Academic Year: 2011-2012

CEEB Code: 391-505

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Nancy O. Starmer, Head of School
Scott Spence, Associate Head of School

COLLEGE GUIDANCE STAFF
Nancy M. Culleton, Director
Rachel M. Fumia, Associate Director 
Pamela E. Machemer, Associate Director 
Terry Tuttle, College Guidance Assistant

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
George School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory Friends boarding and day school that enrolls 525 students in grades 9 through 12. Slightly over half (53%) are boarding students. This year’s senior class size is 138 students. The school strives to be faithful to Quaker principles and to meet the intellectual, social, and developmental needs of all its students, educating them in mind, body, and spirit. Nearly 100% of graduates attend four-year colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. George School is one of the few U.S. boarding schools to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.

Located on 240 acres of land in a suburban area 30 miles north of downtown Philadelphia, George School was founded in 1893 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and operates under the spiritual care of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. It is a purposeful community of students of diverse backgrounds, talents, and interests, committed to community and residential life. Demographic highlights include:

• Students come from 18 states and 40 countries 
• 19.2% are foreign citizens
• 2.3% are children of U.S. citizens living abroad
• 19.4% are U.S. students of color (including 7% African-American, 5.3% Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.4% Latino, .6% Middle Eastern, and 3% biracial/multiracial), 17.5% do not identify an ethnicity. 
• 17% are Quaker
• Students come from high-, middle-, and low-income families 
• 47% receive financial aid

FACULTY 
The school employs 89 faculty members, 79 of them full-time employees. Nearly three-fourths hold advanced degrees. The average faculty member has 20 years of teaching experience. Two-thirds of faculty members live on campus; over one-third live in dormitories.

ACCREDITATION 
Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools

SCHEDULE 
The school year is divided into three terms (trimesters) of roughly eleven weeks each; the last week of each term is a final exam period. Each yearlong course meets four times (210 minutes) per week.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
All students are required to take the equivalent of six yearlong courses (18 credits) each year. Each yearlong course carries three credits.

Typically, about one-third of sophomores and one-tenth of juniors and seniors carry an additional course.

Four-year students are required to take the following yearlong courses:

• English: 4
• Foreign language: 3, or demonstrated third-year proficiency. French, Spanish, Latin, and Chinese are offered. Students who enter George School already fluent in a language other than English may take courses from other subject areas in lieu of foreign language.
• History: 3, including U.S. History. All freshmen take Global Interdependence.
• Laboratory science: 3 (or the equivalent), which must include one physical science and one life science course.
• Mathematics: 3, including Algebra 2 and geometry.
• Arts: 3 (or the equivalent). Theater arts, stagecraft, painting and drawing, ceramics, woodworking, sculpture, video production, communication design, photography, instrumental music, choral music, music theory, and dance are offered.
• Religion/Health/Theory of Knowledge: 2 yearlong equivalents: 3 term courses in Spiritual Practices and Holistic Health in the sophomore year, followed by 3 term courses in Religion and/or Theory of Knowledge in the junior or senior year.

• Physical education each term (seniors may take one term off). A team sport fulfills the term’s physical education requirement. Freshmen and new sophomores must play at least two team sports; juniors must play at least one team sport; seniors must complete at least one athletic or arts-related “team activity.”
• On-campus community service: a minimum of 60 minutes per week doing kitchen work, classroom cleaning, clerical work, or a specialized assignment.
• Off-campus community service: a 65-hour project in the form of a school-sponsored domestic or international service program, or an independent project. Sites for recent school-sponsored service trips have included New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Mississippi, the Navajo Nation in Arizona, China, Cuba, Costa Rica, France, Ghana, South Korea, Nicaragua, and Vietnam.

RIGOR OF ACADEMIC PROGRAM 
In representing to colleges the rigor of our students’ academic programs, College Guidance designates each student’s junior and senior year program as demanding, very
demanding, or most demanding.

