<p>i'm going to be a hs senior next year after 3 good years of prep school. if you have any questions about high school academics (how many honors classes should my s/d take, when to take the SAT, how to get ready for a final, how to get a high gpa, how to get elected asb officer, how to identify a teacher who will someday write a rec....etc) just let me know and i'll try to post a response.</p>
<p>All of your examples would be helpful.</p>
<p>yeah... I would also like to hear the answers to those questions.</p>
<p>I'm also going to be a senior at a boarding school after 3 years. My school was public, and geared heavily towards math and science, but I can definitely help out with questions about student life, homesickness, roomate issues, adjustment to being away from home, things like that.</p>
<p>IK, are you at IMSA? Two of my stepsiblings went there, and one must be in your graduating class.</p>
<p>I'd be happy to answer questions about going to a girls' boarding school (I attended Chatham Hall and absolutely loved it.) I graduated too long ago to be of much help, but coming from a family where everyone goes to boarding school I probably have some advice to offer.</p>
<p>Recent grad of an all boy's Prep/Boarding school--happy to answer any questions. I was a day student, but I was buddies with residents, so I have some knowledge of that aspect.</p>
<p>To all those who went to boarding school how did you deal with being homesick? How long did it take to get rid of that feeling?</p>
<p>For me personally, I wasn't homesick at all for the first few weeks. I had never been farther from Chicago than Indiana before I went away, so I mostly got caught up in the excitement of living with people from all over the world. I was briefly homesick starting at the end of September. Mostly I missed my best friend and my large family.. and my dog. It grew largely from the stress of being challenged in my classes for the first time in my life, and lasted only until some time in October when I flew home for Fall Long Weekend. I hung out with my family and old friends, went to a football game and a dance at my old high school. By the end of that weekend it was abundantly clear to me that while I still cared deeply about my friends and family at home, I had definitely made the right choice when I decided to go away to school. I went to an extraordinarily tightknit school and by winter break I had formed close friendships at my boarding school that have lasted to this day. I wasn't homesick again for the rest of my time in high school.</p>
<p>Homesickness is different for everybody. For some people it's just an adjustment period--I went through the same thing when I moved to Japan later on and had to adjust to a new language and culture. For others it's more about needing to feel comfortable and cared for, and not feeling quite 'at home' at school yet. And for others it's more about idealizing what school and life were like at home. If you chose a supportive school, time will generally heal it. If it really doesn't go away after a couple months, though, it is worth evaluating whether you're really homesick... or whether you're dissatisfied with how things are going at your new school and should consider change.</p>
<p>any advice for academics? Like SAT/GPA/Homework/etc?</p>
<p>Naoka- Yes, Indeed, I will be a senior at IMSA. Who is your step sibling? (PM if you want).</p>
<p>QB_lover03- honestly, I was never homesick. I was glad to leave home, and wanted to forget about it when I went to IMSA. </p>
<p>Many other people I know had serious problems with it. In fact, one of my friends never really got over it.</p>
<p>It helps to get involved with as much as possible as soon as possible. If you become immersed in your new school, you will find it much easier to be make new friends and keep your mind off of the friends you left behind. It may be hard, but you really need to focus on your new environment and spend as much energy making it comfortable for yourself in your new place, rather than reminiscing about your old home. </p>
<p>Beefcakeman- academics. SAT- just do well on it. Get angry with the school if they don't feed you before it (like I did for the ACT). Just study for it like you would normally, going to a boarding school doesn't change that much when it comes to standardized testing.</p>
<p>GPA/homework- This is hard for a lot of people. I was a paranoid kid my first year at boarding school, so I worked my tail off between 6-10 at night, with breaks and usually an hour to hang out. Much of my homework needed to be completed on a computer, and I didn't have one. I was afraid of not being able to finish my work on the communal computers in my dorm late at night, so I did my work early. This is a good attitude to have. I found that once I got a computer, I was much lazier and less focused. It's really good to do something to try to make yourself get your work done before the late night hours. And believing wholeheartedly you will not be able to finish work before 11 PM is a great way to do that.</p>
<p>Or, giving yourself a reward for good work can do the trick. I'd have lengthy math problem sets due every week. The day I received the new set, I'd sit out in the suite area of my dorm and work on it. When I was done, I'd order a pizza. The pizza was a reward for finishing the problem set. I found that by giving myself a reward at the end of my toils helped me to stay focused on them, and not be distracted by the shennanigans of dorm life.</p>
<p>Junior year, my good habits from sophomore year went directly to hell. I procrastinated, was focused too heavily on things besides school, my grades dropped precipitously 1st semester (I recovered the next semester, so I have nice big downward trend soph and junior year, up until 2nd semester where I started going back up. It's like a big bounce in my GPA). I was generally unhappy. Moral: don't loose focus, and keep your study habits sharp. But if you do choose to be a slacker like me 1st semester junior year, let me offer you a strange bit of advice: become semi-nocturnal.</p>
<p>I was distracted by people in my dorm and on AIM. So one solution I found was to sleep when they are awake and do homework when they are not. That means I'd often (I DID NOT do this every night) do 1-2 hours of homework after school, and fall asleep around 9-11 PM. I'd wake up around 3 or 4 AM, and work for another 3-4 hours before class. I got so much done, because there were absolutely no distractions. It's peaceful at 4 AM, especially when you've slept for 6 hours before (and had a nap during the day). I should mention I didn't do this 1st semester, I did it second semester, when I actually focused on work. And I pulled an A average on this system, and had a lot of fun doing it. I warn you, this is a last-resort manuever. This a system you go to only after you've been horribly ineffective due to lack of focus and procrastination for at least a quarter. Some parents might think I'm nuts, so might some kids. But this semi-nocturnal system is effective as a last-ditch move. It's much better than pulling 2 all-nighters in a row (all-nighters are REALLY bad ideas, though I never had an academic-allnighter). </p>
<p>Sorry, long post, but inconclusion, to keep an A average at a top boarding school (which I've done 3 out of 4 semesters, with a B+ average that other semester):</p>
<p>1) Minimize distractions
2) Be paranoid, make yourself get everything done before 11 PM.
