did Christina Crwaford go to? Did she graduate? Is that school operating today?

[quote] Which prep school did Christina Crwaford go to?

It wasn't an institution of learning.

It was a TEEN AGED BROTHEL!

I went to the Lakeside School - the Pacific Northwest's equivalent. Just a day school in my day but started life as a boarding/prep school. In the 70s when I went, you had to have either brains or money to be accepted. I was on the brains side of the equation. The school was run by those on the money side. I was always an outsider but the education was so good, I sailed through Stanford after I graduated.

I know many people who went to Exeter, Andover, Choate, Hotchkiss, St. Paul's, The Hill, Lawrenceville, etc... As has been pointed out, some of them have do well in life, but many are totally ruined by the experience. Being taken away from the mainstream of society and put into a posh situation during your formative years is not healthy. These kids think of themselves as special and deserving when what they really are is ridiculously privileged for no other reason that their parents have money (or they won a scholarship). It's a very bad idea to send a child away - the only excuse is if the parents are so awful they know they can't raise the kid well, and how many parents are that self-aware?

Once you get beyond the most elite, a lot of these places function, to a large degree, as residential treatment programs----some places actually try to do this well. A friend of mine with son who has severe ADHD sent him to Buxton where he did really well and enabled him to attend a good liberal arts college.

A friend of mine was a day student at a "grade-B" boarding school where her mother taught (enabling her to avoid substandard local schools). She got an okay education but her son went to public school and she wasn't going to bother with a prep school if she could help it.

I went to a northeastern all-male Catholic Prep school in the 70s and, to counter the nay-sayers above, I can testify that my four years there were among the most important and formative experiences of my life. This wasn't an ultra-ritzy school, but one that drew students from all walks of life (affluent, middle and working class, like myself), including diverse faiths and ethnicities. Even though it was a sports-oriented institution, there was never any kind of hierarchy or condescension among the groups. Fifty years onward, a strong sense of brotherhood still binds my graduating class and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

Dead Poets was shot at Avon Old Farms in Avon Ct. My cousin went there. I went to visit several times. Beautiful school and setting just like the movie. I almost went to Taft but we moved south and I decided against it. Much of the rest of my snooty family went to Choate, Deerfield, Exeter, etc..

What about west coast boarding schools? Are they just inferior - do the wealthy send their kids east?

More details about Christina Crawford's alma mater, please!

R16, both day schools and boarding schools are "prep schools." Some day schools like Trinity, Dalton, Spence, Chapin, Horace Mann, Poly Prep, etc. in NYC are among the best prep schools in the US. Same with DC for St. Albans (boys), National Cathedral School (girls), and Sidwell Friends (co-ed).

Don't forget the St. Grottlesex schools, which are among the most elite alongside Andover (Phillips Academy) and Exeter (Phillips Exeter). St. Grottlesex = St. Paul's, Groton, St. Mark's, and the Middlesex School. Most major American cities also have elite day schools, though the boarding schools are clustered long the east and west coasts.

There are also elite Catholic prep schools all over the US, like Portsmouth Abbey in Rhode Island, Regis in NYC, Delbarton in New Jersey, and so on.

[quote] Fifty years onward

About right for DL

There's no such thing as a prestigious West Coast boarding school -- the closest would be Robert Louis Stevenson, but still, if you want the snob appeal of a good school, you go East.

[quote] both day schools and boarding schools are "prep schools." Some day schools like Trinity, Dalton, Spence, Chapin, Horace Mann, Poly Prep, etc. in NYC are among the best prep schools in the US. Same with DC for St. Albans (boys), National Cathedral School (girls), and Sidwell Friends (co-ed).

As a graduate of the one beginning the "D" I can assure you that we made a distinction between day schools (which people just called "privates" or "private schools") and boarding schools. They were completely different experiences and TBH we had more in common with and interacted more with kids from affluent suburban public schools or NYC specialized schools (Stuy, Science, LaGuardia) than with kids who went to boarding school.

