School Fit
Decide whether a boarding school fits your student
Look past selectivity to the daily life of a House, a Harkness table and a campus that is home.
Checked against Lawrenceville's published admissions pages on November 4, 2026.
School fit
Is Lawrenceville a fit?
- The school
- Lawrenceville teaches with the Harkness method. Its academics page describes it as a collaborative form of learning built on discussion, experimentation and critical review, and says students sit around one common table in classrooms.
- Location
- Lawrenceville, New Jersey, about 5 minutes from Princeton
- Type of school
- A boarding and day school founded in 1810
- Grades
- Grades 9 through 12, plus a postgraduate year
- After acceptance
- Admitted students and families are invited back to campus in March and April for Discovery Days.
- 01
Ask your student whether they want to learn at a discussion table and live in a House, and let them answer honestly.
- 02
Visit if you can, and ask what daily life feels like beyond the brochure.
Boarding life
Life in a House.
Every student belongs to a House. These are the details Lawrenceville publishes.
- The House system
- Every Lawrenceville student belongs to a House. A House is a residential building that is also home base for day students, and Heads of House live in the residences with students.
- The Houses
- Lawrenceville has 18 residential Houses. Houses sit in three areas: one for second formers (ninth grade), one for third- and fourth-formers (10th and 11th grade), and one for fifth-form seniors.
- Advisors
- Each student has an academic advisor who meets with the student twice weekly.
- Meals
- The whole community eats at the same time.
- Campus setting
- The campus is 5 minutes from Princeton, 40 miles north of Philadelphia and 55 miles south of New York City.
- 01
Talk through shared living, a set daily rhythm and time away from home with your student before applying.
- 02
Ask the Admission Office what a typical week looks like in a House.