When she was fifteen years old, my older sister left
our home to attend The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville,
Connecticut. It is undeniable that thoughts of
the future play an important role in the culture of the
school: there is a reason that they are called preparatory
schools.
A speaker at my sister’s graduation highlighted this
point in the history of the school, remembering that
Hotchkiss was originally founded as a school to prepare
students for Yale, located just 67 miles away.
As it stands today, the number of students that the
Hotchkiss School sends to Yale is probably above the
national average but no higher than its peer schools.
This is most likely the reality of other schools that are
characterized as “feeder schools” for elite universities.
This moniker is adopted in order to augment prepschool
reputations but has very little practical application.
In today’s college selection process, qualifications
matter the most, followed by distinctive
backgrounds, and sometimes, if the issue is closely
examined, money. Personal connections may be of
some use in certain cases, but the name of your high
school does not facilitate admittance. It is undeniable
that certain schools send more students to some colleges
than others, but this has mostly to do with differences
between certain preparatory schools in terms of
their core values, community structure, and academic
emphasis. It is logical that students will matriculate
in larger numbers to colleges that correspond to these
cultural criteria.
The real leg up that prep school students have is
their preparedness for the academic load of college,
provided by the rigorous curriculum that is common
at any of these renowned high schools.
The Dana Hall School, which is conveniently located
just down the road, is supposed to be Wellesley’s own
feeder school. Dana Hall and Wellesley indeed share
an extensive history. According to the Dana Hall website,
the school was founded by Henry Durant upon
his discovery that “many of his students [at Wellesley]
needed further preparation before entering college.”
Aside from this brief mention in its history, Dana
Hall makes no other mention of Wellesley on its website,
and the College mentions Dana Hall only in terms
of shared athletic facilities. Though there is evidence
of cordial relations between the schools, it is nothing
beyond what is usual for neighboring institutions.
Where these supposed alliances cropped up from
can be difficult to ascertain. In some cases, historical
connections between the institutions probably existed
at one time. In others, the origin of the relationship
may be more complicated, and it’s possible that some
of these connections have been embellished or overemphasized.
There are, for example, schools other
than Hotchkiss in western Connecticut that claim to
be Yale’s feeder school.
Speaking from my own experience at a preparatory
school and remembering stories that friends who attended
different schools have shared, feeder schools’
reputations have very little impact on the mindset of
students in attendance. If they are ever mentioned, it
is only in the form of a lamentation for the days when
things like that mattered.
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