Was not any kind of social thing, more just simple geography: we were all living at home and in Manhattan or the burbs while the kids at boarding school were somewhere in MA or NH and only home for Thanksgiving and Xmas, and even then the families (ours and theirs) would often go away, so you missed each other.

This was in the late 90s/early 00s.

^^beginning with the letter "D"

I attended St. Francis Academy. You wouldn't beLIEVE the hijinks we got up to!

R38 R39, you Daltonite you, we knew what you meant with the first typoed post. While the experiences between day schools and boarding schools are quite different, both are considered prep schools. And as a Dalton alum you surely know your alma mater is one of the most highly ranked in the city and US.

R31, although your school sounds excellent, I would consider it more of just a really good private school, rather than a posh prep school.

No disrespect towards your education, but there are many good Catholic schools which aren't exactly "posh."

I think that the true posh schools in this country meet certain criteria, as many have posted here.

1) It's definitely on the East Coast (usually New England or New York), and

2) It usually involves a boarding program where the majority of students live on a very beautiful and exclusive campus.

I know some of these boarding schools have big names but why, in God's name, would a family send their kids to school away from home?

They're kids

St. Paul’s (Concord, NH) is THE best. In the top 3 with Exeter and Andover, but it’s more...well, you know.

Andover and Exeter are like public schools in comparison (actually they are the least “prep school like” of the boarding schools, just generally).

[quote] God's name, would a family send their kids to school away from home? They're kids

Poor, penniless R43.

It's what rich people DO.

I went to undergrad at a small liberal arts college, just below the Ivy Leagues. When asked where I attended high school, I would be truthful and said public high school. Those fucking snobs literally would walk away from me because I didn't go to Phillips or some other rich kid boarding school. As mentioned above by other posters, half of these kids were drug addicts and party animals anyway. We even had one of these kids fall out a third floor window and die my freshman year--he was so drunk and high he passed out and fell to his death. THESE are the pillars of society that the rest of us working poors are supposed to worship?

R38 /39 difference though I’m the co-Ed experience Vs the single sex day school experience. Single sex schools are overall “preppier” and similar to the boarding school demo (and many in fact are feeders to those schools). Hardly any from the co-Ed schools end up going away.

You're scathingly brilliant, r40!

My sophomore year saw an influx of students from Northfield-Mt. Hermon. Most were OK, a few were snobs. Some burned out on the drugs and drinking.

Damn! Tuition at St. Paul's is over $62,000 per year!

R44, I notice that they don't provide a student body demographic breakdown the way that most wiki articles do.

As one would expect, the school is ridden with scandal, as noted at the bottom of the page.

St. Paul’s >>>>>>>> all the rest

Upper Richmond Girls School. It's really top-drawer!

R28 I was also on the brains side of admissions (vs. $$ side). Earned a generous scholarship and had to travel across town nearly 2 hrs every day to and from school. It was quite an education coming from where I did. When I started at 14 I had no idea of this other side of the tracks, and never thought about it. All of a sudden $$ and designer names (Polo, what?? - this was mid-80's), global travel and all kinds of elitism hit me like a hurricane. But most kids and parents were normal. There were the show offs, but that is a value you inherit. Most were just curious, friendly and regular kids. Some funny stories though...one guy in 12th grade bought a Mercedes off the lot with a cheque from his parents - Asian guy, am assuming the cheque checked out! LOL. Another guy, his dad gave him the "old" car to use for carpool in Gr. 11 and 12 - gold Jaguar. Haahaa...so ridiculous. Most of those I graduated with ended up in a few select fields: Medicine, Law, Accounting, Teaching. Myself? None of these, though my mother always wanted me to be a lawyer! :) I never fit in the box and made my own way. Lots of pressure on those kids to tow the line, go into family business, etc. I don't envy them.

While I am sure you are technically correct R41, when I was growing up, if you said someone went to "prep school" it meant boarding school. That may have been unique to Manhattan in the late 90s/early 00s though.

