120 Northfield Avenue
West Orange, New Jersey 07052
973.325.PREP
|  | | Q. | What are the average class sizes at Seton Hall Prep? | | A. | Approximately 940 students attend Seton Hall Prep. Even though we are one of the largest Catholic prep schools in the area, we have an average class size of 18.7 for the 2012-2013 school year. This means that your son will be getting the best of both environments. The size and diversity of the student body will prepare your son for the next step to a larger college or university, while providing him with an education outside of the classroom. The small class size fosters a more personal and focused learning environment, and with teachers who are thus able to grade meaningful assignemts.
Our school size not only provides your son with a diverse learning environment and the social skills he will need at the next level, it also affords us the ability to offer your son a variety of programs that other private schools cannot. It allows us to provide unique and diverse academic electives, a large menu of Advanced Placement courses (21), a wide variety of activities (71), including the concert band, jazz band, a capella chorus, chess club, a quiz bowl team, and a ski and snowboarding club, plus 15 athletic teams, most offering Freshman, JV, and Varsity levels. |
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| Q. | My son went to a small middle school. Will he be overwhelmed at Seton Hall Prep? | | A. | While all students are sure to be challenged by our curriculum, the majority of our students come from much smaller grammar and middle schools and, as mentioned in the previous answer, your son will still have that small school setting in the classroom while existing within a larger school context, including freshman year homerooms of only 11-12 students each. |
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| Q. | How will my son get to Seton Hall Prep? | | A. | Students at Seton Hall Prep come from over 130 different towns and from distances that range from ¼ mile to over 40 miles away. While many of our students are driven in, or carpool to the school, SHP does run 8 or 9 bus routes each year and though the bus routes change a little from year to year, the same general areas are serviced: North-West Essex Area, Bloomfield-Belleville-Nutley Area, West Hudson-South Bergen Area, Union County Area, Clifton-Montclair Area, North East Morris Area, Wayne-Totowa Area. In addition, East Hanover-Florham Park and Maplewood-South Orange run their own respective buses to Seton Hall Prep.
Over 200 students take NJ Transit trains to Seton Hall Prep on a daily basis. We pick the students up in the morning from Mountain Station in South Orange and bring them back there after school at 3 different times to accommodate activities and athletic practice schedules. Several students also take NJ Transit busing. There are three NJ Transit bus routes that drop-off and pick-up near Seton Hall Prep.
For more information regarding transportation, please click here. |
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| Q. | What courses are students able to take at Seton Hall Prep? | | A. | Seton Hall Prep offers a variety of courses giving our students a strong foundation in English, History, Math, Science, and Theology, while letting them choose a variety of electives, mainly in their Junior and Senior Years. Early on, choices are more limited to Foreign Language, and for students who play an instrument, to Physical Education or Band. In Junior and Senior years, a student can branch out to take a multitude of electives including Drawing, Cinema, Classics, Speech, Video Production, and a number of different Advanced Placement Courses.
To explore the avenues available to our students in our curriculum, visit the Curriculum pages in the Academic area of this site. |
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| Q. | What AP courses does Seton Hall Prep offer? | | A. | Seton Hall Prep offers 21 different Advanced Placement courses in a wide range or areas. In 2012, the list of AP course included Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Physics, Government & Politics, Art History, Micro Economics, English Language, English Literature/Composition, Environmental Science, Human Geography, Latin Vergil, Music Theory, Spanish Language, Statistics, Studio Art, US History, World History. To see descriptions of these courses, visit the Curriculum area of the Academics pages on this site.
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| Q. | Are there any Scholarships that students can receive that originate from outside sources? | | A. | Some students do receive "outside money" from various, foundations, parishes, community organizations and even from The Archdiocese of Newark through their Scholarship Fund (SFIC).
Here is an example of an outside scholarship being offered: http://www.sficnj.org/html/SFIC.html |
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| Q. | What is the daily schedule at Seton Hall Prep? | | A. | The school day at Seton Hall Prep goes from 8:45am to 2:45pm everyday. All classes run for 50 minutes each on a rotating schedule. Classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday begin at 8:45am and conclude at 2:45pm. On Thursday, the day begins with an Activity period from 8:45am until 9:35am and then classes take place from 9:35am until 2:45pm. There is also an Activity Period from 9:35am until 10:25am on Tuesday Morning after the first class of the day. The built-in Activity Periods occur twice a week (Tuesday 2nd period and Thursday 1st period) and are when the majority of students are in the building even though regular classes are not occurring during this time. This feature allows our numerous activities, clubs and organizations to meet and it also affords our teachers with the ability to hold some help classes during school hours.
The building opens at 6:00 am, with the Dining Hall starting to serve breakfast at 6:30am, and closes around 7:30 pm. Our Library and most computer work areas are open from 8:00am to 4:00pm. The entire school features free WiFi to students who can bring a laptop or tablet if they would like to access the internet on their own device. |
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| Q. | What percentage of Seton Hall Prep graduates go on to college? | | A. | Seton Hall Prep is college preparatory school with the goal that all of our students will go to the best colleges they can and excel while there. Somewhere between 99% and 100% go to college as we do occasionally have students who elect to enter the Armed Services right from high school. |
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