How safe is the school, really — beyond what the marketing says?
Based on the school’s own pages and letters and on press coverage, Milton Academy lists a Campus Safety line answered around the clock, a health center and a counseling center, and it disclosed in 2017 an independent investigation that found four former employees had engaged in sexual abuse or misconduct with students in the 1970s and 1980s; the school apologised, formed a Healing and Safety Oversight Committee and hired RAINN to review its policies. The pages we read give no current incident, discipline or climate-survey counts.
| Item | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Campus Safety | A line answered 24 hours a day, (617) 898-2911; the school also lists a health center and a counseling center, and its 2017 letter names an online reporting service | School contact page; 2017 letter |
| 2017 findings | A nine-month independent investigation by T&M Protection Resources, disclosed in February 2017, found that four former employees had engaged in sexual abuse or misconduct with students in the 1970s and 1980s, one former teacher having abused up to 12 students; the school’s later letter reported up to six more students, and that 51 people had contacted the investigators after the first letter | 2017 letter; Wikipedia, citing the Boston Globe |
| The school’s response | The letter says “The School failed in its duty to protect these young people”; the school formed a Healing and Safety Oversight Committee, hired RAINN to review policies, procedures and training, and gave its board’s Risk and Audit Committee a regular review of student safety | 2017 letter |
| Court outcome | The former teacher was indicted after extradition from Thailand, the charges were reinstated on appeal in 2020, and he pleaded guilty in 2022 to two counts of child rape with force | Wikipedia, citing the Patriot Ledger and the Boston Globe |
| 2005 | The school expelled five members of the boys’ varsity ice hockey team over sexual conduct with a 15-year-old student; all five were indicted, and the charges against the three older students were dropped in exchange for an apology, community service and probation | Wikipedia, citing local press and a court decision |
| 2014 | Police investigated racially charged hate letters sent to teachers; the author was unknown when the story ran on 10 December 2014, and no outcome was found | Boston 25 News |
| Current figures | No discipline, absenteeism or climate-survey figures found; the school profile notes that an expulsion appears on a student’s transcript | 2025–26 school profile |
These are historical and third-party accounts, and the most recent event above is the 2022 plea; none shows how safe a student has been this year. The school’s important-work page refers to an outside assessment by RAINN without giving its year or its recommendations, and we found no published safety or emergency plan. Niche reports that 65% of the students it polled feel safe at school; we do not know how many were polled.
Ask the school for its latest student climate-survey results, how a student or parent reports a concern and who receives it, what RAINN recommended and what has been done since, and what its current safeguarding training for adults covers.
What’s the true total cost — tuition plus fees, room/board if applicable — and how has it moved over the last 3–5 years?
Based on the school’s 2026–27 tuition pages, a year at Milton Academy costs $69,900 for an Upper School day student and $79,900 for a boarder, and $50,500 in Kindergarten to Grade 3, $54,500 in Grades 4 and 5 and $68,500 in Grades 6 to 8; the Upper School charges no mandatory fees, and we found no earlier year with a stated date, so how the price has moved is not shown.
| Item | 2026–27 |
|---|---|
| Tuition, Upper School day (Classes I–IV) | $69,900 |
| Tuition, Upper School boarding | $79,900 |
| Tuition, Kindergarten–Grade 3 | $50,500 |
| Tuition, Grades 4–5 | $54,500 |
| Tuition, Grades 6–8 | $68,500 |
| Included in Lower and Middle School tuition | Tuition insurance, lunch, books and supplies, field trips |
| Upper School books and supplies | Billed to the student’s incidental account by class selection; no amount stated |
| Bus, Upper and Middle School, optional | $3,700 full year round trip; $2,675 one direction |
| Bus, Lower School, optional | $3,495 full year round trip; $2,500 one direction |
The Upper School says it charges a single annual tuition that includes tuition insurance and no mandatory fees, with additional charges for bus service, music lessons, cultural exchanges and pre-season athletic trips. The application fee is $65 for domestic applicants and $125 for international ones, and the admissions FAQ refers to payment plans through FACTS; the tuition page does not mention them.
The tuition page reports a $16.5 million aid budget, 37% of Upper School students receiving aid and an average grant of 77% of tuition, and says the school strives to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Aid is need-based and applied for through Clarity for a $65 submission fee: a new family applies before 31 January, and a current family reapplies by 15 December. The Quick Facts page gives 35% of students and 75%, and an older FAQ page gives $67,900 for day and $77,900 for boarding with no year, so the school’s own pages disagree; we use the tuition pages, which state the year.
