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Princeton Day School

School rating 4 / 5 by

The Great Road Princeton NJ 08542 United States
Day
PK to 12th
Gender
Coed

Academic

Princeton Day School review by .

I've found that Princeton Day School prepared me extremely well academically for college. One of the best examples being that in all of my classes in high school, not just English, we were given substantial amounts to read-- and there was a strong emphasis on reading comprehension to ensure that all of the students were in fact reading and understanding the books. I read such a broad range of books and read so frequently that when I got to college and most students were struggling with the reading material, even at a prestigious university, I found that it was no different than what I was expected to read in high school. I think along the same lines, Princeton Day School places a strong emphasis on writing skills, and my professors were very impressed with the sophistication of my papers in college, which I credit all to PDS. Most of my classes in high school were discussion based, and even in the ones that were more lecture style, such as math and science, there was a lot of conversation between the teachers and students. My classes were all small enough that the atmosphere was very comfortable and the students and teachers were very familiar with each other. If anyone was confused on a concept or topic, the teacher would often not only answer the question but initiate a discussion about it. They made learning very easy.

College Counseling

I first made a list of colleges I wanted to apply to at the beginning....

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 can't really comment on this because I was admitted to Princeton Day School when....

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 ethnic and socio-economic background of the students is interesting because I attended PDS for 12 years and over that period of time I witnessed a big change in the students that were coming to the school. Princeton Day School used to be known in the Princeton area, an area saturated with both public and private/boarding high schools, as the all white, rich, snobby, school. This is has changed dramatically. Although the school is still predominantly white, I've seen the school make a big effort to increase racial and economic diversity, granting more scholarships than ever before. It's definitely on....

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