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Northfield Mount Hermon School

School rating 4 / 5 by

One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon MA 01354 United States
Boarding
9th to PG
Day
9th to PG
Gender
Coed

Academic

Northfield Mount Hermon School review by .

NMH's strength lies in its ability to prepare its students for the rigors of a college curriculum. The pace and structure of NMH's academics is on par with some of the toughest college classes. A particular strength of NMH is its English department. It is by far the deepest and most talented teaching group at the school and it shows in the level of improvement in writing ability that students display when they have graduated. The average workload in a week was entirely catered to how hard you wanted to push yourself. Students taking multiple AP's could have as much as five hours of homework a night while students who desired a less rigorous curriculum could have as little as two. Class sizes remained generally small. The largest classes at the school are generally the required first and second year humanities classes which were in the high teens, while the smallest classes could have as few as five students. The school really pushes to give students a broad education going into college so they have many options as to what they wish to pursue beyond NMH.

College Counseling

I met with my college advisor rarely. We talked over the summer before 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

I entered high school in 9th grade. The admissions process was fairly similar to....

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 achilles heel of NMH is its location. It is an hour and a half from the nearest real city (Springfield) and the nearby town's highlight is the outdated town center. The school is located in a poor rural community and while completely safe, offers very little in entertainment in the vicinity. Culture on campus is one of self sufficient amusement. Students have very few school run options to get off campus and therefore have to make do with themselves. This boredom can sometimes lead to drugs or alcohol use however these actions represent a....

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