Wondering How hard is it to be in the top 20% at top boarding schools?
Here’s the thing: there are kids who are in the top 20% because they’ve never done an EC, and there are kids in the top 20% who are in multiple clubs, sports, leadership positions. It depends, but it is generally hard. It’s called a top boarding school because it’s the top, and it’s hard to be in the top of that top. Think about it: if your class is the top 18% of the applicant pool, then being within the top 20% of that 18% is very difficult.
Also,How many hours of studying and doing HW does it take to have good grades at these schools?
It is hard, very hard. You work harder than you could ever have imagined for grades that may or may not be what you are used to earning. BUT you learn to work harder, you learn to think deeper and you will find your transition to college comfortable.
Any other thoughts or opinions on this?
In response to your question: the top schools usually give students 2-4 hours of homework a night(from what I’ve heard) , but it can vary depending on whether you’re taking 6 classes, AP/Honors, etc. On the Choate math placement sheet that I just received it asked what class my math teacher was gonna recommend me for, and it said that honors recommendations should be reserved for extremely skilled students. She recommended me for it, so I’ve accepted my fate of most likely getting a C…
I heard about 1 in 5 reach the top 20% of their class.
That would make sense @Muad_dib :)!
Or, more alarmingly, half the class will be in the bottom 50% of the class. 
But guess what, they all get into good colleges and lead productive lives. This will come as a shock to the majority of students who are used to all A’s. 95%+ of BS students will graduate with less than a 4.0 GPA.
2 is on the low end. In fact, I would like to meet the kids that only have 2 hours of HW. 
For the top students, particularly in the 11th and 12th grades, IME, who are taking the more challenging classes, the number is closer to 4-5 hours/night.
Is there any free time for students at these schools? I don’t think I can survive without at least an hour… :-S
Yes. Will you have an hour each and every Monday-Thursday? No, at least not without giving up something else, like sleep. If you manage your time well (and you need to), there are large chunks of free time on Friday night and on the weekends.
@skieurope Not quite. At many of the schools, Friday night is a school night as there are classes on Saturday mornings.
Free time is a relative concept. It depends on how you spend your time. If you hang with your friends, do you consider that free time? Or do you think you want to hang w your friends and then also have time alone in your room? Typically, schedules and course loads are pretty heavy and sleep is at a premium. It boils down to your ability to manage your time. It is possible, it just takes commitment. Are you ready to focus?
panic sets in because I’m a serious procrastinator
Sorry, you are correct @dowzerw . I sometimes forget that my school was/is not typical of all schools.
@skieurope do you think that the school you attended had a similar workload to its peer schools? Just out of curiosity because I feel like they have similar workloads but who knows.
@“Nico.campbell” Well, I only have first-hand knowledge of one school, but I do not think that the workload at other schools is dramatically different. Keep in mind, I said that this is what it like for kids who are taking mostly advanced classes as upperclassmen. The HW expectation for a 9th grader taking a standard course load will be slightly (and I mean very slightly) less. As with any school you might have a teacher who assigns relatively little HW, and another that routinely assigns more than the recommended amount.
@CottenCandyTrill As @skieurope points out, time management is the key, and as @dowzerw explains, free time is a relative concept. AppleKid has learned to use bits of time throughout the school day for mini-breaks (social media, netflix) as well as to do homework. And a lot of “socializing” happens while participating in other activities: sports, community service, clubs etc.
Yes to exactly what @AppleNotFar said above! The boarding and day students all seems to find at least some “downtime” throughout the day, but it might not be an entire hour of time all at once.
Also, keep in mind that each school is different. Some schools weight grades, some don’t, some give extra weight to honors courses, and extra extra weight to AP courses. Some will let you know your class rank, some won’t!
Use my daughter as an example…finished this year with straight A’s, but because her school weights grades it mattered whether they were A+, A, or A-…so she finished with a 3.85 GPA weighted / 4.0 GPA unweighted. Those then change for any Honors or AP classes.
Pulling those grades required no less than 2-4 hours homework each night. During exams, depending on the subject she would study 10+ hours for each exam…they only schedule one exam per day for a week. This was on top of volleyball, theatre, community service project, and various clubs. So, downtime didn’t come in plentiful amounts, but she always seemed to have some time for friends, cute Snapchat stories, and calls home! It’s all what you put into it and set your mind to do!
It is extremely hard to be in the top 20% in most top public schools and even harder at top boarding schools. The student ability and preparation is more consistently high and the grading is commensurately more rigorous. It is especially more difficult to juggle 4 to 6 hours of work with any meaningful extracurricular.
Many schools don’t rank, so don’t worry about it until you get admitted to a school that does.