<p>I see. Thanks, xGods_Favoritex.</p>
<p>does anyone know what the general boarding school transition is like for incoming sophomores?</p>
<p>@thekidhere: You said "each student has an adviser they meet with regularly (all four years and, in many cases, beyond)". That is great. Do you still keep in touch with your adviser? It's nice that there are proctors and "green keys" watching over the new kids. Are the "green keys" the ones who give campus tours, too?</p>
<p>Do you think all the prep school grads at your college are glad they went to prep school? When you were choosing schools, what made you think Deerfield was the best fit for you? Sorry to bombard you with questions and thanks!</p>
<p>sanduhra said</p>
<p>academically, exeter is known to be rigorous, more rigorous than their traditional rival, andover, but a lot of kids go to exeter looking for that. Personally, I felt, when i was accepted to both, that exeter presented more of an intellectual challenge than andover did, and it's something that you should definitely expect before going. I wouldn't say "pressure-cooker", because you'll find more cutthroat ranking-induced pressure at public schools and competitive magnet schools, but the quality of a boarding school education, in general, demands quality from the individual. now that I'm at college, I find that the more competitive individuals are the ones from public schools who are used to clawing their way to the top. personally, i'd find public school life much more stressful, as it's all about percentages and ranking and really glitzy extracurriculars (on top of SAT classes and trying to learn all the stuff that public schools dont teach you). people at prep schools are much less crass about competition.</p>
<p>perfect score response</p>
<p>I would add one thing</p>
<p>Harkness tables of Exeter comforts "talker" or "less shy" people. Those who sit back and listen, maybe Andover is better for you. The difference in teaching style does exist. Whether one is more rigorous than the other? I believe there is little, if any, academic difference in rigor -- and really not what differentiates the schools.</p>
<p>At Exeter all Preps (9th graders) participate in a course called Junior Studies instead of taking English the first term. In the course you learn about the traditions at Exeter, the alums, the resources, etc... and write a research paper (to learn about the library). At the end of the term, there is a time capsule ceremony, where you put things in a box... and before you graduate there's another event where you get to open the boxes. Junior Studies is also an extreme slacker course compared to other classes, so I guess it makes transition easier to have one class where you don't really have to work hard.
Other than that, there are specific prep intro biology courses, or prep physics classes, which I guess is designed to make it easier for them and also to make meeting people easier.
But for me, proctors in my dorm were the most helpful. They are seniors chosen by the faculty to help out. They're the ones there to greet you on the first day and help you move stuff into your rooms, give a tour of the campus, tell you about teachers/classes, etc</p>
<p>I didn't know they extended fall term for transitions (they do that at Exeter, too, but I never knew why).</p>
<p>roses&clovers - I was a new 10th grader (lower) at Andover and I think the transition is a little tougher, but not by much. We still have blue keys for the first few weeks that help out with orientation. The proctors in the dorms are generally pretty helpful with the adjustment process. Lowers have fewer rules regarding lights out and they live with 11th and 12th graders in the dorm, so they get to meet a wider variety of students. Since lowers only take 5 courses, the issue with time management can be a little tougher, but most kids figure that out after fall term.</p>
<p>Father of the Boarder - Yes, there are differences in teaching methods between Andover and Exeter, but many other schools use the Harkness method. Andover uses it, but not in science and some math courses. Just because every room doesn't have the actual table, doesn't mean we can't use the method.</p>
<p>NMH (even though you didn't ask) employs many of the above methods to ease the freshman transition: separtate freshman housing with senior proctors, known as "student leaders" in residence as well as faculty in-residence, advisee/advisor meetings several times weekly (my older son graduated 4 years ago and is still in close contact with his advisor and goes to dinner at his house whenever he is in the area visiting), earlier lights out, study halls, activities planned just for freshman with their advisee groups, etc. Freshman begin the school year several days prior to the other grades as well and spend an evening camping out along the Connecticut River. They spend two days outside participating in activities such as hiking, kayaking, a ropes course, and other bonding activities. The school also employs the Harkness method of teaching in all but the math and sciences (and there might be some of the classes in those disciplines that do apply the method or use it from time to time, as I know was done in one of my older son's science courses).
As far as workload/pressure, I do agree that one places pressure on themself. However, for a student who is used to getting all A's, it is a bit of a reality check. My son had a very difficult time accepting that he was going to be a "B" student at his bs. No matter how hard he worked, he rarely got an A. I think this always bothered him a bit...he has had a much easier time getting A's in college, though!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do you still keep in touch with your adviser?
[/quote]
unfortunately, it's not possible for me to keep in touch with my adviser. I do, however, keep in touch with several of the teachers I was closer with during my time at DA.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are the "green keys" the ones who give campus tours, too?
[/quote]
Almost every upperclassman takes on a green key underclassman, while tours are given by volunteers of all grades.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do you think all the prep school grads at your college are glad they went to prep school?
[/quote]
Every prep grad I know is happy about their decision to go to a bs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
When you were choosing schools, what made you think Deerfield was the best fit for you?
[/quote]
I picked Deerfield following the advice of my Andover interviewer, oddly enough. Going into second visit days I was choosing between Andover, Exeter, Hotchkiss, Loomis, and Deerfield, but I'd pretty much made up my mind to go to Andover. during the second visit day I met up with my interviewer and chatted with him about the relative strengths of the 5 schools, and he told me that all of them would mean studying pretty much the same material, and to pick the school I felt most at home at. For me, Deerfield felt right somehow- it was very easy to visualize myself as one of the students there. I'd expect that different schools would give different students that feeling. (Also, the food at Deerfield is AMAZING. they have a full bakery in the dining hall basement, and the dining service also does catering. In choosing a place to live for the next four years, having good food and housing was a huge plus.)</p>
<p>Hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>So much great information in this thread! Thanks for posting, everyone (and apologies to the OP ~ didn't mean to hijack but it seemed like a good place for follow up questions). </p>
<p>I had not heard about the Time Capsule at Exeter. That's interesting. The special freshmen activities at NMH sound like a great bonding opportunity. I think St. Mark's does something similar.</p>
<p>Thekidhere, hearing about your personal experience is very helpful. Thanks!</p>