Pace Academy

One report further down states the students here are more liberal then their parents (while failing to notice that several of my classmates have written reviews on this). Well here's ANOTHER CURRENT-STUDENT PROSPECTIVE:

Pace children are born-to-be conservatives with the exception of a very select few including me. Some kids make me downright sick to my stomach with their staunch homophobia and SEXISM. The only kids who have a good time here are the white male heterosexual students with their preppy little girlfriends. The clique and bullying problems here are phenomenal. You got to be perfect, thin, athletic, so called attractive and attend all sport games with P-A-C-E stamped across your forehead in blue paint to even be considered normal.

The school doesn't have wealthy-wealthy billionaire families, or multi-multi-millionaires families. Maybe a FEW families with some millions but not, like, $50+ million, really. Mostly upper middle class families, not super-classy 150-room mansion families. It cost only $15-18 thousand/per year to attend, not $32-45 thousand/a year + other fees like much much much more prestigious U.S. schools.

I believe crummy academics, overrated art programs, bad college matriculation and bad sports programs have already been covered by other (thankfully) honest reviewers. Still considering sending your children to Pace? Then prepare to see them more depressed then you've ever thought one person could be, and watch them walk off to the oh-so-prestigious colleges of Ferman and Clemson and Southern Methodist!

I'm so tired of people calling Pace one of the nation's most prestigious. The school has NEVER ranks anywhere in Ivy and elite college matriculation lists, like the highly noted one the WSJ conducts. Kids here usually go to schools in the South like U. Georgia or Kentucky or Southern Baptist. The art programs are way overrated and may I point out their is no well-known actor that has come out of Pace, only very few actors that are (barley) known for regional theatre or a (very) minor television role. Add to actors, NO nationally-acclaimed visual artists or dancers or musicians or writers. Now Pace's competition, Westminster, has a sizable Ivy League matriculation (with the nation's largest non-boarding endowment) and a handful of notable artistic alumni (including Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone With the Wind; Shuler Hensley, a noted Broadway actor; Brian Baumgartner, Emmy Award-winning actor and regular on the critically-acclaimed television series The Office). Rigid, hollow and born-to-serve the Young Republicans, prepare yours kids to be homophobic, conservative rats who will not be prepared for the real world beyond the overdone Pace Academy campus.

While criticized as being elite and stuffy, this Atlanta treasure is one of the best private schools in the country. But do not listen to the jilted families, visit for yourself and see the facility, faculty and students. Great academics and superb enrichment programs, Pace is dedicated to the whole child and cranks out well educated, and more importantly, well rounded graduates. Each of the schools has its own vibe and Pace's is one of joy!

We sent our kids to Pace's specialty camps: chess & drama. The camps were well-organized and fun and our kids can't wait to return.

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A graduate of this school (and now a education major at a NYC college), I have problems with the school's curriculum. Pace falls short in challenging academics. Their AP programs are just okay, and regular classes can be below average. Parents are required to put in a lot to the school. Very peppy-school where kids are only lightly prepared for the real world after high school. You certainly don't here about major people coming out of Pace, just a minor stage actor or a silly baseball player. Not giant moguls or big-time actors (which is weird because the school claims to have one of the best art programs in the nations, which, compared to most private schools across the East Coast I've gotten the pleasure of visiting for my private study on independent schools, Pace's arts, as well as academics and athletics, are no where close to being a great, at all). These East Coast kids go to Harvard and MIT and NYU (and are much more tolerable toward LGBT student and speaking-out then Pace kids), while Pace kids traditionally go to U. Georgia, Georgina Tech, U. Virginia, and Kentucky.

This schools is horrible and has not changed. Art programs suck even though they claim to have the one of the best in the Southeast. bull. They say they have strong connection's with London's RADA. complete bull. They say their one of the top private schools in the nation. absolute BULL BULL BULL. Very low SATs compared to fellow Atlanta private schools like Westminster. The art director can't direct a play for anything. The headmaster's rude and apparently no women parents here work so the school expects them to help out 24/7, and get angry with me that I have a career. Very homophobic student body who all like to hate and bully, and a bad athletics program. Not enough AP exams and bad college matriculation. Included in their top ten schools for 04-06? Virginia, Auburn, Southern Methodist, Florida State, Kentucky, and Washington and Lee. No lie. The only remotely good schools in the top ten were Duke, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt. Very low Ivy matriculation. The Upper School is overcrowded. In the kindergarten, their are 40-50 kids. in the 12th grade their is nearly 100 kids. Classes get more crowded as the grades go on, jumping in the Lower School at approx. 12 to approx. 20 in the Upper School. Just a horrible school.

