BRUNSWICK SCHOOL
NOVEMBER 2011
MONTHLY MAILING A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER The Admissions Puzzle Brunswick School is in an enviable position. At all levels, Pre School, Lower School, Middle School and Upper School, our Admissions Officers are blessed with an overwhelming and exceptionally talented pool of applicants from which to pick an incoming class. In doing so, they weigh, to one degree or another, the academic promise of each candidate, all the while factoring in other variables such as whether the candidate is also a strong musician or artist, a Brunswick sibling, the son of an alumnus, a Greenwich Academy sibling, or of either a diverse economic or ethnic background. All these factors matter enormously to us as Brunswick seeks to make each and every Brunswick class as strong and as widely talented as possible. Nevertheless, picking those who ultimately get admitted is exceptionally hard. Last year, the school-wide admittance rate was in the high teens and several grades saw admittance rates in the low single digits. The Admissions Committee for each division agonizes over each and every decision but in doing so, each year, we ultimately add new, exciting and complementary “talent” to each already talented class. One of the ways we manage to consistently add talent to each class on an annual basis is that we have designed grade sizes so that at each divisionbreak classes grow, thus providing space for new students. As example, Pre K is 32 boys, 1st through 4th are each 54, 5th is 64, 6th – 8th is 74 and each Upper School grade includes close to 90 boys. Each step along the way, a given class gets stronger and stronger and, appropriately, larger. Sometimes additions to a given class can cause a reshuffling of sorts. The School’s goal of “preparing young men for life” plays out in such instances, as talent will always meet talent and competition tends to breed still greater strength. For example, the boy who was at the top of his class’ Honor Roll in 8th grade might find that in 9th grade (with the addition of some new students), he has company at the top. In the same vein, the 4th grader who was always a stand-out in gym class, might find that in 5th grade he has a new classmate or two who are equally talented at sports. Occasionally someone will ask if Brunswick “recruits.” The honest answer to that question is yes, but not in a way one should interpret cynically. We recruit in the sense that we are always looking to welcome new students to Brunswick who are exceptional: exceptional students, exceptional artists, exceptional musicians, exceptional athletes and most importantly, exceptional young men. We do not recruit, however, in the traditional (and negative) sense of the word. Our music teachers don’t hand out business cards at concerts of other area independent or public schools; our hockey coaches don’t (and are not allowed to) hang out around local rinks and approach players or their parents. More than anything, we rely on our wonderful momentum and word-of-mouth to get interested and talented students to consider Brunswick as a place to continue their education. As a result, the School continues to get stronger and stronger and yet, happily, even in the Upper School, all activities, clubs, teams and honors include a mix of students who joined Brunswick in Pre School, Lower School, Middle or Upper School. For example, if we look at the year-end Honor Roll for last year’s Freshman Class: 36% of those on the High Honor Roll joined the school in Pre K, 28% joined the school in the Middle School and 36% joined the school in the Upper School. Even if we look at the year-end Honor Roll for last year’s Senior Class, we see the same pattern: 35% of those on the High Honor Roll joined the school in Pre K, 22% in Lower School, 8% joined the school in the Middle School and 35% joined the school in the Upper School. We can see the same pattern play out in Student Government, Blue Notes, and even on varsity sport teams. In fact, on each and every varsity team that Brunswick fielded last year, were found balanced numbers of boys who began Brunswick in Pre, Lower, Middle or Upper School. So, as hard as it is to be an Admission Officer at Brunswick, the great news for our boys and for our school is that they are clearly doing a wonderful job picking an exceptionally talented group of young men. And that makes Brunswick a very, very lucky school.