In reference to Lawrenceville:
I think my school has been called “sink or swim” in the past, but I’d call it more of a mix. There’s support available—you just have to make sure you’re proactive in getting it for yourself.
Same. From what I remember, ours was a little less involved, but we definitely went over how to use the library, what consultation is, study methods, etc. Orientation here mainly centers around doing team-building activities on the ropes course.
We have peer tutors who come to the freshman dorms/library during study hall.
Freshmen have a semi-separate dining hall here. It’s basically a balcony over the main dining hall. Their housing is also different; it’s freshman-only, and the two dorms face each other with a large lawn (“The Bowl”) in between acting as a hangout spot. (Upperclassmen typically use different spaces instead).
Less true here. The advisory system, for instance, isn’t really a big part of most people’s life. They also got rid of the “Humanities groups” system, in which you had the exact same group of students in both your English and History classes freshman year (they were also the group you did orientation with), during Covid.
For all freshmen through juniors, 8:00-10:00. It’s in-room with doors open, phones outside for freshmen, but less strict for upperclassmen; they can go to the Library or work in the common room if they so wish.
If a student is falling behind, they’re usually alerted by a poor grade on a test/paper (in my experience, this most frequently happens when you didn’t go to consult…). The other way is during interims. Interims here are ungraded; instead, you receive either a “satisfactory,” “concerned,” or “potential failure,” along with a paragraph or two about your performance in the past few weeks. If you get a “concerned” or “potential failure” (rarely happens, and has never happened to me), I believe they have some stuff in place to work through that.
Freshman fall, you are graded pass/fail in your English, History, and Science classes, but graded in your Language and Math classes (this is because upperclassmen can be in the latter two). There is absolutely no semblance of grading throughout that term, from what I remember; assignments are graded on 1-4/pass-fail/literally anything but percentages or A-F. All assignments have rubrics, though, so you can generally tell what’s going on.
(day student speaking): The dorm common room and the Library.
Freshman year: through the House, through classes, and through mutual friends.
Later on: shared classes/extracurriculars/sports.
Yes! All the time. The Houses are all very old, too, so they have all these really cool traditions that we still partake in. A friend of mine’s grandfather went to {insert event} with who would eventually be his grandmother; over 60 years later, we’re going to the same one!
From what I remember, the first few weeks were really just meeting everyone you can and finding a few people that you got along with.
We’re very collaborative IME. Everyone studies together, helps each other out on assignments, discusses questions, etc.
Twice a week; once at lunch, once as a meeting.
2-strike school. Disciplinary infractions go to a DC (“disciplinary committee”). The people attending a DC are (my memory is fuzzy so I’m going to be a little vague to avoid misinforming):
- The student
- A few teachers, including the student’s Head of House, as well as any faculty member of the student’s choice (as their “support teacher”)
- School Honor Rep
- Two or three Honor Council members (a group of seniors selected by the Honor Rep and Dean of Students)
They hear the student’s case, have a debate about what should be done, and then send a recommendation to the Head of School as to what should happen. I forgot if the vote has to be unanimous or simple-majority, but DCs do go on until the case is resolved no matter what. You can receive a “major” (one of two strikes), a “minor” (this is new, so I’m not sure what it means), or a “letter of reprimand” (probation).
Here, students receive their term grades 3-4 days before their parents. Students are the only people with built-in access to assignment grades.
Same here.
That’s how I’d describe my school, too. I wouldn’t call that “sink-or-swim”; it just requires you to be responsible for your own learning (and not feel entitled to a certain grade).