<p>@PrestigeScholar: Like what? Depending on the teacher, you can be assigned anywhere from 10 to 40ish pages per night for English/history, and it depends on the book a lot because they gauge it by time. For math/physics/chemistry, you can get anything from three questions to a twenty-question worksheet. They gauge that by time, too. </p>
<p>@TheTester You’re definitely right about the one or two rooms that are sort of out of the loop at DB. Hearsey is actually really scattered this year, though; there’s one girl who refuses to talk to the others and is only at Hale, and another who doesn’t really like her dormmates but is less rude than the other. And that’s basically half the dorm right there.</p>
<p>As for the work situation, I’d say probably more reading than you’re used to (depending on teacher) but math generally seems to take less time… Again, discrepancies are very common as TheTester said.</p>
<p>I know grades have been mentioned before in this thread, but are they cumulative? Like, if you don’t do so well your first year, will that affect your overall grade the next few years?</p>
<p>@prepschoolhope13 Freshman fall grades are not part of the GPA, but I am fairly certain that grades are cumulative. If @TheTester would like to corroborate, that would be great.</p>
<p>Andover is not calculating or reporting a cumulative GPA on your transcript, but I think a term GPA is reported for 9th grade fall term despite the pass/fail for English and History, unless they have changes that recently.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone contributing answers! Since you guys are on break right now, do you have a lot of homework/studying? Or is it an actual <em>break</em> from work… </p>
<p>Grades are cumulative over the term and then again over the year. You have separate grades for different years. The only time I’ve seen a cumulative grade for the entire Andover period is for a certain calculation on a website the college counseling office uses. Freshmen grades do count in that, but I think it’s a strictly internal GPA and only affects a little bit of college counseling stuff. Overall, freshmen grades do not matter that much, although I think they do show up on the transcript.</p>
<p>@violinjaa: No homework! Teachers either aren’t willing or aren’t allowed to give homework over break (probably because it’s the end of a term and a lot of schedules get rearranged between terms). We still can study for APs/SAT IIs/SATs/ACTs and such, but it’s not mandatory. </p>
<p>@violinjaa There’s no actual homework (in fact, my math teacher purposely did not update the homework calendar because he knew we would all work ahead). </p>
<p>You row crew at Andover and go to sleep at nine o’clock? Really? </p>
<p>@TheTester @DocScratch Thank you so much for your informative answers! They will be very helpful :)</p>
<p>Hello I’m a parent here. In the parent essays that were part of PA application, one of the questions focused on the expectation that students remain on campus on most weekends to take advantage of the weekend programs.</p>
<p>So my question is as follows: does PA enforce some type of restriction for boarders from leaving campus on weekends? In particular I’m wondering if it would be possible to pick up my child on a Fri night and then return back on Sun afternoon. Is this frowned upon? In my case I would like to do this occasionally off-season for my son’s sport which requires some weekend travel.</p>
<p>@andchex Not every day, haha! Sometimes I’m just really physically tired, and I basically pass out at nine.</p>
<p>@26postcards No problem! Keep the questions coming.</p>
<p>@sgopal2 Students are expected to stay at school during most weekends, but I’m assuming these off-season practices won’t be very frequent, in which case, it should be fine. Your son will need an overnight excuse, which is pretty easily obtainable. I have a friend who goes to Boston every Saturday for a special math seminar, and another for violin lessons. So it’s not unheard of.</p>
<p>@DocScratch: would it be possible to get two consecutive overnight excuses (ie Fri night and Sat night)? These sports competitions happen usually 2-3 times per school year, all of which are off-season for his sport. Would involve me driving him to Boston and competing over the weekend and then returning back to PA on Sun afternoon. What is the process to get these excuses? Also would it be possible for him to leave school early on Fri afternoon (ie by approx 2 pm) to reach Boston.</p>
<p>@bj96xy I don’t know how many kids get expelled per year. The most common infraction is probably drug and alcohol abuse. Andover is not a one strike school for certain offenses, I believe. I know for sure that if you admit to having an alcohol or drug problem, you can get what is called sanctuary… The specifics are sort of boring, so you should read the blue book (code of conduct) if you are still curious.</p>
<p>Hi DocScratch, how many vacations do you get? I mean, how many times per year is mandatory to leave school? </p>
<p>@Cariar There are four vacations in which you must leave campus: Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring, and Summer break. Most international students stay with their host family during thanksgiving as it is so short.</p>
<p>Attrition rate is mentioned in this 2010 school newspaper article. It’s consistent with a recent class I personally have tracked, which had an attrition rate < 2%. Obviously it could fluctuate every year but generally it seems it’s around 2%.
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.phillipian.net/articles/pa-sees-most-competitive-applicant-pool-school-history”>http://www.phillipian.net/articles/pa-sees-most-competitive-applicant-pool-school-history</a></p>
<p>Could someone talk more about rowing crew? I’m interested in trying it as my fall sport :)</p>
<p>Sorry, but I have another question. Are all students who attend gifted-esque/more advanced in their mathematics?</p>
<p>^ @balledtoohard No</p>