Ask the school what tuition was in each of the last five years, how much it expects to raise it next year, and what a family at your income would pay after aid.
How qualified and stable are the teachers — credentials, average tenure, turnover?
Based on the school’s Quick Facts page and 2025–26 school profile, Milton Academy has 183 faculty from Kindergarten to Grade 12 who have served an average of 11.5 years, 84 of them living on campus, and 137 full-time faculty in the Upper School; the school states a student-to-teacher ratio of 5 to 1 and an average class of 14, and publishes no degree or turnover figure.
| Measure | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty, Kindergarten–Grade 12 | 183, with an average of 11.5 years of service | Quick Facts |
| Residential faculty | 84, a ratio of 4 boarding students to each | Quick Facts |
| Upper School full-time faculty | 137 in 2025–26; 144 in 2023–24 | School profiles |
| Student-to-teacher ratio | 5 to 1; average class of 14 | Quick Facts; school profile |
| Degrees, certifications, turnover | Not published | — |
| Third-party ratios | Niche 7 to 1; Private School Review 6 to 1 | Niche; Private School Review (third party) |
Both third-party ratios are higher than the school’s own. From the school’s numbers we get about 5.6 students for each faculty member across the school (1,020 students and 183 faculty) and about 5.2 in the Upper School (710 and 137), our arithmetic, which is close to the school’s figure; the school does not say how it counts. Department pages list teachers by name, but we found no degree or experience statistics, and the science and mathematics faculty pages could not be opened.
Ask the school how many teachers joined and left last year, what share hold advanced degrees, and who teaches the computer science and science electives.
What’s the graduation rate, and how college-ready are graduates?
Based on the school’s matriculation page, 42 colleges and universities appear for 2024 to 2026, led by Harvard (32), Brown (19) and Georgetown (19); Milton Academy publishes no graduation rate in the pages we read, and its 2025–26 profile reports 183 graduates in the Class of 2025, who went on to 75 colleges.
| Measure | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Graduation rate | Not published | — |
| Class of 2025 | 183 graduates, enrolled at 75 colleges | School profile |
| Matriculations, 2024–2026 | 42 institutions listed; the counts sum to 379 (our arithmetic) | Matriculation page |
| Largest counts | Harvard 32; Brown 19; Georgetown 19; Northeastern 16; Boston College 15; Chicago 15 | Matriculation page |
| Science and engineering colleges | Cornell 8; MIT 7; Stanford 7; Carnegie Mellon 6; Berkeley 5 | Matriculation page |
| Grades and ranking | No grade-point average or class rank published; Class IV grades do not appear on the transcript | School profile |
| SAT and ACT | Niche: SAT average 1440 from 259 respondents, ACT 32; Private School Review: SAT 1414 | Niche; Private School Review (third party) |
The page says it lists schools with more than four matriculations over three years, yet eight of the 42 show exactly four, and it does not give the number of graduates in those years, so a count cannot be turned into a share. The Class of 2023 sent 192 graduates to 87 colleges on the 2023–24 profile. The Niche averages rest on the students who reported a score, and the two third-party SAT figures differ.
Ask the school what share of each class graduates, how many students leave before graduating, and where students who apply outside the colleges named above enroll.
Which future-critical STEM fields is this school genuinely strong in—and which ones are major gaps?
On our review of the school’s pages, robotics, biotechnology and computer science are in the Excellent band at Milton Academy, each at Level 4 (advanced); AI and data, clean energy, Earth systems and aerospace are Developing at Level 3 (structured); advanced manufacturing is Weak at Level 2 (thin); and cybersecurity and battery storage are Weak at Level 1 (lacking). Our overall readiness figure is 62/100, which reads Developing.
| Field | Provision | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Robotics | Excellent | 4.0/5 |
| Biotechnology | Excellent | 4.0/5 |
| Computer science | Excellent | 4.0/5 |
| AI & data | Developing | 3.0/5 |
| Clean energy | Developing | 3.0/5 |
| Earth systems | Developing | 3.0/5 |
| Aerospace | Developing | 3.0/5 |
| Advanced manufacturing | Thin | 2.0/5 |
| Cybersecurity | Lacking | 1.0/5 |
| Battery storage | Lacking | 1.0/5 |
Level 4 means sustained progression into sophisticated work. Biotechnology reaches it through a two-semester Molecular Genetics sequence in which students clone and sequence a gene and run RNAi experiments, and an annual Science Symposium of student-designed experiments; computer science through CS1 and CS2 and project courses in applications, artificial intelligence and applied engineering; and robotics through a club of more than 90 students whose teams the school reports at regional championships. The Level 3 fields rest on named courses, and the lower ones on a single unit, a topic inside an elective or a room of equipment; our review does not count a building as teaching.