The public school thing is funny, R46

Growing up in the Northeast, there were a number of public schools in wealthier suburbs where you were likely to know a lot of kids (friends-of-friends) and never considered a kid who went to say New Canaan or Scarsdale as going to a lesser school--the private schools in suburbia were often for kids who were druggies or having social problems in the public high school. When I got to college I was surprised to find kids, particularly from the South who were weirded out about public schools and having to gently explain to them that the kids at Scarsdale High School's parents most likely made far more money than theirs did.

I live near La Lumiere, which is where Chief Justice Roberts attended. I live on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and the school is a few miles inland.

Beautiful campus. I think it’s considered one of the best prep schools in the country.

But it's in the Midwest, R54.

Indiana, no less. If I'm reading your directions correctly.

Why is it that only those who do not attend Farmington themselves call it "Miss Porter's"?

[quote] What about west coast boarding schools? Are they just inferior - do the wealthy send their kids east?

I went to Harvard, and there were several kids in my class who went to boarding school at Cate and Stevenson, both of which are boarding schools in California.

R56. I had a colleague who had been Head of English at Miss Porter’s and he always referred to it as Miss Porter’s. But then again, he was only one of “the help.”

Brewster's Academy - lovely setting.

California: there are quality private boarding schools in the state (RLS, mentioned above). And some of private day schools are among the best in the country (Harvard-Westlake in SoCal, and Harker in NorCal). But the "old money elite" standard doesn't work that well in CA. Harker is a good example: no, not old money but Asian and South Asian children of tech billionaires who will eventually be much more successful than all the Biffs and Buffys in khakis.

I went to a private HS in LA that was part of the "prep league" - Chadwick (Joan Crawford's kids). Flintridge, Pasadena Poly... and as was mentioned above, a lot of these HS had kids from families of means that didn't "fit" in public education.

^^ Brewster's

[quote] no, not old money but Asian and South Asian children of tech billionaires

That pretty much describes a good chunk of who is at the Northeast schools these days too.

[quote] a lot of these HS had kids from families of means that didn't "fit" in public education.

My understanding re: LA was that until busing started, most of the affluent families on the west side sent their kids to public school. Which is why the current crop of top LA private schools--H-W, Brentwood, Crossroads, Windward--all were either founded or gained new life in the 1980s when busing started.

Is it true they say if you can't get a girl, get a Choatie. I thnk I read that in a John O'Hara book.

R10 Le Rosey is full of rich spoiled brats from the Middle East and Asia. Not as classy as people thought.

In my first semester in college, I roomed with anSt Paul’s grad. His father was a very senior GM exec. It was either dad’s job or a legacy admission, cuz the kid was dumb as dirt. Yet I recently discovered he is now a COO for a hedge fund. The power of elite social connections versus the myth of meritocracy

R35, St. Albans isn’t just a “day school”; about 10% of students are boarders.

I’d say about the same proportion of my classmates there were pretentious douchebags. Most were from fairly ordinary families, with a sprinkling of political and celebrity scions. We got a good education, but we had to work hard for it. College was easy by comparison.

Like other prep schools, STA maintains an air of faux Englishness, e.g. by referring to grades as “forms” - seventh grade is Form I, and so on. (Before that they’re designated with letters.)

But STA takes it to a ridiculous extreme. There’s a thorn tree in the middle of Senior Circle that is said to have grown from a cutting of the Glastonbury Thorn, and that only blooms in the presence of British royalty.

I'm the best!

No, I'm the best!!

R52 "Tow the line"

I guess the English classes were somewhat wanting.

[quote] Le Rosey is full of rich spoiled brats from the Middle East and Asia

Why can't those people just stay in their own countries and go to school?

Why do they always have to invade European and American schools? It's gross.

[quote] It was either dad’s job or a legacy admission, cuz the kid was dumb as dirt. Yet I recently discovered he is now a COO for a hedge fund. The power of elite social connections versus the myth of meritocracy

George W. Bush is a perfect example of that.

Everyone of you is annoying as fuck. You’re the same people that complain about Brooks Brothers closing.

R69, you type poor. And bitter.

R70 Yawn ..Obsessing with pedigree & prep schools is so 80s

J Press would be a bigger tragedy than Brooks Brothers.