• by MIT Ivy League and Oxbridge Educated Insiders
  • Trusted by over tens of thousands online subscribers

Mercersburg Academy

School rating 4 / 5 by

100 Academy Drive Mercersburg PA 17236 United States
Boarding
9th to PG
Day
9th to 12th
Gender
Coed

Academic

Mercersburg Academy review by .

Mercersburg is unique in its teaching. The teachers do not focus solely on the materials available in the textbooks. In some classes,textbooks are more for students' personal reference rather than for use in the classroom. Every student is equipped with an iPad (if you are on financial aid, you will receive some aid to buy your iPad. If not, oh well... it's a good investment). During class time, teachers draw up materials from the internet sources such as youtube, prezi, quizlet, etc. Education is very interactive and exciting as the material is up-to-date. My favorite class during my time at Mercersburg is AP English Language. Everyday my teacher introduced different youtube videos featuring speeches from the presidents or actors and we analyzed the devices they used in their speeches. This helped us understand the English devices better and also learn to apply what we learn in the classroom to the way we speak in the real world. Mercersburg education concentrates on discussion. The Harkness table is what Mercersburg is famous for. There is no lecture class at Mercersburg. Every class is exciting discussion where you feel comfortable participating in the conversation about interesting subjects with your classmates. As an international student, at first I was very intimidated to speak during discussion but my teachers and classmates always encouraged me and helped me express my ideas better. The class size at Mercersburg is very small. It is usually from 5-15 students at most. Therefore, you get a lot of attention from the teachers and you can always express your opinions in the class. I think this helps the most with language classes where you need the most practice. The teachers are always available to help you during help periods or via appointment. Some of them even live in the dorms so you can just swing by their apartment in the dorms for help (or hot chocolate) or when they are on duty at the dorms. The teachers will help you not because of their duty but because they truly care about your improvement. The workload is not too bad if you don't stuff yourself with 5 APs at once and handle your time well. It can be a little hard at first since you have to balance schoolwork with required extracurricular activities. But after study hall period in freshman year, you will learn to focus and finish your work in 1-2 hours/ evening.

College Counseling

I made my list of colleges with my advisor during the spring semester of my....

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...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

Mercersburg admits a variety of students from athletes, dancers, actors and scholars. They admit people....

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...

School Life

The campus is quite liberal. People can discuss their political , religious or any beliefs without hesitating. And other people respect your beliefs. It is not religiously affiliated and every religion is celebrated here. Students discuss politics freely (well you don't see this a lot since not many at this age are interested in politics). People are extremely friendly and nice. We have a competition called True Blue. If you see someone do something nice, you report it and that person may win a prize at the end of the week. That represents the spirit of the school. Also this....

Popular Comparisons