@gossipgirlME Around how many hours of homework are assigned? For example, can you tell me your assignments from this Thursday?
And @gossipgirlME How do schedules work? Are they preassigned? How much time do you have in between classes? Can students use bikes?
I have a lot of questionsâŠ
@Personof2017 Andover is currently on spring break so no homework this past Thursday. The daily class schedule is posted on the website; the typical course load is 5 classes per trimester but I recommend you read the current Course of Study as a guide on what to expectâsee links to both below:
https://www.andover.edu/Academics/ProgramInfo/Pages/DailyClassSchedule.aspx
https://www.andover.edu/Academics/ProgramInfo/Documents/COS2016-2017.pdf
@Personof2017 haha, itâs good that you have a lot of questions!
As for schedules, you pick your classes before the start of spring term. As a new underclassmen, there isnât as much choice in the schedule because there are a lot of mandatory classes, but as you get older and find what interests you, a lot more room opens up in your schedule.
A typical week runs like this (total of 7 periods with 10 minutes between each class):
Monday-all periods meet for 45 minutes each (with conference period* between 2nd and 3rd), starting at 8:00, ending at 2:45 (red dots** on odd periods)
Tuesday-all periods meet for 45 minutes each (with * between 2nd and 3rd), starting at 8:00, ending at 2:45 (** on even periods)
Wednesday- Periods 1, 2, and 7 meet for 75 minutes each, with an all school meeting (more commonly known as ASM) between 2nd and 7th, classes start at 8:00, end at 1:00
Thursday- Periods 3, 4, 5, 6 meet for 75 minutes each, starting at 8:50 (with * between 3rd and 4th), ending at 2:50
Friday-all periods meet for 45 minutes each (with * between 2nd and 3rd), starting at 8:00, ending at 2:45 (no **)
Food! Paresky Commons (known as Commons) is our dining hall and is open from 7-9:15am for breakfast and from 11am-2pm for lunch*** on weekdays, 10:30am-1:30pm for brunch on weekends, and 5-7pm for dinner everyday.
*conference period- a 30 minute chunk of the day where all teachers are required to be available in their classrooms (or at least a classroom in a building they teach in). Theyâre literally there to help you work out any problems/questions you may have. You can meet with them about your work, or even just do some practice problems on a board with classmates. Piece of advice: utilize conference period! A lot of people donât at first because theyâre afraid of âlooking dumb,â but if anything, itâs one of the smartest decisions you can make. It shows your teacher that you care about how youâre doing in the class and that youâre making strides to improve!
**red dots- a period during which you donât have class. However, this only applies to History (HSS), English (ENG), and high level language courses (Iâll check to see if thereâs more). I believe teachers can choose if they want to use the red dot or to meet during their red dot time and meet only for 45 minutes during the respective extended time slot; most enjoy utilizing the full extended period, though. Letâs say I have History-101 during 5th period, and English-100 during 2nd. On Mondays, because itâs an odd period, I wonât have history and Iâm completely free during 5th. On Tuesdays, I wonât have english since itâs an even period and will have no real obligations, but both classes with be using the extended period.
***your lunch period will either be 4th, 5th, or 6th
@Personof2017 Also, students can definitely bring bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc.
Classes that meet 4 times a week can assign about 45 minutes of homework each meeting, while those that meet only 3 times can give you about an hour.
On a typical Thursday, my assignments could look like this:
History- read pages 112-117 and take notes. Be ready to discuss in class
Math- pg. 45 problems 27-39
Spanish-online exercises conjugating verbs in the preterite tense
Bio-study class notes for tomorrowâs quiz
English-read next 1 or 2 chapters in book and annotate
Hi! Iâve just been accepted to Andover, and I have lots of questions.
- In between classes, sports, and other obligations, how much time is given to do leisure activities (going to the gym, painting, etc.)?
- How many clubs would you recommend for a (very active) Junior to join? Iâve seen many clubs at Andover I have interest in, but Iâm not sure how many I should take without being overloaded.
- Can someone explain the grading system at Andover? My mum and I were trying to understand the 6-point scale.
- Are there any opportunities to take internships outside of Andover? Iâd like to intern at political offices, and Iâm not sure if Andover will allow it.
