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Peddie School

School rating 4 / 5 by

South Main Street Highstown NJ 08520 United States
Boarding
9th to PG
Day
9th to PG
Gender
Coed

Academic

Peddie School review by .

Strengths: The sciences and English. The science department is very well rounded, with amazing teachers, a wide course load, and depth of study. I chose Peddie over Blair for it's science program. I personally was a part of EXP, and was able to do research at a university before I graduated high school. The English department is infamous for the number of essays they assign, but everyone acknowledges they are better off now because of it. The teachers in the English department are absolute gems, and organizations like The Writing Center help out students with essay editing. I didn't take many history courses at Peddie, and they are rigorous but taught very well by teachers students love. Another amazing opportunity is the Asian Studies Program, a 3 year program which promotes research in an aspect of Asian culture (leading up to a senior thesis). Requirements while you're in the program are that you learn Mandarin, and you go to a school-organized international trips over the year to an asian country. The drama department puts on amazing programs, and the art shows always blow me away. Weakness: More attention to the language department would be great. We have still had students go to top schools in the country for languages, but more funding would be nice. We have many active school clubs, but a bigger presence of the smaller ones on campus would also be great. Peddie students are always willing to help each other out, and the teachers are always always available. However, keep in mind that this school is very rigorous. During the college process, I was able to interview at Penn with a Peddie alumna, and she told me she never had as much work at Penn than she did at Peddie. This can lead to very stressful junior years (particularly with students that take APs), but obviously, is there for the better. The variety of courses also means your junior year doesn't have to be overloaded with APs if you cannot handle it, which is a great avenue for some.

College Counseling

Peddie really vouches for students in the college process. We have connections to top universities,....

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

The Admissions office is amazing and full of caring, compassionate individuals. When I interviewed sophomore....

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

I loved Peddie. Of course, there were moments where I didn't really agree with the actions of the administration, but knowing all the individuals personally helped out a lot. The teachers I had during my time really helped me grow, and I don't think I'd be the same if I hadn't gone to Peddie. There is a lack of teachers of color, but this is not something that Peddie is trying to hide, and is actively trying to fix. However, we have one of (if not the most) diverse student bodies in the MAPL league, and for prep schools in....

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