“GLADCHEMMS”: THE ACRONYM USED AS A MONIKER TO DENOTE THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS OF AMERICAN PREP SCHOOLS

“GLADCHEMMS” is a popular pseudo word that is used to refer to an elite cadre of college-preparatory, private boarding schools dotted around the Northeast United States. The ten schools whose first initials comprise the portmanteau are considered to be the most prestigious and selective secondary high schools in the country. They have long been associated with the upper classes of American society and are commonly viewed as bastions of privilege.

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ABOUT

The schools in question include: Groton; Lawrenceville; Andover; Deerfield; Choate; Hotchkiss; Exeter; Middlesex; Milton; and St. Paul’s. These are amongst the most prestigious schools in the world, some founded as academies of sciences and arts to educate future leaders of the United States, others emulating the English Public School tradition (see Rugby Group). Each of the member schools has a long and illustrious history with alumni lists that include many famous names from American political and social classes, Hollywood and the arts and titans of industry. The schools are all recognised as being at the cutting-edge of educational delivery and philosophy.

These schools, today, often operate needs-blinds admissions policies to ensure that the best and brightest minds are able to attend their institutions, regardless of background or means. They are known across the country as being producers of highly capable, rigorously and vigorously tested academics and athletes and have extremely successful track records of feeding pupils into the top colleges and universities in the United States and overseas.

The “GLADCHEMMS” acronym was devised in school admissions discussion forums as a means of identifying the upper echelon of the great prep schools in North America and has been widely accepted as a common term amongst admissions professionals, commentators and educational advisors, similar to other portmanteau terms such as “HADES” and “St. Grottlesex” (which include a number of the same schools in alternate groupings). Similarly, may of the schools also feature in common groupings, including the “Elite Eight” and the “Select 16“. The ten schools are all accredited members of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS). Whilst there is no formal association between all of the schools included under this moniker, many are members of the Eight Schools Association (ESA) and/or the Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO), as well as a host of global, elite school associations (such as the Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG), Leading Schools of the World (LSW), the G30 Schools, the World Leading Schools Association (WLSA) or the Global Connections Foundation). All of the schools except Groton and Middlesex are members of the Independent School Innovation Consortium (ISIC), a consortium of more than twenty of the most renowned schools in the country which was created to advance standards in schools innovation and establishing metrics to support college admissions. Nonetheless, Groton and Middlesex, together with various other elite boarding schools have participated in ISIC sponsored studies.

To find out more about a “GLADCHEMMS” school, you might like to get in touch with your preferred school, as listed below.

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MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

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