- How are roommates, dorms, and clusters assigned? Can you request certain dorm?
Congrats @monica20!!!
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Thereâs definitely a lot of time to do a lot of things! I was on a varsity sport in the fall term, so I definitely didnât have as much time as my friends did, but in winter I did a life sport (chill things like yoga and instructional dance), which definitely opened up more time. Also, every Friday, the Weekender, a flyer listing all the activities going on on campus that weekend, is emailed to us, so thereâs always something fun to do.
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I canât really give a ballpark number as it depends on whatâs right for you, but I can say that you should definitely sign up for a lot and see how you like them! We have a club rally in the beginning of the year where all the clubs have booths and you can sign up and see what theyâre about. You are definitely not obligated to commit to what you sign up for; I recommend going to meetings of clubs youâre most interested in and seeing if itâs actually something you want to do.
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The 6-point scale is an interesting thing to get used to:
0-Low Fail, 1-Fail, 2-Minimum Pass, 3-Satisfactory, 4-Good, 5-Superior, 6-Outstanding
Percentages vary (not by much) per department, but Iâll update those with more or less fixed numbers once I find the official ones.
Fives and sixes are the goal, but itâs not a big deal at all if thatâs not happening. -
I canât speak on that well since I havenât tried, but what I can say is that itâs hard for a boarder to do a lot of things off campus, but it does not hurt to ask and see if itâs possible!
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Youâll get a housing card in the summer asking you whether you want a big dorm or a small dorm, what you would like in a roommate if you want one (keep in mind that there are limited singles, especially for juniors), what your interests are etc. to find someone that you might be compatible with. We have five clusters: Abbot (ABB), Flagstaff (FLG), Pine Knoll (PKN), West Quad North (WQN), and West Quad South (WQS). There are a lot of different options; Abbot has about 14 dorms, but theyâre all pretty small-medium sized (<20), while Pine Knoll only has 5 dorms, but they all have >35 people. You can totally request a dorm! Are you coming for a revisit? Some boarding revisits will sleep in the dorm with their host and you can see if you like that dorm environment, or your host would gladly probably take you to see another dorm to see that vibe as well.
@gossipgirlME thanks for answering my questions! Iâm going for a revisit in a couple of weeks, so Iâll get to learn more about dorm life when I go. My friendâs sister is an Andover student and sheâs been telling me about each cluster, so I have one in mind that I might request.
Also, can someone explain Tang Scholarships?
Second that. And also endowment scholarships
Sorry to overwhelm you with questions! So appreciative of your insight. Hereâs another question :)).
What are the study abroad opportunities like? Do people take advantage of them and do they interfere with varsity sports?
Also if a student is on financial aid are the travel programs covered? Thank you!!
@gossipgirlME When are the placement tests
Hi, Iâm a incoming Lower middle student at PA. I was accepted to some other schools around the area, and I just wanted to know the reasons why anybody would choose andover over other schools, which I find to be a common choice among my friends here.
Also another note: I was waitlisted at PEA, my top choice(sorry) what do you think are the differences between the two schools and the advantages PA has over PEA?
By the way, I have a lot of interest in art, music, and STEM, so it would be helpful if you could tell me more about it. Thanks!!
Hi all. Congrats to everyone who received an offer of admission from PA! I am the parent of a current ninth-grader (âjuniorâ as its called at PA). While I think itâs often best to get a studentâs perspective, Iâm happy to try to answer some questions where I can.
But before I address any of the above, I want to recommend to parents especially that you learn more about PAâs current strategic plan which I think will help you get a better sense of the âbig pictureâ and whatâs important to the administration (this plan is one of the primary reasons my husband and I are huge fans of the school; we found nothing like it at the other schools we visited):
OK, on to some questions.
In May new students will get info to log into their pa.net accounts where they will find, among many other things, a new student checklist. The checklist was also mailed to parents. There are lots of key dates on the checklist. Some examples:
-Housing preference cards were sent in mid-late April and were due June 1
-Health/Medical forms are completed online; parents create an account on the med portal in May and forms were due July 1
-Also at the beginning of May you get a bunch of stuff from the Dean of Studies Office including the course request form (where you can also indicate your choice of fall sport), placement tests for math, music and language (done online), registration for private instrument and voice lessons, and if applicable a form to verify proof-based geometry that is completed by the current school. These things were due June 1. Youâll also get a form to request a final transcript from the current school and that was due July 1. International students receive additional information around this time as well.
