Cardigan Mountain School - Review #2

Cardigan is very small with a size of about a little over two hundred boys. One that that makes it unique is the very tight-knit community and by the spring term, you know everyone’s name, even if you have never held a conversation with them.

Cardigan helped me with time management and how to balance school, social life and sports. Especially at a young age, I’m used to being away from home and that really helped me in college and it is not a new experience.

I would have definitely branched out more my first year. My advice is to not be afraid to try anything new and be who you are. If you embrace the cardigan community, you will be embraced back and you will grow as a leader and a person.

I liked the diversity and the overall family feel.

Be yourself, buy in and the rest will take care of itself.

Academics at Cardigan were great. With the school being small, class sizes can range from five students to about fifteen students. The support system is amazing. At Cardigan, they have something called PEAKS, which purpose is to teach students how to learn. You can go there for homework help in any subject, outlining your academic day or just going there to hang out and do your homework in a quiet space. The workload is bearable and the Professors are easy to talk to and cooperative. Overall, I would say the academics are great and you have all the support in the world.

Athletics are a big part of Cardigan, as you have to play a sport each season. It is very competitive but there are more than enough teams in each sport, so that everyone is at the right level. We play against other junior boarding schools and JV high school teams so you get to face older competition, which is great for development. Sportsmanship is also a huge part, so you’re growing as leaders on the field.

While you there you have the option to either participate in woodworking or art. I decided to do art, and it was great. You also take part in a music class and acting class so you get the best of both worlds. You get to choose in your senior year between woodworking, something called GATES, and art. Overall you have options, as you don’t feel stuck and all of these options are great.

Every Thursday after chapel, instead of sports, we participated in clubs. They ranged from small sided lacrosse, two things like four square, handball and etc. Besides that, there are other clubs that go on around campus and since everyone kind of has the same academic day, you don’t feel left out and probably won’t miss out because of classes.

Dorm life is like any other school. The dorms are pretty nice, as most of them have been or are in the process of being renovated. Some older dorms might be smaller, but the faculty do a good job of making everyone feel at home. Everyone also has a dorm leader and dorm jobs so it’s really family like, as everyone plays a role.

The dining hall is great. The food could be a little better, but in terms of the facility it’s pretty new, and it’s a great space. Outside of buffet meals you have assigned seating and jobs that switch every week so you’re sitting at a new table every week.

It’s only about half an hour away from Dartmouth and the town of Hanover, so on the weekends, they are popular destinations for kids to get off campus and hang out.

Social life was great. What was great about Cardigan was you had kids from all around the world, so you got to meet different people.