Seven of fifteen future-critical domains reach Level 3 or above, and the readiness figure is 18 points short of Strong. Most of the advanced work sits in the Upper School. Ask the school which of these courses and teams run this year.
How strong is this school in AI, data science and computer science compared with other schools?
Based on the school’s computer-science course list and curriculum page, Milton Academy teaches programming in Java through CS1 and CS2 (data structures, recursion, networking and web programming), then Advanced CS: Applications for iPhone and Android, Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence and CS: Applied Engineering & Design; our review grades computer science at Level 4 (Excellent) and AI and data at Level 3 (Developing), and found no dated computing competition result.
| Offer | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Programming | CS1, a half course in Java in which students build games; CS2, with data structures, recursion, networking and web programming, which needs the chair’s permission | Course list |
| Applications | Advanced CS: Applications, building iPhone and Android apps | Course list |
| AI | Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence, a project-based course in AI and data science that asks for only a basic knowledge of linear algebra; the curriculum page calls AI courses “popular” and says some are co-taught by industry professionals | Course list; curriculum page |
| Engineering | CS: Applied Engineering & Design, a project course in real-world problem solving | Course list |
| Data and mathematics | Honors Advanced Functions with CS; Advanced Statistical Methods; Advanced Topics: Probability | Mathematics page |
| Younger grades | Middle School: the engineering design process with digital fabrication tools, Web Foundations, AI: Brain Behind the Bot, Physical Computing with micro:bits and Creative Coding; Saturday Course: Scratch game design and Tinkercad (undated 2022 list) | Grade 7 page; Saturday Course list |
| Competitions | An annual Milton Hackathon, entries at MIT hackathons on the school’s account and one undated first-prize item; no USACO or similar result found | Curriculum page |
Our review grades every school on the same ladder and does not rank one against another, so this answer places Milton Academy on the ladder and not against named schools: computer science at Level 4 is advanced, AI and data at Level 3 is structured, with one project course in AI and data science and no club, competition or outside credential identified, and cybersecurity, graded separately, is Lacking. Milton describes itself as not an AP-driven school, and its 2025–26 profile lists one AP course, Latin Literature, so there is no AP computer science to check the level against. All students are introduced to programming in the mathematics course Proof and Problem Solving, and the department page lists three computer-science teachers.
Ask the school how many sections of each course run, who teaches the AI classes and what the industry co-teachers do, and whether Lower and Middle School students program every week.
How early does STEM begin, and does it become substantially more advanced as my child gets older?
Based on the school’s division pages and course lists, STEM at Milton Academy begins in the Lower School with science units on the solar system, climate, physics and anatomy and a robotics strand, grows through a Middle School sequence in biology, engineering design and computing, and becomes formal and advanced in the Upper School, where laboratory sciences end in a student-designed experiment, electives include Molecular Genetics, and computer science and mathematics reach project courses and Differential Forms and Calculus on Manifolds.
| Stage | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lower School, K–5 | Science on the solar system, climate, physics, anatomy and robotics, with the campus as a “living laboratory”; Grade 4 iPads and a digital-citizenship unit; Saturday Course for Kindergarten to Grade 8: Super Science, Create Your Own Computer Game in Scratch, Cool World 3D in Tinkercad, Robots Rule! on Lego Mindstorms and a Makerspace (undated 2022 list) | Lower School page; Saturday Course list |
| Middle School, 6–8 | Grade 7 biology covering cells, DNA and protein synthesis and genetics; a computer-science sequence of the engineering design process with digital fabrication tools, Web Foundations, AI: Brain Behind the Bot, Physical Computing and Creative Coding; the VEX robotics club shared with the Upper School | Grade 7 page; school articles |
| Upper School, 9–12 | Class IV Physics, then chemistry and biology, each ending in a student-designed experiment; Advanced Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Physics; electives including Molecular Genetics 1 and 2 and Organic Chemistry; CS1 and CS2 with applications, AI and applied engineering; mathematics from Proof and Problem Solving to Multivariable Calculus, Linear & Abstract Algebra and Differential Forms and Calculus on Manifolds | Science courses; computer science courses; mathematics page |
Milton Academy is a Kindergarten to Grade 12 school with a Lower and Middle School and an Upper School; boarding begins in Grade 9. The younger-grade sources are undated or list a Saturday programme that is separate from the school day, so we cannot say what each grade does this year, and the Lower and Middle School hours are not published. The advanced Upper School courses are open to Classes I and II or by the chair’s permission.
