<p>This is directed to Prepdad btw.</p>
<p><a href=“Andover%20has%20a%20multitude%20of%20foreign%20languages,%20and%20has%20classics,%20philosophy,%20and%20psychology”>quote</a>? I also want to know the REAL work load…How much time it takes.
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Exeter’s classics program is stronger than Andover’s, or at least the better students at Exeter are much stronger than those at Andover. Exeter has a very strong Classics Club, whereas Andover had one in name, but it never met (and I believe it has since been dissolved due to lack of interest). Exeter also offers one or two more languages than Andover, Italian being the one that comes to mind, although it is only at the introductory level, if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>I personally believe that the rivalry exists, in part, to liven up an otherwise dull school term. The Andover-Exeter (or Exeter-Andover, if one prefers) sporting games for fall term occur towards the end of the trimester, when students are growing tired from the wear and tear of the term and have little to look forward to other than exams. As such, Exeter Geek Day and Andover Smurf Day, followed by the school spirit days, provide a nice way to have some fun and get psyched about one’s school and break the monotony of the term. I don’t know if this is the case with all students, but I have no problem admitting that Exeter is much stronger when it comes to higher mathematics, while Andover is generally seen as somewhat stronger in humanities, particularly history and social sciences (although the recent retirement of a few teachers have served as a setback of sorts to the department).</p>
<p>Andover teaching methods vary by teacher. My physics courses, from what was then know as 380 (College Physics) to 600 (Quantum Mechanics and Relativity) were primarily lecture - the teacher would explain the topic for the day and do out example problems on the board. If we had questions, though, we could ask the teacher, of course. The class size for those courses were typically 17-18, larger than permitted at Exeter, but more similar to the sort of setting one would find in upper level physics classes in college, from my understanding. On the other end of the spectrum were the sorts of classes where the teacher would pose a few problems, generally as homework, and let the class spend the entire class period discussing them with each other and coming up with a variety of solutions. In the middle were courses like US History, where the teachers would guide discussion to make sure everything important was covered, but let the class do most of the talking. Modern language classes are conducted entirely in the language being studied, but I did not have the fortune to take such a course while at Andover and so cannot comment further. Classical languages are conducted in English and can go faster than modern languages because there’s no need to learn how to read or write the language. The first year and a half of each language are designed such that all of the important grammar is covered, and higher level courses are reading based, with a grammar review as needed.</p>
<p>Workload at Andover can be intense, but I don’t think it’s more intense than at Exeter, for example. The “rule of thumb” is that for courses that are not considered advanced, one can expect to spend 9 hours a week doing work between the classroom and at home. This would mean one has 4-5 hours a week from a normal class, or 1-1.5 hours a night. Practically, this is not often the case. If one struggles with a subject, one will spend a lot more time doing work for these classes. If one is good with a subject, one will spend a lot less time, whether by only skimming a reading or not doing an assigned problem set (since not every teacher collects or checks homework). For standard courses, work typically averages out to that amount, however. AP courses and higher level courses may require much more work…one trimester, I took 2 senior English electives and US History, neither of which are my strong suits, and I spent approximately 6 hours a day doing reading before starting work for my other classes. Many English electives require more reading than mine did, as well. What one must keep in mind is that the amount of work is different for everyone. I know people who pulled all-nighters at least twice a week during Upper year in order to get all their work done. On the other hand, I made sure to get at least 5 hours of sleep a night that year, because I felt that it was more important to get some rest than to complete everything. In addition, some people are willing to do nothing but work, while others are varsity athletes and/or in many clubs and/or need some downtime, meaning totals will vary.</p>
<p>I hope at least some of this was helpful.</p>
<p>Face it, Andover sent more to HYP then any other school. They also sent more kids to Stanford than any other. Not that Ivies are the main point, but if you compare the Notable Alumni list, the list is much longer @ Andover’s. I think both schools are good. However, Andover is just a bit better.</p>
<p>Hardcore MD< Andover didn’t even look at my middle school grades when I applied to enter as a lower. Only Milton and SPS did. Deerfield and Hotchkiss didn’t ask either</p>
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I’ve actually run the numbers on another thread, and St. Paul’s sends a higher percentage to the Ivies + Stanford + MIT, so the statistic of sending more students is somewhat misleading.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Exeter focuses more on fit from all standpoints - academic, social, financial, etc. I was never once told at Andover to consider a school that cost less because Financial Aid might not come out to be enough.</p>
<p>“…St. Paul’s sends a higher percentage to the Ivies + Stanford + MIT”</p>
<p>Apparently not so for the period of 2005 - 2008. Quoted from the other thread:</p>
<p>St. Paul’s School (2005-2008 total): 542 total matriculations, 169 Ivy+SM matriculations, 31.18%
Andover 2005 - 2008: 390 out of 1197 – 32.6%</p>
<p>Ive actually seen different numbers, I remember someone posting a huge list from a source I can’t remember, I know SPS was at the top though. Those are numbers from 1 person counting…lots of room for error doing that (especially when dealing with such close numbers)</p>
<p>Given that I did the counting for the schools less Andover, and I made mistakes the first time, I agree that there’s room for error. However, we seem to have removed the issues by a combination of several people counting and the use of excel spreadsheets to confirm our numbers. Andover and SPS are certainly very close (and I did think SPS was higher, but then I really shouldn’t argue with my own counting). Exeter was somewhat lower, but that is likely an institutional approach to college counseling (students don’t necessarily get the best education for them at the Ivies) than quality of students. Especially given how badly Exeter beats Andover in math and classics competitions.</p>
<p>Ehh I don’t buy the institutional approach to college counseling thing to me. People at Exeter seem to be like kids at the other top preps, they want what is considered to be the best most times. I doubt the college counseling office can influence little Susie that Uchicago is a better fit for her than Stanford or Harvard. And if they can, I doubt they can convince the parents who have been paying 40k for 4 years that their child is a “Better fit” at Uchicago than there alma mater (HYP). (Those colleges were just used as simple examples by the way).</p>
<p>But maybe I’m wrong and Exeters counseling office is just better at matching students to the right fits (and those fits happen to not be IVYs + SM)</p>
<p>Perhaps Andover and SPS have more students who are legacies at Ivies thus increasing their admit/matric rates. That would have nothing to do with the quality of any of these institutions. And that’s the thing I would caution people about- an institution’s matric stats do not reflect the quality of the institution and do not predict any one student’s chances at matriculating into an Ivy. Using matric stats to say one school is “slightly better” or better than another is an extremely simplified, and possibly incorrect, interpretation of a very complex admission process both at the prep school level and the college level. </p>
<p>Be careful not extrapolate from these statistics to think if Andover has a X % ivy placement then a kid going to Andover has a x % chance of attending an Ivy. Similarly do not apply this to compare schools and say a school with 32.8% matric rate is slightly better than a school with a 31% matric rate. Legacy, URMs, geographic preference ect … have a huge effect. All that matters is where you end up individually, for college and beyond. </p>
<p>As our legal friends like to say “Individual results may vary.”</p>
<p>Agree. A, E and S are all great schools. For individuals, you’d be luck to get in any of them, and if you have multiple offers there’s no wrong choice here. Just work hard and make the most of it. </p>
<p>As for the stats, the 28% IVY+SM rate from Exeter was for '06 - '08. There’s no data for '05 - '08. Although the 4 year overall would be unlikely to change a lot, because the stats for Andover and SPS are both for '05 - '08, we are not exactly comparing apples to apples to include Exeter in the comparison.</p>