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As a current student, the school website does NOT state true facts. If the school's facts were true, then why would so many people be on here trying to tell people the truth? Pace's college advising program isn't very good. It will be tough to get accepted to Cornell for me at this school with their low AP class selections. The school academics are fairly easy and not as challenging as the school website boasts. The school is actually cheap compared to East Coast schools that cost 30-40 grand a year. As a current student with a different sexuality then others, it is very tough to fit in. There is no Gay/Straight Alliance or diversity club, so I can't meet students who support LGBT rights, so i'm forced to mingle with homophobs (headmaster puts a strong emphasis on "family values" with his four hundred children, and probably to him homosexuals are sinners and non-family-like, and yes, this school puts a very strong emphasis on the conservative judeo-christian beliefs (stated on their old website, and this is actually the only true fact on there). One of my classes has just over twenty students and almost all of classes are large with almost 20 students. I really can't stand this school, it academics, or homophobs, let alone the faculty who can be very stiff and tough to approach.

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Well, this school isn't as good as it boasts. it's art programs are okay but not one of the best in the southeast like they claim, just average with an overdone fine arts center.

Yes, this school is more on the conservative side (i.e. no LGBT alliances or feminist clubs).

Academics are better then public schools, I guess. But Pace isn't the nationally ranked school they think they are. I mean, the school website says that Stanford is one of their top attended schools, but the college profile says otherwise, and it's pretty sad.

I graduated in the class of 2006 and that was only two years ago.

As a current student, the school website does NOT state true facts. If the school's facts were true, then why would so many people be on here trying to tell people the truth? Pace's college advising program isn't very good. It will be tough to get accepted to Cornell for me at this school with their low AP class selections. The school academics are fairly easy and not as challenging as the school website boasts. The school is actually cheap compared to East Coast schools that cost 30-40 grand a year. As a current student with a different sexuality then others, it is very tough to fit in. There is no Gay/Straight Alliance or diversity club, so I can't meet students who support LGBT rights, so i'm forced to mingle with homophobs (headmaster puts a strong emphasis on family values with his four hundred children, and probably to him homosexuals are sinners and non-family-like, and yes, this school puts a very strong emphasis on the conservative judeo-christian beliefs (stated on their old website, and this is actually the only true fact on there). One of my classes has just over twenty students and almost all of classes are large with almost 20 students. I really can't stand this school, it academics, or homophobs, let alone the faculty who can be very stiff and tough to approach.

And no. This school's AVERAGE art programs have NO connection with RADA like the school website says on the theatre director's page.

I just wanted to point out that a number of the most negative reviews about Pace Academy on this website are using statistics and citing facts that are either distorted or simply not true. I would suggest reading through Pace's website, or visiting the school yourself.

(The fact that one Anonymous post above rails against the academics at Pace while simultaneously misspelling numerous simple words should be a clue as the veracity of that posting.)

Pace does a wonderful job of getting students ready for university, and also has some first-rate art programs, service opportunities, and clubs. I will admit that it probably would be frustrating for students who do not do well in a rigorous and structured academic environment, or who need a lot of hand-holding. Some of the most brilliant graduates of Pace that I know had trouble coming in to the school in 7th grade because the academics were simply on such a higher level than they were used to.

As a past graduate, I couldn't have been happier with my time spent at Pace, and I feel that it prepared me quite well for college and law school. Also, unless things have changed in the past few years, the school is not simply a rich kid's club. The high cost inevitably provides for a student body that has more money on average than many other schools, but I came from a middle class background, and so did many of my classmates. As to the overwhelming conservative bias many posters complain of, I don't believe it is true. Many of my classmates were very liberal. I believe that parents (the ones writing most of these reviews) interact only with other parents (who are often much more conservative than their children). Thus, when they write these posts, they fail to understand that the students have many political leanings, and the mix leads to wonderful intellectual discussions for the students.

In any case, you shoul