Ask which grade a student first programs every week, what the Lower and Middle Schools teach in computing and robotics this year, and how Middle School mathematics leads into the Upper School sequence.
Do students get access to advanced coursework, specialist electives and serious competitions?
Based on the school’s course lists and school profile, Milton Academy offers advanced courses in biology, chemistry, environmental science and physics, electives such as Molecular Genetics and neuroscience, mathematics beyond multivariable calculus, and computer science projects, but runs only one AP course, Latin Literature; the competition results we found are the school’s own reports, among them regional VEX robotics championships and New England Math League championships.
| Offer | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | Honors Advanced Functions with CS, Multivariable Calculus, Calculus and Applied Economics, Linear & Abstract Algebra, Advanced Statistical Methods and Advanced Topics in probability and in differential forms and calculus on manifolds | Mathematics page |
| Science | Advanced Biology (genome sequencing), Advanced Chemistry (nanotechnology, polymers), Advanced Environmental Science and Advanced Physics (experimental foundations of quantum mechanics); electives including neuroscience, Molecular Genetics 1 and 2, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, Cosmology and Modern Physics and Observational Astronomy | Science courses |
| Computer science | Advanced CS: Applications and Artificial Intelligence and CS: Applied Engineering & Design, with the chair’s permission | Course list |
| Research | Every full-year laboratory course ends with a student-designed experiment; advanced students present at an annual Science Symposium | Science courses; science department |
| Advanced Placement | One course, AP Latin Literature; the school labels courses Honors, Accelerated, Intensive or Advanced and says it is not an AP-driven school | 2025–26 school profile; science courses |
| Competitions | VEX robotics results from 2022 to 2024 and a Math Team with “back-to-back championships in the New England Math League, 2024 and 2025”, both the school’s reports; MIT hackathon entries; no Science Olympiad, Regeneron or USACO record found | School articles; mathematics page |
The science courses page says the school does not offer AP courses in English or the sciences, and the pages we read publish no enrolment for the advanced courses. The school’s own pages do not say how many students take the advanced electives, and the 2026–27 electives that run are not shown in the pages we could read.
Ask the school which advanced electives run this year and how many students take them, how it explains its course levels to colleges, and what the robotics and math teams have achieved since 2024.
Will your child be ready for jobs that don’t exist yet?
Here’s what the evidence actually shows for Milton Academy — not what the brochure claims.
62/100 — Developing overall. Milton Academy’s robotics, biotechnology and computer-science provision is advanced: a VEX robotics programme that more than 90 Upper and Middle School students join and whose teams the school reports at regional championships, Molecular Genetics courses in which students clone and sequence a gene and run RNAi experiments in C. elegans, and a computer-science sequence that runs from data structures and networking to project courses in artificial intelligence and mobile applications, with a student-designed experiment closing every full-year laboratory science course.
But: cybersecurity and battery storage are lacking, advanced manufacturing is thin, and the advanced work is mostly in the Upper School.
Best positioned forRobotics, Biotechnology, Computer Science
Underdeveloped inCybersecurity, Batteries, Advanced Manufacturing
Future-critical exposure7/15 domains
Very strong
- None
Strong
- Robotics
- Biotechnology
- Computer Science
Limited
- AI & Data
- Clean Energy
- Earth & Geospatial
- Aerospace
Little / no pathway
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Cybersecurity
- Batteries
Best fit for
Less ideal for
Where the marketing exceeds the evidence
No national award identified.
No industry co-teacher identified.
No dated hackathon result identified.