Demanding: A student whose program is designated as demanding typically completes the following during the junior and senior year:

• American Literature and IB SL World Literature
• U.S. History
• Foreign language through at least the third year
• At least one full-year biology or chemistry course
• Math courses that cover Algebra 2 as well as trigonometry and/or statistics
• Required art and religion courses

Very demanding: The student whose program is designated as very demanding typically completes all or most of the following during the junior and senior year:

• American Literature and IB SL or HL World Literature 
• Accelerated U.S. History
• An “intensive” foreign language course through at least the third year
• Physics, or an IB or AP science course
• A precalculus course
• Required art and religion courses

Most demanding: A student whose program is designated as most demanding typically completes all or most of the following during the junior and senior year:

• IB HL Advanced American Literature and IB HL World Literature
• AP U.S. History and/or an IB history course
• A fourth-year IB (or IB/AP) foreign language course
• At least one AP or IB science course
• A calculus course
• Required art and religion courses

In addition, juniors and seniors taking our most demanding program typically complete at least one of the following:

• An academic course overload in the junior or senior year
• A fifth-year IB/AP Spanish, French, or Latin course
• An AP or IB arts course
• AP Statistics, AP Calculus, or IB HL Math 2: Calculus 
• A second AP or IB science course

By senior year, most IB Diploma candidates are taking our most demanding program. Many IB diploma candidates complete their math or foreign language sequence in the
junior year.

SPECIAL CURRICULA 
International Baccalaureate: The program was introduced in 1985. In May 2011, 140 students sat for a total of 455 IB examinations. All 45 diploma candidates in the Class of
2011 earned their IB Diplomas (including three bilingual diplomas), with an average point total of 32. Students’ point totals ranged from 24 to 38. Currently about 40 seniors and 50 juniors are enrolled in the full IB Diploma Program.

Advanced Placement: Juniors and seniors (and some sophomores) enroll in AP courses with departmental permission. Courses are offered in 2011-2012 (including some designated as IB) that prepare students for the following AP exams: Studio Art, Biology, Calculus AB, Chemistry, English Literature, English Language, French Language, Human Geography (open to sophomores and juniors only), Latin (Vergil), Physics C, Spanish Language, Statistics, and U.S. History. In May 2011, 146 students took 208 AP exams. Seventy-six percent of these exams (159 total) received scores of 3 or better: 

• 36 exams (17%) received a score of 5
• 63 exams (30%) received a score of 4
• 60 exams (29%) received a score of 3 

English as a Second Language: Introduced in 1989, the program enrolls about 20 students each year. Students are expected to take a mainstream English class by senior year in order to graduate.

Please visit the Academics section for course descriptions and for more detail about requirements, special curricula, and College Guidance.

HONORS AND AWARDS
Head of School’s List: Recognizes commitment to excellence (based on attitude, effort, initiative, and preparation) of students who have been nominated in a single term by at least five staff members (at least three must be classroom teachers).

Honor Roll: Recognizes students with no grade below a B, or a B+ average with no grade below C.

GRADING AND RELATED PROCEDURES
Grading Scale: Grades of A through F (including + and -) are given in all academic and arts courses. Physical education and community service are graded S (satisfactory), D (unsatisfactory), and F. An I denotes incomplete. D- is the lowest passing grade.

Grade Reporting: First-term grades are reported at the end of November, second-term grades in mid-March, and final grades in June. Special midyear grades for seniors only are reported in early February. In yearlong courses, grades at the end of each term are cumulative for the year.

Rank in Class and GPA: George School does not compute class rank or release GPA. 

STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES
Nearly 100% of George School students take the SAT Reasoning Test. The middle 50% score ranges for the Class of 2011 were Critical Reading 550-690, Mathematics 550-
690, and Writing 550-680. About one third of the Class of 2011 also took the ACT; the middle 50% range of their composite scores was 22-28. Approximately 18% of the students in the class are not native English speakers.

NATIONAL MERIT RECOGNITION
The Class of 2011 included ten National Merit Commended Students.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AT WHICH THE CLASSES OF 2007–2011 MATRICULATED
Highlighted below are those at which five or more students matriculated. Click here to view the full list of colleges and universities from which George School graduates from the Classes of 2007-2011 have matriculated.

American University
Bates College
Boston University
Brandeis University
Bryn Mawr College
Carnegie Mellon University
College of William and Mary
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Dickinson College
Drexel University
Franklin & Marshall College
George Washington University
Goucher College
Guilford College
Ithaca College
Lehigh University
Loyola University New Orleans
McGill University (Canada)
New York University
Northeastern University
Oberlin College
Pennsylvania State University/University Park
Purdue University
Rutgers University/New Brunswick
Smith College
Stanford University
Susquehanna University
Syracuse University
Temple University
Tulane University
University of Chicago
University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Vermont
Ursinus College
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
West Chester University

The George School Profile is available as a PDF file.