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Uncommon Community

Uncommon Curiosity

Uncommon Opportunity

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

It’s incredible to be part of a community that is this close. I know it's a little bit cliché, but it's just a really cool feeling to be able to turn the corner and see someone and immediately gravitate to them and talk about whatever. There's never, never a dull day. 

Aadi ’26

There are so many different kinds of people at this school with so many different outlooks in life. Even if you disagree with someone's views, I feel like here you can still have a respectful conversation. And I think that's a really important life skill: to be able to talk to people you don't necessarily see eye-to-eye with.    

Iris '27

Commonwealth has opened up a path to relationships with both students and teachers that I hadn't really seen before. I have teachers that I can rely on, that I can ask questions of and meet with, and I want to continue having those relationships in the future with my professors in college and bosses at jobs. Commonwealth really built a strong foundation for that.

Tomi ’27

Melissa Glenn Haber teaching

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

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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

There are all of these resources around us that we can take advantage of.… I like how part of your daily routine is going out into the city and still being with your classmates but in a completely different setting.

Felix ’27

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

163

students in grades 9–12

63%

self-identified students of color

$1.8 million

financial aid granted for 2025–2026

85%

teachers holding advanced degree

5:1

student-to-faculty ratio

2

all-school getaways each year

1470

average SAT composite score (Class of 2026)

Happening Now

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Combining English and history has always “felt like a natural blend” to Ben Roberts. That was true growing up, when he was fascinated by the history curriculum his mother taught and the storytelling behind his favorite movies. It was true as an undergraduate, when he opted to major in both comparative literature and history. And it’s true now, as he teaches both English and history courses at Commonwealth, believing “you can’t really effectively teach one without some of the other.” 

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Duende (du·​en·​de) n. Spanish A heightened state of vulnerability, authenticity, and connection. “No philosopher can put it into words,” says Happy ’26, but, like Federico García Lorca, the poet who popularized the term, “that's what I've been trying to do as a writer and poet myself.” Happy’s thoughtfulness as a writer and poet can only be matched by her dedication to the nonprofit she established to support children with congenital heart disease living in rural China. 

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Bookworms get a bad rap as being antisocial, but Will ’27 defies that stereotype. At any given time, you can find him both laden with literature and stepping up as a leader for several Commonwealth clubs: Fencing, Robotics, COMMunity, Public Health Club. Then again, perhaps it’s that very bookishness that makes him such a mindful leader.

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For more than thirty years, the same eight wheels revved in Commonwealth’s ceramics studio, helping hundreds of students throw thousands of cups, bowls, vases, plates, and sculptures—and it showed. When Catherine Merrill saw the need to replace those well-loved wheels and renovate the studio, her response was simple: "How can I help?"

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More than thirty years at San Francisco General Hospital ultimately led Sue Trupin to the front line of the AIDS epidemic. The disease ripped through her personal life as well, when she lost a son to AIDS in 1995. While that seismic loss ripples through her life to this day, her work as a nurse has allowed Sue to support others through their own suffering. Today, at eighty-one years old, she still works as a private nurse advocate. “It keeps me on my toes,” she says. 

At Commonwealth, we’re looking for inquisitive, driven, and creative students from a wide range of backgrounds. We encourage you to visit us, talk with teachers and students, and see if Commonwealth is right for you.