***Please note that things may get changed up a bit this year so donât rely on the above deadlines!
My child is also a varsity athlete and the coach is super helpful about more than just athletics. Specific to study abroad, there was an information fair during Parents Weekend and later in the day we were able to talk with the coach about how that might work into my childâs plans. They also hold a summer opportunities fair in January which we attended and found a great program abroad for our kiddo this summer.
In response to @fayexeter, my child was accepted at both Andover and Exeter last cycle, as well as some other schools, and one thing that I found discouraging at our Exeter revisit was that the music director told us that our kid would have a hard time being a 3-sport athlete and also participate in ensembles. My kiddo is happily pursuing both athletics and music at Andover and some other interests, and has friends who successfully combine all manner of ECs. In addition to being in music ensembles, my kid took both a music class and a fine arts class this year and loved both. Of course PEA has Harkness for everything, but Andover believes that teachers should have the flexibility to utilize a variety of teaching methods to best encourage learning. Something else that is different at PA and PEA is that at PA ninth graders are housed in ninth-grade dorms but at PEA they are mixed in with everyone else. Different strokes for different folks of course, but my kid liked being with dorm mates who were all in the same boat as new students. I also understand that at PEA most kids stay in the dorm where they started through graduation, but at PA there is a housing lottery every year with a system of squatterâs rights and seniority which still allows for some movement. And hands down my kid preferred the dining hall at PA over the dining halls at PEA. PAâs Paresky Commons is beautiful and serves wonderful, healthy food. Kiddo also loves the new science building at PA, and the new athletic facilities that are being built also look amazing.
As mentioned above, the cluster system is a unique part of life at Andover, which, in addition to creating social opportunities also forms the framework for a studentâs adult team to support the student. We have found the amount of support and resources available to our kid to be outstanding in all areas.
I highly, highly recommend attending a revisit day if your family can swing it. My husband and I approached the revisits as pre-orientations and asked lots of questions and took lots of notes at each school so that we would be ready when the kiddo made the final choice.
To those who already know they are Andover-bound: WELCOME! For those who still have decisions to make: I hope you appreciate how lucky you are to have choices and I wish you the best in making your decision! Trust yourself and try not to overthink things. 
Sharing the strategic plan may have just sealed the deal for us. Thank you so much @AppleNotFar. Would you Pm me telling me the sports your child plays?
@bc12345 Endowment scholarships come from the approximately $19 million the school sets aside every year for financial aid. Our admissions committees realize that there are a lot of kids who have what it takes to survive and thrive at Andover, but donât necessarily have the money that would allow them to do so. The school makes a commitment to ensure that everyone has the chance to pursue opportunities that if offers. Whatever percentage of financial aid you have for the regular school year will be applied for any study abroad program you decide to pursue!
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@gossipgirlME wonderful. Thank you!
@fayexeter PA offers a lot of options in STEM, art, and music, not only in classes you can take, but also in clubs you can join. There are so many places in the math sequence to enter and find whatâs best for you. Gelb Science Center (Gelb, for short) is dedicated to biology, chemistry, and physics by floor and is stunning (although I must admit, not as pretty as Phelps at Exeter). We have a variety of STEM-related clubs. There are a lot of ways to pursue art: introductory to advanced drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, video. We have dance groups from jazz to hip hop to tap. Weâve got bands, orchestras, a cappella groups, choruses, and choirs. You can also take private lessons in a large variety of instruments.
Last year, I got into to both Andover and Exeter (my top choice). I decided to revisit both; the whole time I was at Andover, I was telling myself âdonât enjoy it, youâre definitely choosing Exeter so why even bother?â When I revisited Exeter, I found I wasnât able to surpress my love for Andover even though I had been dead set on Exeter. I realized a lot of the comparisons that @AppleNotFar had made. I guess what Iâm saying is If possible, definitely come to a revisit day and feel it out for yourself.