Where the school is stronger than its marketing suggests
Curriculum
- Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence is a project-based course in AI and data science that asks for only a basic knowledge of linear algebra, and advanced computer-science courses need the department chair’s permission (computer-science courses page); the 2026–27 catalogue title list includes AI and Machine Learning
- Mathematics adds Honors Advanced Functions with CS, Advanced Statistical Methods and Advanced Topics: Probability; the Middle School CS sequence includes “AI: Brain Behind the Bot” (Grade 7 page)
Evidence seen
- The computer-science curriculum page says AI courses are “popular among Milton students” and that students explore “machine learning ethics”
- Final projects listed by the department include a Milton Students app, a refrigerator-inventory app, an ESPN-style app and a game called Hot Potato
What's missing
- No AI club, competition entry or student project outside a course identified, and no named data-science course apart from the AI course
- The claim of industry co-teachers could not be matched to any course or teacher
Curriculum
- Grade 4 teaches “foundations of digital citizenship” to students with their own iPads (Lower School Grade 4 page)
Evidence seen
- Digital citizenship is a safe-use topic, not cybersecurity; it is the only provision found in any division
- A search of the school’s pages and of the web for a cybersecurity course, club or CyberPatriot team found none
What's missing
- No cybersecurity course, unit, club or competition record identified
- No Upper School unit on networks, cryptography or security was found in the computer-science course list, though CS2 covers networking
Curriculum
- VEX robotics is run as a club for the Middle and Upper Schools; the school says more than 90 students take part, and the Art & Media Center holds two robotics labs on its lower level, one for each division
- CS: Applied Engineering & Design is a project course in real-world problem solving; Lower School science includes robotics, and the Saturday Course offers Robots Rule! on Lego Mindstorms (undated 2022 sample-course list)
Evidence seen
- Centre Connection article (undated; December 2022 from its page archive): 11 students and 3 robots at the WAVE tournament at WPI, where one team finished 16th in robot skills and another won the Innovate Award; a tournament in Framingham with 21 students and 6 robots in which all six teams placed in the top 32 and both finalists qualified for the Southern New England regional
- School article on the Massachusetts STEM Week tournament that opened the 2023–24 season, with more than 30 teams: robot 1898A won the tournament and the skills challenge, qualified for the regional and ranked 58th in the world in skills
- An undated welcome-to-Milton page (2024) reports three teams at the regional championship in Bridgeport against about 100 teams, one sixth overall, another ranked tenth of more than 6,300 in world skills, and a Design Award; NBC Connecticut (27 February 2024) corroborates the event
What's missing
- No Milton result in the VEX event page and WPI report that could be read, and the RobotEvents team page could not be opened; every result above is the school’s own report
- No national award, World Championship result or result from the 2024–25 or 2025–26 season identified
Curriculum
- Issues in Environmental Science: Solutions for a Sustainable Future, an elective for Classes I and II, takes up renewable energy, urban farming, electric vehicles and climate change; Advanced Environmental Science covers Earth system science with fieldwork (science courses page)
- The school says environmental science is taught from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and that the Green Proctors, the Lorax Club and a Sustainability Board lead student energy and waste audits, a community garden and composting (sustainability page)
Evidence seen
- Solar panels on the Athletic & Convocation Center, which the school says meet about half of the building’s demand when the rink is not in use and produce 900 kWh on a sunny summer day; electric-vehicle charging in three lots; hot-water and photovoltaic panels on the Pritzker Science Center
- Schwarz Student Center, Warren Hall and Wigglesworth Hall are LEED certified and the Pritzker Science Center is LEED Silver; 4,812 light fixtures were replaced with LEDs in 2013
What's missing
- No energy-technology, grid or climate-technology course named, and the buildings are facilities, counted here for what students are taught with them
- The school’s own pages give the solar share as a range, from half to the whole of the building’s demand, and publish no campus energy or emissions total
Curriculum
- Molecular Genetics 1 (Classes I and II; clone and sequence a gene; PCR, ligation, bacterial transformation) and Molecular Genetics 2 (Drosophila genetics, RNAi in C. elegans, long-term laboratory projects); Advanced Biology (Class I, or with the chair’s permission) covers genome sequencing and evolution (science courses page)
- Neuroscience, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 and the half course Science in the Modern Age, on DNA technology; Grade 7 biology covers cells, DNA and protein synthesis and genetics
Evidence seen
- Every full-year laboratory course ends with a student-designed experiment, and advanced students present theirs at the annual Science Symposium; last year’s topics on the science department page include fin regeneration in zebrafish and RNAi in planaria
- The Pritzker Science Center, LEED Silver, houses the laboratories; a student testimonial on the science page describes learning to breed zebrafish and study their genetic traits
What's missing
- No outside credential or science-research recognition identified under the school’s name; the 2023–24 school profile says students conduct “substantial independent research projects” without naming one
- The course pages name techniques, not equipment, and no enrolment count for the Molecular Genetics sequence was found
Curriculum
- An introduction in Java through video-game development; CS1 and CS2 (data structures, recursion, networking and web programming), then Advanced CS: Applications (iPhone and Android), Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence and CS: Applied Engineering & Design; the advanced courses need the chair’s permission
- All students are introduced to programming in the mathematics course Proof and Problem Solving; the Middle School adds the engineering design process with digital fabrication tools, Web Foundations, Physical Computing with micro:bits and Creative Coding
Evidence seen
- An annual Milton Hackathon, a Programming Club and, on the school’s account, entries at MIT hackathons; the computer-science page also names guest speakers from local start-ups and research laboratories
- The 2025–26 school profile lists one Advanced Placement course, Latin Literature; Milton describes itself as not an AP-driven school, so there is no AP computer science to confirm the level against
What's missing
- No external credential and no computer-science competition record such as USACO identified; the one hackathon result is an undated school item
- Three computer-science teachers are listed on the department page; no degree or industry-experience figures are published
Creativity cannot be graded the way a course can. It can only be evidenced through what students made.
