School Fit
Decide whether Loomis Chaffee fits your student
Look past selectivity to the daily life of a boarding and day school.
Checked against Loomis Chaffee's published admissions pages on November 5, 2026.
School fit
Is Loomis Chaffee a fit?
- The school
- Loomis Chaffee is an independent college preparatory boarding and day school in Windsor, Connecticut, chartered in 1874.
- The campus
- The school has 748 students on a 300-acre campus: 519 boarding students (70%) and 229 day students (30%).
- Class size and courses
- The average class has 11 students. The school offers 266 courses, 84 of them advanced or college-level.
- Faculty and activities
- The school lists a 4:1 student to faculty ratio, 75-plus clubs and 59 interscholastic teams.
- A global community
- Students come from 31 U.S. states and 47 countries. The school counts 101 international students, defined as students who need an I-20.
- 01
Ask your student what kind of classroom they want, and let them answer honestly.
- 02
Visit or interview online, and ask what a typical week looks like.
Boarding life
What boarding and day life ask of a student.
- Dorms
- There are 13 dormitories and 42 in-dorm faculty families. Each dorm is home to between 30 and 50 students.
- Rooms
- Most dorm rooms are doubles or singles, and dorms have common kitchens and social rooms.
- Dining
- Boarding students eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Scanlan Campus Center, with allergen-free options.
- Day students
- There are 229 day students from 42 towns and cities.
- Day student meals
- Day students have lunch on campus every day and are welcome at meals seven days a week.
- Evenings for day students
- On school nights, students may stay on campus through evening study hall. Day students may apply in the fall term to be an honorary resident of a dorm.
- Getting to school
- Loomis does not provide daily transportation to or from school for day students. The online school directory helps families find carpools nearby.
- School day
- There are four class periods each day, Monday through Friday. On Wednesdays classes are shorter and end at 12:40 p.m., and the afternoon is for athletics and activities.
- 01
Talk through the routines your student manages without reminders, such as sleep, study and laundry.
- 02
Decide how you will handle distance, weekends and check-ins, then ask the school how it handles them.
- 03
If you apply as a day family, plan your own carpool or ride before the first week.