Home
Commonwealth is a co-ed independent day school welcoming curious, highly motivated students in grades 9–12. Our close-knit community thrives on making meaningful intellectual and personal connections, while tapping into the opportunities surrounding our home in Boston’s Back Bay.
Meet Faculty and Students
I've never seen a school like it before, from the building to the close-knit community. I look forward to going to school everyday, as I never know what will happen next.
Hanna '25
It is humbling and exhilarating to come to work every day to a place where people are working for a common goal with such a mix of competence and humanity.
César Pérez, History and Languages Teacher
I was first interested in Commonwealth by the small class sizes and the very rigorous environment. Visiting and having a virtual class was what drew me in. I'm very happy about making the choice to come here. The classes are intriguing, to say the least. There is difficulty but nothing I can’t handle. And the opportunities, such as Project Week, are unique, and they allow us to develop our own interests.
Aritra ’25
Really exciting classrooms are where the student is part of the circuit and the electricity is jumping between them and the sources and the teacher. At the beginning of the Enlightenment unit, instead of saying, 'This is what the Enlightenment is.' We say, 'Here's Newton's laws of natural philosophy. Here's a poem about sinful bees. Here’s a little Montesquieu with a little Benjamin Franklin and a little Smith.' And then we try to figure out what they have in common.
Melissa Glenn Haber ’87, History Teacher
I was kind of shocked at how everyone talks with each other at Commonwealth. In my old school, people just stuck with their own friend groups. I thought it would be like that here—but it turned out to be exactly the opposite. I didn't expect to be able to communicate with seniors and juniors and sophomores at all. I feel really good in small communities. You feel seen.
Chloe ’27
I get a real burst of energy when I’m able to help students navigate the complexities of the research process. I feel so lucky to have such an incredible patron base of high-level readers and thinkers in our students.
Jake MacDonnell, Librarian and Registrar
You know, I was hearing about all these other schools, and they definitely had a lot to offer, but Commonwealth spoke more to me because I know they take academics seriously here, but they also care about you as a person and finding yourself.
Sumaya ’26
By the Numbers
157
students in grades 9–12
62%
self-identified students of color
$1.5 million
financial aid granted for 2023–2024
86%
teachers holding advanced degree
5:1
student-to-faculty ratio
2
all-school getaways each year
1450
average SAT composite score (Class of 2025)
Happening Now
There are no events to display
The Class of 2025 came to Commonwealth behind masks and surrounded by upheaval and uncertainty—but instead of withdrawing, they reached out, as Head of School Jennifer Borman noted in her graduation remarks, below. This class “created community, not as a slogan, but as a practice," echoing the ethos of Commonwealth's founder, Charles Merrill, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just beyond the doors of this year's graduation venue stood The Embrace, the striking sculpture honoring Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King. And at our graduation ceremony on June 6, we held the Class of 2025 in our loving embrace as a community for one last minute.
Once summer starts, Commonwealth’s stately old building sits sleepy and quiet—until just after the Fourth of July. Then stairwells once again rumble with feet running to class and giggles echo up from the Cafegymnatorium during lunch. Dive In Commonwealth is now in session.
Founded in 2019 for driven, bright students from low-income backgrounds, Dive In is not your typical “summer school.” Rather, students commit to up to twenty-seven months of rigorous classes and enrichment activities through six-week-long summer sessions and Saturdays throughout the academic years leading up to high school. In particular, Dive In is designed to help bridge the opportunity gap for students and families interested in independent schools like Commonwealth, burnishing their academic skills and assisting with the application process. With ingenuity, institutional support, and old-fashioned pounding-the-pavement, Dive In has grown from five students its first summer to thirty-seven students this year, a new record.
Here, Dive In Director and Commonwealth Mandarin teacher Rui Shu, Assistant Director Paul Brunick ‘02, and Head of School Jennifer Borman ’81 reflect on the program’s thoughtful growth and their hopes for its future.
There’s a buzz in the air on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, as Commonwealth athletes throw on their uniforms, chatter excitedly with teammates, and hop on a bus or the T to get to their sport. Whether they gravitate towards soccer or yoga, basketball or fitness, Ultimate Frisbee or sailing, Commonwealth’s sports program has something for everyone, offering a chance to come together with friends and get active throughout the week.
The 2024–2025 athletics year was action-packed, as a number of our teams took home top-five finishes, and several individual students were named to All-League teams. We are pleased to recap these and other athletics highlights below.
Duncan Eddy did “the traditional Stanford thing” of dropping out to join a startup, Capella Space, where he helped launch multiple commercial satellites. He’s been bouncing back and forth between Stanford and other engaging gigs ever since, like leading Amazon’s space operations group. Today, he’s the Executive Director of the Stanford Center for AI Safety.