Westtown School - Review #15

Read more details about Westtown School on their 2023-24 profile page.
Westtown School
5

About the Author:

Years Attended Boarding School:
2010-2014
Sports and Activities:
I was a member of the JV volleyball team, president of the International Student Organization. I took a few semesters of guitar and music theory. I was in the knitting club, the Christian club, the French Club and was in the senior play.
College Enrolled:
Pomona College
Home Town, State:
Orange, NJ

Reflections and Advice:

1.) What do you think makes your school unique relative to other boarding schools?
Westtown School was unique for being a school invested in social justice as well as preparing students to work for a global community. Many of the courses at Westtown delved into difficult topics such as racism, sexism and homophobia and critical ways of deconstructing those ideologies. Westtown also was unique for its "work job" system in which students did chores that benefited the school and made cleaning tasks easier for paid staff.
2.) What was the best thing that happened to you in boarding school?
Going to Westtown helped the transition to college much easier. I did a lot of emotionally growing with my fellow classmates and living with college students was fairly unsurprising to me than it was to others come freshman year. I enjoyed a lot of courses I took and learned to be more independent and confident from a very young age.
3.) What might you have done differently during your boarding school experience?
Boarding school is a place where you are dealing with puberty and living with other people. I think that for those who come from lower-income backgrounds or are international, taking your time to adjust to school life and taking care of your mental health is important. That means being ok with how you may be different from your other peers but still valuable and lovely to get to know.
4.) What did you like most about your school?
I really enjoyed the connections I made with people and how close we are until this day.
5.) Do you have any final words of wisdom for visiting or incoming students to your school?
Try to explore the acres of Westtown, there are so many cool nature spots to see. We have a creek and an awesome mudhole where people like to slide. The farm is a great place to hang out and try ice cream and organic foods. There are many old buildings that are unused in the area that are cool to see.

Academics:

1.) Describe the academics at your school - what did you like most about it?
I really enjoyed how the courses and diversity of topics we learned were comparable to courses one would take in college. The professors were very invested in improving our writing and critical thinking skills and the workload reflected that at times. There was a lot of emphasis on discussion so many of my classes were discussion based. Westtown was also unique in that it had comprehensive lab components to the science classes. Not only did we do experiments, we were expected to write lab reports and do independent projects for chemistry or biology.

Athletics:

1.) Describe the athletics at your school - what did you like most about it?
What I enjoyed about the athletic department was that there were so many sports that students could try and different levels so even students who were not used to the intensities of working out had a place on the team. Coaches at Westtown were great. They care both about the physical and mental health of their students and many students loved their coaches outside of the court or field.

Art, Music, and Theatre:

Extracurricular Opportunities:

1.) Describe the extracurriculars offered at your school - what did you like most about it?
I really enjoyed the diversity of extracurriculars at Westtown, everyone had something they could participate. If you couldn't find a club you liked, it was fairly easy to start your own and to get funding.

Dorm Life:

1.) Describe the dorm life in your school - what did you like most about it?
What I liked about the dorm life at Westtown was the ability to pick your room and your roommate. It made enjoying living at school 24/7 more easy and fun.

Dining:

1.) Describe the dining arrangements at your school.
We had a mixed dining set up at Pomona in which lunch and dinner was a combination of buffet or sit-down depending on the meal and the special occasion. The staff really took care to give us a variety of food and to accommodate to sensitive palettes. While some meals I didn't enjoy, other I really liked and made sure that I paid attention to the menu when they would appear. There were never any surprises, it was always posted up or emailed to us.

Social and Town Life:

1.) Describe the school's town and surrounding area.
Westtown is placed in a semi-rural area. There is a lot of acres of land and you have to walk quite a bit to get to the town. Getting to the town required crossing some roads and fields. However, you are only 45 min away from the mall and Philly is not too much farther either. What I enjoyed about the campus itself was the acres we had and all the space was perfect for snowy days for sledding.
2.) Describe the social life at your school - what did you like most about it?
Since everyone lived with each other, I had a lot of close friends that I am still close with. We took the same classes, studied together, partied together and enjoyed each other's companies. We knew each for four or more years.

Daily Schedule:

Weekday
8:00 AM
Breakfast
9:00 AM
Class
9:45 AM
Auditorium/Attendance
10:00 AM
Snack
12:00 AM
Lunch
1:15 PM
Class
3:00 PM
Sports/Extracurricular
6:00 PM
Dinner
8:00 PM
Homework
10:00 PM
Lights Out/ Quiet Hours
Weekend
10:00 AM
Meeting for Worship
12:00 AM
Brunch
2:00 PM
Mall
5:00 PM
Hang out with Friends
6:00 PM
Dinner
7:00 PM
Homework
10:00 PM
Lights Out
Read more details about Westtown School on their 2023-24 profile page.

Alumni Reviews Review School

Review
Description
Westtown School Alumni #1
Class of 2018
5.00 5/2/2019
UVA
Small Quaker school, tight group, not so much focused on strong academics as much as creating good individuals in society.. . .
Westtown School Alumni #2
Class of 2018
5.00 8/7/2019
Villanova University
Westtown has a beautiful campus. It was beautiful and especially safe to walk around any time of day. Also the style of teaching is very hands on and has small classes, usually with. . .
Westtown School Alumni #3
Class of 2016
5.00 7/17/2017
Bard College
Two aspects of Westtown that stand out in particular are its sense of community, and the education driven towards social change. Its sense of community is in part due to the fact that Westtown is. . .
Show more reviews (41 reviews)

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Quick Stats (2023-24)

  • Enrollment: 366 students
  • Yearly Tuition (Boarding Students): $70,250
  • Yearly Tuition (Day Students): $43,250
  • Acceptance rate: 53%
  • Average class size: 15 students
  • Application Deadline: Jan. 15 / rolling
  • Source: Verified school update