3) Reward yourself for hard work
4) If push comes to shove, become a vampire and do your homework in the early morning.</p>
<p>I'd have more suggestions, and can elaborate on my points, but that post would be too long, and I have other things to get done. PM me with questions, or ask them here. I'll probably be more brief in future posts.</p>
<p>My advice for the SAT is to deny its existence until you're a junior. You may acknowledge the PSAT if you think your NMF material, but otherwise, don't even think about it.</p>
<p>Homework--do it. Find ways to minimalize the amount you have to do after school, because odds are you will find a million other things you'd rather when that last bell rings. Planning to do assignments before school starts in the morning or during lunch is a good way to maximize your free time after school, when more pleasurable options are available. The schoolwork I did at home was primarily reading, studying for major tests, and long assignments (papers and projects). Time management is the key to a successful and enjoyable high school experience. I managed to be in the top 5% of my class, and (besides a couple long nights for Art Studio projects and english papers) did it comfortably. Granted I only got 6-9 hours of sleep a night, but most of that was an AIM thing--I opted to chat rather than sleep.</p>
<p>Freshman year will probably be your easiest year academically--take advantage of that and get that GPA up early. But remember that it's also the year where you make a base of friends and get involved in activities that you'll maybe stick through for a few years--so have a good time too.</p>
<p>I'm better at answer more specific questions...so if anyone has any, go ahead--I'm free all summer.</p>
<p>My questions are related to students who "repeat" grades.</p>
<p>Being these boarding schools are so expensive, why would a student repeat a grade? </p>
<p>Besides, by repeating a grade, students delay graduation for another year. </p>
<p>I have seen some students/athletes deciding to repeat grades. Why?</p>
<p>I don't understand.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies.</p>
<p>Alright.... I'll try to post responses to these questions over the next week. Take everything I say with a grain of salt because I'm just speaking from my own experience. The answers will be geared towards people who are working towards an elite school. I'll try to avoid saying the responses that everyone gives. </p>
<p>Question 1: How many honors classes should my s/d take?</p>
<p>The number should increase every year. The only reason to take an advanced class as a freshman is to be able to keep moving up the latter of advanced classes. By the end of sophmore year, all the students know where they belong. There are some who take every AP course possible, those who take a good number (recommended) and those who don't take any. </p>
<p>Why not take every AP class possible? I'll give you a quick story. I have an Indian friend who takes every honors class known to man. The reason: his parents pressue him to take those classes. The only problem? He hates his parents. He can't wait to go across the country for college, and in his words "never return". </p>
<p>There are some people, very very few, who take every AP class because they want to. If they can handle it... no problem. But, these people usually end up hating themselves. The people who take only the hardest classes usually don't have time for EC's, which might hurt them more. </p>
<p>This summer, when I went to see my guidance counselor, I happened to ask him, "How many advanced classes did I have to take in order to get the "most rigorous" box checked in my college application". There was already a set number, 17 semesters of advanced classes (for the 4 years). If I would have known that number as a freshman, a lot of time spent worrying about taking enough advanced classes would have been used more productively.</p>
<p>Thank you for the tip about what qualifies as "most rigorous" at your school. I'll follow up on this.</p>
<p>I too would like to hear opinions on this. sometimes kids do two repeats.</p>
<p>I don't know much about repeating--at my high school, the only people who repeated years were transfers--for academic reasons (want to get a good foundation and meet prerequisites for future classes), though I know of one transfer who repeated 10th grade mostly so he can play football an extra year (and this caused quite a controversy).</p>
<p>I was stunned when I read an article in the New York Times Education Supplement 11/6/05 on repeating grades. Here is a link to it <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00713FA3A5B0C758CDDA80994DD404482%5B/url%5D">http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00713FA3A5B0C758CDDA80994DD404482</a>
The link may not work because you have to register first (no cost). If it doesn't work, register and then search for "If at First You Don't Succeed" or St. Paul's School or The Lawrenceville School.
They state that 22% of the freshman class at St. Paul's were repeats. Lawrenceville has a high number as well as several other schools.</p>
<p>I don't understand.
My friend N. was accepted to this boarding school (mentioned very often around here, won't identify it though) and was accepted as a 9th grader (to repeat), not as a 10th grader. He refused (his parents refused). He has excellent grades (honors), great SSAT (90's overall) and starting quarterback in his football team (junior-high boarding school). He is also a minority. He accepted another offer from another B.S.</p>
<p>Wow. I have known some kids who repeated ninth grade at boarding schools. These students really needed another year to mature either socially or academically (ie they were unorganized or had poor study habits), but were good kids with something positive to offer their boarding school communities. These students were not, however, off to schools as selective as St. Paul's. I haven't read the article yet - are these repeat students stellar students who would have been admitted without repeating but just want to work their way through as many advanced high school courses as possible? Or are they kids who have a special talent in one area, but need additional time to mature academically? 22% of an incoming class seems huge to me. It certainly seemed like the kids I know who applied as repeat ninth graders helped their chances of admission. Does it help high honors type students also, or would it look a bit peculiar?</p>
<p>at lawrenceville, i know alot of the repeats were athletes, and of those athletes i would say 50% were kids who might have repeated for academic reasons, as for the other 50% my guess is that for reasons like lack of room in the sophomore class or balancing the class or for other administrative reasons the kids were put back in the freshman class</p>