<p>sooo, as some of you may know, due to my extreme procrastination and arctic chill from the parents, i'll be applying for entrance in the fall of '11. this means that i'll have to enter as a sophomore (or repeat frosh but lets not even go there), so i have a question for all people who were new sophs (or anyone really) : how hard was it to adjust, socially? i mean these kids have been living together for a YEAR, wouldn't it be pretty hard to break into their social circle.. ? it'd suck being a social leper, aha..</p>
<ul>
<li>was it hard to adjust socially </li>
<li>were the kids at your school friendly / accepting (i know, cliche)</li>
<li><p>how did you meet people ? classes, sports, clubs.. ?</p></li>
<li><p>anything else concerning being a new soph ? thank youu!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Bump! Same question here!</p>
<p>think it might depend on the school and how many new sophomores they bring in. At the school where my children are the class size grows by about 30-40% from Freshman to Sophomore year so when you come in as a soph you aren’t the only new kid. Also my son who is a new sophomore this year was placed with another new sophomore so they were in the same boat at the beginning of the year. On their hall in their dorm there were some new kids and some returning kids, so it is a nice mix. I think that the schools have so much experience at this that they know how to make it work out for most kids.</p>
<p>Also, don’t totally dismiss the repeat year. It’s not a bad thing and at a lot of schools kids do repeat - more boys than girls but we’ve seen a fair number of girls too. It’s probably a question worth asking - especially if you aspire to be an athlete at the schools that you are applying too.</p>
<p>same divealive, I apply as repeat upper too!
Excited, super nervous, pessimistic (totally me) but optimistic at the same time.
Above all, curious about the social life there…</p>
<p>I simply cannot rely on the viewbooks and their websites. Geez, of course they will tell good things, and good things only. Talking about coaxing…</p>
<p>Anyone from either E/A want to share opinion?</p>
<p>haha i’m not sure if bumps are banned so i’m going to cleverly disguise this post as something that isnt completely pointless :)</p>
<p>@ monochrome : yea, i don’t trust viewbooks. there cant be that many strangely perfect-looking teenagers with crystal clear skin at BS, can there?!
does anyone have anything to add, i’m really curious. Saer (choate, '12) said that it wasn’t too bad, and that she had an easier time with transitioning because she was part of the volleyball team (sports -> meet people ?)</p>
<p>anyways, pretty scary…</p>
<p>Divealive, i totally agree. Viewbooks and websites are part of the promotion and marketing strategy…they have to sell the school to future applicants. Not 1 of the pictures seems unhappy. In contrast, everybody appears to be inhumanly perfect. Perfect looking, very athletic, intellectual, artistic, and too…happy to be true. Honestly, can something be so…flawless?
Yah, saer gets along well due to her participation in sports. But do all incoming sophomores easily mingle well?</p>
<p>I think definitely if you are an athlete and if you get invited to fall pre-season, it is even easier. </p>
<p>When my son applied as a 10th grader we asked at each interview - how big is the 9th grade class and how many 10th graders do you admit? It varies significantly from school to school, although most do add 25-50% of the class in 10th grade. </p>
<p>I would also ask what kind of things you MISS in 9th grade. Is there an organization/study skill class? I know most of you will say you don’t need it, but many times it is something that really introduces freshman to how things work at THAT school. Is there some class-wide “team-building” activity (ropes course, camping trip, etc)? Some do it in 9th some wait until 10th when most of the class is there. I echo the thought of don’t rule out repeating.</p>
<p>I have observed incoming 10th graders and it seems that it is what you make of it - really like anything else in life. Get involved and become a part of things and you’ll be fine.</p>