| Criterion | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art + technology | ||||
| Design | ||||
| Architecture | ||||
| Engineering design | ||||
| Media / digital production | ||||
| Maker learning | ||||
| Interdisciplinary projects |
Nothing found for
No student work was found evidencing these. For a school this well documented, an unrecorded programme is unlikely to be a large one.
What a family should ask about directly
- Cybersecurity and battery storage are lacking, and advanced manufacturing is thin: the evidence is a Grade 4 digital-citizenship unit, an electric-vehicle topic inside one environmental elective, a 3D-printer room and a project course in applied engineering. Ask which courses, units or clubs in those fields run in 2026–27.
- The Upper School carries the depth. Molecular Genetics and Advanced Biology are open only to Classes I and II, and below Grade 9 the evidence is a Middle School CS sequence, a robotics club and Saturday Course classes, several of them undated. Ask what each division teaches, from which grade a student programs weekly, and what the Lower School adds.
- The robotics results all come from the school’s own articles from 2022 to 2024, and the claim of “national awards” matches none of them. Ask for results by season, the division of each team and how many students compete as against attend.
- The school says some AI classes are co-taught by industry professionals. Ask which classes, in which year, and what the co-teachers do.
- Milton is not an AP-driven school: its 2025–26 profile lists one Advanced Placement course, Latin Literature, and labels courses Honors, Accelerated, Intensive or Advanced. Course depth is graded here from the course descriptions. Ask how colleges are told to read those labels.
- The priorities page describes a four-floor building on the south quad for robotics, computing and mathematics, and the Farokhzad Mathematics Center was dedicated in October 2024, while the Art & Media Center page still places the robotics labs on its lower level. Ask where robotics and computer science now meet, and whether there is a makerspace, none being named.
| Domain | Evidence class | Key sources |
|---|---|---|
| AI & Data | School-reported · Verified | Computer-science courses and curriculum pages (Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence; “popular”; industry co-teaching claim); Grade 7 page; mathematics curriculum page; 2026–27 catalogue title list; no co-teacher, club or competition found |
| Cybersecurity | School-reported · Unsubstantiated | Lower School Grade 4 page (digital citizenship); web search for a cybersecurity course, club or CyberPatriot team, none found |
| Robotics | School-reported · Corroborated | Centre Connection article (December 2022) and school articles on the 2023–24 season, one undated article on national and state qualification; welcome-to-Milton robotics page (2024); computer-science curriculum page; Art & Media Center page; NBC Connecticut, 27 February 2024 (regional championship, no mention of Milton); WPI news and VEX event pages, no Milton result; RobotEvents team page unreadable |
| Clean Energy | School-reported · Verified | Science courses page (Issues in Environmental Science, Advanced Environmental Science); sustainability and energy pages (solar, EV charging, LEED); no energy-technology course found |
| Biotechnology | School-reported · Verified | Science courses page (Molecular Genetics 1 and 2, Advanced Biology); science department page (Science Symposium topics); Grade 7 page; 2023–24 school profile; no outside credential found |
| Computer Science | School-reported · Verified | Computer-science department, courses and curriculum pages; Grade 7 page; 2025–26 school profile (one AP course); undated hackathon news item; no competition record found |
| Earth & Geospatial | School-reported | Science courses page (Advanced Environmental Science with fieldwork, Marine Science, geology half course); science curriculum page (“Nature as a Classroom”); no geographic-information or remote-sensing course found |
| Aerospace | School-reported · Verified | Science courses page (Introduction to Aerodynamics, Observational Astronomy, Cosmology and Modern Physics); Ayer Observatory page (two domes, 5-inch Clark refractor, 9-inch Takahashi reflector); no aerospace competition found |
| Advanced Manufacturing | School-reported · Unsubstantiated | Art & Media Center page (3D-printer room); Grade 7 page (digital fabrication tools); science courses page (Engineering the Future); Saturday Course sample list (woodworking, undated); no equipment list or fabrication laboratory found |
| Batteries & Energy Storage | Unsubstantiated | Electric vehicles named inside Issues in Environmental Science; EV charging on the sustainability page; no battery or energy-storage course, laboratory or competition found |
Academics
Three divisions, 185 courses, and one AP course.
