The whole Harkness table methodology at Lawrenceville School is definitely a plus for the humanities and history side of things. The history teachers are really into experiencing/discussing history, rather than memorizing it. The history department is by far the strongest all around: for APs (Advanced Placements), for a general learning experience. For example, all the US history teachers just did a workshop at Princeton. And they stay involved. Ranked on down, from best to worst, the departments go: English, Language, Science, Math, then the Arts (though they're mostly in their own category). The English department and the language department once again have the benefit of discussing as opposed to lecturing. Spanish class was one of the first classes in my life I've actually looked forward to at Lawrenceville. Lawrenceville is definitely not the school for an extremely talented artist looking to do big things with their talent. It's one of those big fish, small pond things. Though if you care enough or are passionate enough about your talent, you can use the resources the school has to make it better (more on that in extracurricular activities). Again, because of the Harkness table, classes can only be a maximum of 14. I've had only one class that size in my entire career there. The workload definitely depends on the classes you take, but if you follow college counseling's advice, be prepared for a decent amount as the grades go on...about almost an hour a class by senior year. But the School weans kids off of middle school academic mentality into a college mentality very effectively, with the three hardest freshman fall classes becoming pass/fail for that term. Faculty are always accessible...they will be your history teacher, house football coach, and then housemaster all at the same time, so you will quite literally see some teachers (and their families) at least 5 hours a day whether you want to or not. And quite often teachers have students into their homes for cookies and discussion on history or to show a great history movie. Lawrenceville School's academics is definitely learning-oriented...some classes designated "Honors" are made to prepare for the AP, but they often go above and beyond the requirements of the AP teaching more thoroughly, rather than factually. The student body isn't really competitive...as a matter of fact one will notice that a student that seems to be just an athlete or an artist or a socialite is actually quite talented academically, and very humble about it. I haven't started college yet, but I feel like the difficulty of an academic course load can only go down from Lawrenceville's junior and senior years.