Character
Mercersburg Academy is an independent college-preparatory school that provides an outstanding education to academically strong boarding and day students. The School's academic tradition dates to 1836 when Marshall College was founded here. On campus, stately traditional architecture blends with bold, modern buildings as a manifestation of our respect for our proud history and our palpable excitement about what’s great about today’s Mercersburg—a place that affirms each student, while setting the stage for intellectual and personal transformation.
Location
The Academy is situated on a gorgeous 300-acre campus in historic Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, between two mountain ranges. The campus offers easy access to plentiful outdoor recreation—and it’s just 90 minutes from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. Students at Mercersburg enjoy luxurious spaciousness; the Academy has more room per student than virtually any other independent school in the United States.
Students
Students come to Mercersburg from 28 nations, 28 states and the District of Columbia. Of our 433 current students, 54 percent are boys and 46 percent are girls. More about our students…
Faculty
Sixty-eight percent of Mercersburg’s 97 faculty members hold advanced degrees. Faculty members include an ornithologist who loves owls and hawks, an expert belayer, a mathematician who teaches robotics, published poets, an NCAA basketball player, an expert linguist—and other professionals who share a love of intellectual engagement and teaching adolescents.
Student–Faculty Ratio
The student–faculty ratio is 5 to 1, and the average class has 12 students. Classes range in size from 1 to 18.
Academics
Demanding college-preparatory courses range from art history and world religions to field biology. Mercersburg typically offers approximately 35 AP and honors courses each year. During the 2006-2007 school year, we had 48 AP Scholars; 168 Scholars have been named in the past five years.
Tuition & Financial Aid
For 2007–2008, tuition costs are $39,100 for boarding students and $32,200 for day students. Approximately 41.8 percent of students receive financial aid the total financial aid budget is $4.25 million.
Athletics
Mercersburg Academy has a strong athletic tradition. Nearly 40 Mercersburg students went on to compete in the Olympics (and nine won gold medals). Today, Mercersburg is a member of the co-ed Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) and fields teams in 14 men's sports, 14 women's sports, and one co-ed sport. More than 75 percent of students participate in interscholastic sports.
Arts & Culture
The performing and visual arts are integral components of a Mercersburg education. Highlights include three major theater productions each year, four vocal performance groups, three instrumental performance groups, and the music club—not to mention the many courses offered by the fine arts department, whose advanced teaching technologies support the Academy’s commitment to celebrating the arts.
The $28-million Burgin Center for the Arts, which opened in fall 2006, features 65,500 square feet of performing- and visual-arts space.
Academic Resources
The Academy boasts more than 400 school computers for student and faculty use; the Lenfest Library contains 55,000 volumes and provides access to a range of electronic databases, including LexisNexis, Grove Art Online, the Scientific American Archive, and the Literature Resource Center. The Writing Center and Learning Center offer students face-to-face academic support. Other exceptional resources include the Burgin Center for the Arts with its digital art and music labs, dedicated rehearsal and practice spaces for performing arts, and studio-arts classrooms—and the state-of-the-art Class of ’38 Observatory.
Special Programs
Options include School Year Abroad (France, Spain, Italy, China), and English Speaking Union (Britain). Spring-break trips for education and community service have taken students to China, Costa Rica, Germany, and other countries. Mercersburg’s emphasis on international education also takes advantage of Washington, D.C., and its embassies.
Mercersburg Alumni
Notable alumni include 48 Olympians (with nine gold medalists), three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, seven Rhodes scholars, three Fulbright scholars, one Nobel Prize winner, two Academy Award winners, one Emmy Award winner, and one Golden Globe winner.
Recent graduates are enrolled at 45 of the top 50 colleges and universities in the nation (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report).