We are a coeducational independent school for Kindergarten through Grade 12, with boarding and day students in Grades 9–12. Below are our divisions and the science, computer science and mathematics courses that our course lists show. “Teaching and learning at Milton Academy are active processes.”
Lower School
Our Lower School enrolls about 160 students. Our student-teacher ratio is 5:1 and our average class is 14. We treat our campus as a living laboratory.
- Science units on the solar system, climate, physics, anatomy and robotics
- An iPad for each student in Grade 4, with a foundation in digital citizenship
- The Saturday Course for Kindergarten through Grade 8, with classes such as Super Science, Create Your Own Computer Game and Robots Rule!
Middle School
Our Middle School students take science, mathematics and computer science, and compete in VEX robotics alongside our Upper School.
- Grade 7 biology, from cells and DNA to protein synthesis and genetics
- Computer science: the engineering design process with digital fabrication tools, Web Foundations, AI: Brain Behind the Bot, Physical Computing with micro:bits and Creative Coding
- Digital Media & Film
- Math Club, and M-Cubed for the Middle School
Upper School
We enroll about 710 students in our Upper School, half boarding and half day, taught by 137 full-time faculty. We offer 185 courses in 10 departments, our average class is 14 and our student-teacher ratio is 5:1.
- Class IV Physics, then Chemistry and Biology; every full-year laboratory course ends with a student-designed experiment
- To graduate: English 4 years, history and social sciences 2, mathematics 2, science 2 and arts 1
- Our courses carry four designations: Honors, Accelerated, Intensive and Advanced
- We are not an AP-driven school: we offer one AP course, in Latin Literature
- Our transcripts include no GPA and no class rank, and Class IV transcripts report no grades
Java, apps, AI and engineering design
Our computer science courses teach Java, Swift, XML and Python through project-based learning, and our advanced courses need the department chair’s permission.
- CS1, a half course in Java in which students build games, and CS2: data structures, recursion, networking and web programming
- Advanced CS: Applications, for iPhone and Android
- Advanced CS: Artificial Intelligence, a project-based course in AI and data science
- CS: Applied Engineering & Design, real-world problem solving through projects
- An annual Milton Hackathon, and a Programming Club
Molecular genetics, an observatory and a math sequence to differential forms
Every spring our advanced science students present their own experiments at the Science Symposium, and our Pritzker Science Center is LEED Silver.
- Molecular Genetics 1: clone and sequence a gene, using PCR, ligation and bacterial transformation; Molecular Genetics 2: Drosophila genetics, RNAi in C. elegans and long-term laboratory projects
- Introduction to Aerodynamics, Engineering the Future, and Issues in Environmental Science: Solutions for a Sustainable Future
- Ayer Observatory, with two domes, a 5-inch Clark refractor and a 9-inch Takahashi reflector, and monthly open houses from our Astronomy Club
- Mathematics from Proof and Problem Solving to Multivariable Calculus, Linear & Abstract Algebra and Differential Forms and Calculus on Manifolds
Clubs, teams and publications
We have more than 40 student organizations, 10 student publications and 15 interscholastic teams for girls and 15 for boys, and 100% of our students take part in intramural, interscholastic or physical education programs.
- A Robotics Club, with more than 90 Upper and Middle School students
- A Math Team with back-to-back championships in the New England Math League, 2024 and 2025
- A Data and Sports Analytics Club and an Investment Club
- Student publications including The Milton Measure, The Milton Paper and The Arch
Advanced courses
Ask about academics
Calendar
Our fall, and the admission dates ahead.
