Throughout the past couple years, many students from area public schools have made the switch to private schools, resulting both from personal preferences and COVID issues.

Many people prefer a public schooling system and see benefits such as larger student body, cheaper tuition, and the absence of a uniform. Although, recent transfers to the Mount feel the advantages of a private education outweigh that of a public school system.

Over the course of the 2021-2022 school year, 22 students transferred to Mount, 5 of which came from public schools.

One such student, Hannah Scheaefer ‘23, feels that the environment at a private school encourages a challenging work ethic and closer student community due to having a smaller group of students who push each other to grow. Hannah transferred to Mount after her freshman year at Abington high school and pointed out that since her arrival she puts more effort into her work and feels more comfortable with her peers.

Another factor motivating private school transfers is the long-lasting issue of COVID. While every school managed the pandemic in a different way, students such as Molly Maywood ‘24 noticed greater success in maintaining a strong learning environment at private schools.

After coming to the Mount, Molly was able to meet and communicate with teachers one-on-one much easier than she had in public school. Private school teachers often have smaller classes and benefit from additional resources for online classrooms.

An interesting point of view also comes from teachers who have experienced both public and private schooling. Mrs. Fabrey, an English teacher at the Mount, previously taught at a public school before coming to Mount.

Mrs. Fabrey mentioned that she felt the biggest difference between public and private schools is the mindset saying that, “At Mount, I feel like we place our focus, first and foremost, on how we can support and uplift our students– as a public school teacher I didn’t always get to do that.”

While it is impossible to say if every teacher follows this pattern, it is also an extremely important point of view for possible transfers to consider.

The recent rise in Mount transfer students could be due in part to learning environment preferences which depend solely on the individual.