where did eleanor roosevelt go to school?
Allenswood Academy The New School
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 Roosevelt was tutored privately and , at the age of 15 , with the encouragement of her aunt Anna " Bamie " Roosevelt , the family sent her to Allenswood Academy , a private finishing school in Wimbledon , outside London , England , from 1899 to 1902 . The headmistress , Marie Souvestre , was a noted feminist educator who sought to cultivate independent thinking in young women . Souvestre took a special interest in Roosevelt , who learned to speak French fluently and gained self @-@ confidence . Her first cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson , whose first term at Allenswood overlapped with Eleanor 's last , said that when she arrived at the school , Eleanor was " ' everything ' at the school . She was beloved by everybody . " Roosevelt wished to continue at Allenswood , but in 1902 was summoned home by her grandmother to make her social debut . 

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 In 1902 – at age 17 – Roosevelt returned to the United States , ending her formal education , and was presented at a debutante ball at the Waldorf @-@ Astoria hotel on December 14 . She was later given her own " coming out party " . Roosevelt was active with the New York Junior League shortly after its founding , teaching dancing and calisthenics in the East Side slums . The organization had been brought to Roosevelt 's attention by her friend , organization founder Mary Harriman , and a male relative who criticized the group for " drawing young women into public activity " . 

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 In 1929 , her mother married Loyal Edward Davis ( 1896 – 1982 ) , a prominent conservative neurosurgeon who moved the family to Chicago . Nancy and her stepfather got along very well ; she later wrote that he was " a man of great integrity who exemplified old @-@ fashioned values . " He formally adopted her in 1935 , and she would always refer to him as her father . At the time of the adoption , her name was legally changed to Nancy Davis . She attended the Girls ' Latin School of Chicago ( describing herself as an average student ) , graduated in 1939 , and later attended Smith College in Massachusetts , where she majored in English and drama , and graduated in 1943 . 

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 Eleanor had two younger brothers : Elliott Jr . ( 1889 – 1893 ) and Hall ( 1891 – 1941 ) . She also had a half brother , Elliott Roosevelt Mann ( c . 1890 – 1941 ) , through her father 's affair with Katy Mann , a servant employed by the family . Roosevelt was born into a world of immense wealth and privilege , as her family was part of New York high society called the " swells " . 

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 By age 11 , she was awarded a scholarship for acrobatic work at a Philadelphia gymnasium , and later studied dance with Catherine Littlefield . She dropped out of West Philadelphia High School in the tenth grade to study dance in New York with choreographer George Balanchine at the opening of the School of American Ballet in 1934 . 