Dates from our Lower School calendar and our admission pages, soonest first. We host a series of virtual events throughout the year, and the date of our next General Information Session is to be determined. Complete the request for information form to receive registration details. Ask below if you need us to confirm a date before you book travel.
October
November
December
January 2027
March 2027
April 2027
Ask about the calendar
Our Story
“Dare to be true” since 1898.
We are a coeducational school for Kindergarten through Grade 12, chartered in 1798 on 130 acres in Milton, Massachusetts, 10 miles from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Symphony. About 325 of our students live on campus, we have more than 40 student organizations, and 100% of our students take part in intramural, interscholastic or physical education programs.
Integrity
“Dare to be true” includes “the three great principles of courage, truthfulness, and loyalty.” Our faculty and students often cite it as the litmus test for word or action.
Community
We distinguish ourselves by building a vital and effective community based on self-confidence and respect of individuals.
Inquiry
We foster an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and responsibility. Teaching and learning at Milton Academy are active processes, encouraged and supported by common respect.
Balance
One of our strengths is maintaining a campus life that optimizes the benefits of a boarding school and a day school.
Milestones
We received our charter under the Massachusetts land-grant policy, to “open the way for all the people to a higher order of education than the common schools can supply.”
We adopted our motto, “Dare to be true”, and our seal in our centennial year. We then divided into separate Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, and we later returned to coeducation.
Our Ayer Observatory was built, with two domes, a 5-inch Clark refractor and a 9-inch Takahashi reflector.
We marked our bicentennial.
Our thirteenth Head of School took office on July 1.
We dedicated the Farokhzad Mathematics Center on October 24.
We relaunched milton.edu after a complete overhaul that streamlined nearly 20,000 pages.
Ask about our story
Give
The Milton Fund, and a remarkable year.
We raised over $12.3 million in fiscal year 2024–25 from 3,071 alumni, parents, students and friends. “Your enthusiasm and support continue to shape Milton’s future.” For questions about giving, call our advancement office on 617-898-2377.
The Milton Fund
The Milton Fund reached a record $6.79 million in fiscal year 2024–25. It is used for immediate needs, the endowment, and future priorities through planned giving.
Give online
Gifts can be made online through our Give page.
Planned giving
Planned gifts help us support our future priorities. To talk one through, call our advancement office on 617-898-2377.
Our priorities
We are moving Cox Library to Wigglesworth Hall, to place the library at the center of student life with space for independent and group study.
Support an initiative
Donors can contact our advancement office to discuss ways to support a Milton initiative.
Ask about giving
News
What is happening on our campus.
Recent stories from our news pages, newest first.
We relaunch milton.edu
Milton.edu relaunched in summer 2026 after a complete overhaul, with all-new text telling the story of Milton Academy. An alumna copywriter, hired by our Communications Office and working with a design partner, rewrote the site over more than a year, and the project concluded in July. The site had nearly 20,000 individual pages, and the writers streamlined the content so that visitors can find the information they need quickly.
Student leaders open the year with “Say Yes”
Our two co-head monitors, both in the Class of 2027, gave speeches at Convocation to open the 2026–2027 school year, urging students to take part fully in school life. One said that “Energy is contagious”; the other encouraged classmates to “Say yes” to new experiences.
We honor our student historians at the Bisbee Tea
The Bisbee Prize, a Milton tradition since 1983, goes to students who wrote the best U.S. History research papers, on subjects that range from labor history to public health. This year thirteen students received the prize. In 2023 our History and Social Sciences Department broadened the event, and three more students were recognized for social science projects.
Our 47th Persky Awards celebrate student publications
The 47th Persky Awards recognized the best writing and artwork in our student publications, with honors in fiction and poetry, creative nonfiction, artwork, journalism and academic writing, and yearbook production. Winning work appeared in Magus Mabus, F-Word, Piece of Mind, The Milton Measure, The Milton Paper and The Arch.
Two Milton squash players win national titles
Two Milton students each won a fourth national title at the U.S. Junior Squash Championships in March, one in the U17 division and the other in the U15 division. A third Milton student placed second in the U13 division.
A journalist and author from the Class of 1994 will speak at Graduation
We named a journalist and author from the Class of 1994, who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker and has written six nonfiction books, as our 2026 Graduation speaker. The ceremony took place on Friday, June 5, at 9:30 a.m. on the lawn in front of Robert Saltonstall Gymnasium, rain or shine.
Ask about the news
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