Brief Overview

The Masters School is a coeducational, college preparatory school located on 96 wooded acres, just 30 minutes north of New York City. At our school students and teachers make full use of great campus facilities as well as one of the most exciting classrooms in the world--New York City. As a boarding and day school, this is a place of high standards, great achievement, and hard work. But this is also a place of creativity, diversity, and fun. Teachers and students from all over the world enjoy the range of ideas exchanged at The Masters School. The curriculum is challenging. The athletic teams are competitive and accomplished. The arts program is exceptional. An engagement with the School's community service program has been a guiding principle since the School's founding in 1877.

At The Masters School, boarding students from 16 countries join students from 16 American states in feeling fully at home. The teachers come from all over the world, too. Students and teachers together represent an impressive variety of cultural, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and comprise a community distinctive in its diversity and in its acceptance of each person in it.

*Dobbs Ferry, New York is less than one hour from three international airports (LaGuardia, JFK, Newark).

Academics

The Harkness method of teaching encourages students to participate in their education by taking an active role and responsibility for their own learning. Based around large oval tables, classes are taught in seminar format. The principle of teaching around tables is to engage students in the learning process by inspiring them to prepare thoroughly, participate daily, solve problems collaboratively, explore divergent ideas, challenge assumptions, and when appropriate, lead class discussions. At a Harkness table viewpoints are shared and differences revealed and dissected, and with one in every classroom and science lab, classes are taught in the most mind-broadening way possible.

Faculty and Advisors

• 90 full-time faculty members
• 70% have advanced degrees
• Average class size - 14 students
• Faculty/Student ratio - 1:6

Curriculum Highlights

Each year students tackle something interesting and different as part of their core curriculum. Signature programs at The Masters School include: “City Project,” a unit of Freshman World History I, takes students into New York City to compare aspects of modern-day urban life with those of the ancient world. The ninth grade Humanities course exposes freshmen to units of drama, dance, music, and visual arts. As part of their World History II course, the entire sophomore class participates in Model United Nations. Sophomores also study World Religions, exploring how various traditions affect culture, politics, history, and psychology.

Juniors can take American Studies, an interdisciplinary course in which they make connections between history, literature, politics, economics, philosophy, media, and other aspects of American culture. This is also the year in which many begin taking advantage of the AP course opportunities or enrolling in junior/senior electives such as Seminars in Science and Art History.

Seniors can choose from a full complement of electives like Political Science, Economics, and Introduction to Psychology, as well as a range of English seminars—African American and Immigrant Literature, Shakespeare, Memorable Women, and many more. Seniors can also take Masters Thesis, a guided independent scholarly research project. Each semester several students join students from all over the country at CITYterm, a New York City experience-based program founded by and hosted at The Masters School.

College Placement

Students engage as fully in the college search process as they do in all other aspects of their life at The Masters School. Beginning in sophomore year, and accelerating through junior and senior years, the School’s full-time counselors work closely with individual students to guide them through this period of self-exploration. The counselors help them articulate their interests, skills, and aspirations and link these with a range of appropriate colleges and universities.

10 Most Commonly Attended Universities in 2008 and 2009 (alphabetical order):

• Carnegie Mellon University
• University of Chicago
• Cornell University
• The George Washington University
• Georgetown University
• Hamilton College
• Harvard University
• John Hopkins University
• New York University
• Tufts University

Percentage of graduates who go on to colleges, universities, or service academies: 100

Co-Curricular Opportunities

Arts, Athletics, Clubs, Dance, Drama, Music, and so much more...
For a complete list of our athletic and co-curricular offerings, please visit our website at www.mastersny.org