Miss Hall's School - Review #2

Miss Hall’s offers a liberal-minded curriculum with incredible teachers. Many of the course offerings deviate from a traditional high school curriculum and focus on more abstract concepts. The horizons program is vital in both the junior and senior years, offering internships and networking opportunities for students.

Over the course of my time at Miss Hall’s, I have surpassed my own expectations for personal growth. I have learned to see the nuances in certain situations and approach conflict in an analytical manner. I have also become far more invested in world politics, as the school encourages students to learn about the larger moving parts in the world.

I would advise forming connections with your teachers early on. The teachers are vital to the learning process and maintaining good relationships with them is important for forming connections later on. I would certainly avoid immersing yourself too deep in the social aspects of a boarding school, as it can be difficult to maintain a work/life balance and at Miss Halls academics must take priority.

I loved the academic offerings in the school. I found all of my teachers to be wonderful individuals who seemed delighted to teach their students. Many of the teachers are happy to go above and beyond for their students which I appreciated immensely.

Miss Hall’s has a school store with a wide variety of snacks, most notably their imported foreign snacks. They have numerous Asian milk teas, chips, and candies with a wide array of unique flavors. If you get the chance to check out their sparkling peach juice it is delicious.

I loved the language program. During my 4 years at Miss Hall’s, I was able to achieve a fluency in Spanish with ease. The History department also was consistently excellent, but their best teacher is no longer teaching any upper-level courses. The STEM programs are excellent, particularly the upper-level courses. I found myself completely immersed in computer science - a subject I had never been interested in prior to attending. Unfortunately, there is a high turnover rate, and the current course offerings are very limited particularly in the math space. Miss Halls does not offer any APs and no longer offers Calculus BC.

There is vast selection of sports available for students, and I have found all of the programs to be acceptable. The school requires one season of a team sport, which can be intense for students as it is 6 days a week til 6-6:30pm. The facilities on campus are kept clean and some of the off campus offerings are excellent. The equestrian program is very thorough as well as the ski program. Miss Halls has not performed well competitively compared to other schools, and is not ideal for intense athletes but for the majority of students it should be sufficient.

The Visual Art programs are all stellar with a wonderful set of teachers. I loved the depth and the freedom that the studio art course offers and the ceramics program offers a very thorough foundation to pottery. The theater program is intense, but accessible, though students may be working til 10pm during tech week. The music program is more limited, but for beginner and intermediate students for it should serve its purpose. Overall, I feel that the school places an emphasis on the arts.

The theater program serves as the main extracurricular, as it is a replacement for a team sport at Miss Halls. The school also has a wide variety of club offerings including, ISA (international students association), the Diversity Coalition, and several affinity groups for students hoping to find individuals with similar struggles.

Miss Halls has recently built a new dorm which offers high quality amenities, but the majority of the dorms are standard small rooms. Most of the Main dorms are not renovated, but they are still accommodating. The school is strict about late night hours, offering punishments for brushing teeth after 10pm and has no options for late night food access.

Miss Hall’s offers a wide variety of food options, and is very accommodating to food and dietary restrictions. For both lunch and dinner, there are three main options as well as a sandwich and salad bar. The food has been consistently high quality, and the cafeteria is open until after dinner. Miss hall’s offers a diverse selection of dining options.

The working class surrounding area has a certain charm in some locations. There are frequent trips during the weekend to local health foods stores, CVS, Ice Cream, and other shopping opportunities.

Miss Halls offers many community building opportunities for their students and hopes to engage their students with all aspects of the school. As most high schools are, there are cliques but overall the student body is friendly.