<p>Hey,</p>
<p>So I'm an incoming freshman to Andover...Go class of 2013!!! </p>
<p>Any advice on dorms, clothes, schoolwork, people, teachers? What should I be looking out for? Thanks.</p>
<p>I’d be interested in hearing stuff on this subject too (incoming Upper). Anyone?</p>
<p>Congrats to both you guys! You’re going to have an awesome time.</p>
<p>ckdnharvardgirl: I wasn’t at Andover for freshmen year, but I did spend a year in a freshmen dorm as a prefect. As for the dorms, if I recall, you’ll be able to rank your preferences. To be frank, they tend to stack the freshmen dorms by personality and each has its stereotypes. I don’t want to tell you what those are, because I don’t want to bias you, especially since some of the smaller ones change from year to year. As for schoolwork, you won’t get much choice as a freshman. Your courses are pretty much set. Don’t forget to take it easy freshman year. You’re on pass/fail for english and history, if I remember correctly, so don’t break your back studying, go out and meet people. And don’t worry about the work, it’s never as hard as you think it will be. As for the rest of your questions, if you haven’t received it already (I can’t remember when it comes), you’ll get a pretty comprehensive enrollment package with suggested packing lists, etc. </p>
<p>TomtheCat: You’re ridiculously lucky. New uppers are awesome (I’m slightly biased, I was a new upper too). New upper english is a party. It’s half english and half new upper counselling with Tous. Value your time with Tous, she’s an awesome teacher. Hands down my favorite English teacher at PA. She actually made me enjoy English. (Based on the “Tom,” I’m assuming you’re a guy.) New upper guys for the past few years have been placed in Stuart and Andover Cottage. Both of these are awesome dorms. Stuart may not be very attractive (they complain about it all the time) but despite the ridiculous variety of people, they always seem to get along pretty well, better than most of the other large dorms. They’re also really close to campus, which is a major plus in the winter (says the lazy Paul Revere resident). Andover Cottage is much tinier and comprised almost entirely of new uppers, former new uppers, and PGs. It’s somewhat reminiscient of a frat and they seem to get along really well.</p>
<p>Dorms: most of them are rather nice. A few aren’t great, and some, particularly those in Pine Knoll, are larger than I myself would prefer, but if you want a larger dorm, those are good. Abbot dorms tend to be nice but far from campus. Stuart is currently being renovated over the summer - new windows being installed, and I believe they’ll be doing more. As a result, it’s a mess right now, but everything will be cleaned up by September.</p>
<p>Clothing: depends on what you’re used to for weather. There’s no dress code, so you see a lot of pajama bottoms and flip flops, even in the winter. If you’re from the area, you know what you need to wear to be warm enough. If you’re not, September is warm but not unbearably so, it gets chilly quickly, winters tend to have a lot of snow and be cold unless you’re from a place with comparable weather, and spring-like weather starts late (end of March or beginning of April, really). So be prepared for the weather.</p>
<p>Schoolwork - as mentioned above, you don’t have many choices. You’ve likely already filled in the request form for courses…English 100 is pass/fail in the fall, as Tapper7 mentioned. I don’t think history 100 is, but it may have changed. You’ll take the appropriate math course, a science - probably bio 100, a language, and then your elective (generally music, art, or phys ed). If writing is not your forte, English and history will be troublesome at first, while you adjust to what is likely a higher standard for writing than you had before. Language classes (except Latin and Greek) are conducted in the language itself, which may be different from what you’re used to. Math…it depends. It tends not to be that bad, and there is a nightly study hall for peer help if you need it.</p>
<p>People are varied - you’ll find your niche eventually, whether it’s in your classes, the dorm, or your extracurriculars. People are generally nice, but some get caught up so much in their own thing (academics, sports, etc.) and put that above close friendships.</p>
<p>The teachers generally expect a lot, but they are there to help - each teacher gives a phone number at which you can contact them, must be available during conference period to help, and grade pretty fairly. They’re all very intelligent (my math teacher of 7 terms had a masters in divinity from Yale and was the head problem writer at a certain national math competition) and capable, though not all will click with you - they each have different styles. There’s more teacher support here than in college, but they won’t walk you through everything.</p>
<p>Andover was a good experience and quite a challenge. You’ll lose out on a lot of sleep, but you’ll meet people you’ll never forget. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hi, I’m also going to be a new freshman. I’m SO afraid I’m not going to get in the dorm I want! I know that the housing assignments are usually a pretty good fit, but just in case, is it easy to make friends with people who aren’t in your dorm?</p>
<p>English and history were both pass/fail this year for freshmen, but I’m pretty sure this year was the first year and they’re currently weighing the advantages/disadvantages. The dorm assignments are usually an excellent fit, especially for freshmen. The dorm I was in this past year as a prefect was ridiculously cohesive, despite the differences in personality. It usually isn’t difficult to find friends within your dorm, no matter where you’re placed. However, it’s also not difficult to make friends outside the dorm. You’ll meet a ton of people in classes, sports, clubs, etc. However I’ve found, for the first few weeks, your dorm friends will be your go-to people for just about everything (hanging at dinner, help with homework, going to stuff on weekends, etc.) because they’re always convenient. They’re also good for hanging with after sign-in, but this isn’t as big a deal freshmen year as other years since you’ve got lights out.</p>
<p>This past year, English and History were pass/fail for juniors (freshmen) the first term, then went to grades for the second and third terms.</p>
<p>Another quick question-
What do you wear to ‘registration’ day, and what do you wear to the matriculation ceremony?</p>
<p>For registration, I was dressed casually (i.e. jeans and a t-shirt), though for matriculation, I changed into dress clothes.</p>
<p>Could you tell me which Clusters are the best or their personalities??? Also, what dormitories are the freshman girl dorms and what are their “personalities”???</p>
<p>Also, how does the Isham Dorm work? Is it connected to the Isham Health Center or what?</p>
<p>The two share a wall, but you have to go outside to get from one to the other.</p>
<p>Flagstaff is the best, obviously. But really, there’s a lot of cluster pride. You’ll grow to love whatever cluster you’re assigned. I don’t really know what the cluster personalities are or if there are any. Flagstaff, as a whole, tends to be on the louder side, while Abbot tends to be on the quieter side, probably due to their large freshmen population and house style dorms. There tends to be more of a personality by dorm (some dorms have a distinct personality, not all) and since clusters are a collection of dorms, they tend to be a combination of personalities.</p>
<p>I’m not entirely sure which dorms are for freshmen girls this year. I’m pretty sure they’re still using Double Brick (ABB), Isham (WQN), and Nathan Hale (PKN). They used Hearsey House (FLG) and Alumni House (ABB) last year, but I’m not sure if they’re using Hearsey again and I know they weren’t planning to use Alumni. </p>
<p>A dorm gets labelled with a personality when a significant number of the residents year to year share similar interests/habits/pastimes/etc. As such, the smaller dorms, especially freshmen ones where all residents are required to move out at the end of the year, can change drastically. From what I heard, Double Brick '06-'07 was nothing like Double Brick '08-'09. But remember not all residents are the same and even among those that share the tendency that labelled the dorm there can be quite a variety. I was far from the typical Paul Revere resident and I still loved it to death. Chances are you’ll love your dorm despite the label it carries with the general population. And really the personalities aren’t a big deal. They’re just for fun and it’s not like anyone’s going to judge you based on the dorm you live in.</p>