Hey, Kent school class of 26 here!
I recently got accepted into Kent (lol my only offer) and although I’m pretty sure I’m going this fall, I’d like to know if any current students/parents/alumni had any advice? The website has some general videos and photos, but it’s hard to know the general feeling regarding homework, teachers, social situations, etc since I’m an international student and couldn’t attend revisit day.
Thank you and feel free to private message me or reply to this!
Kent School parent here! Congratulations on your acceptance to Kent! I am happy to answer any questions you have. We have loved our experience and the balance it offers our DD. The teachers are engaged and helpful, friendships are deep and meaningful, and the overall vibe is one of kindness and collaboration. Please don’t hesitate to DM me with specific questions and I will do my best to answer.
Hi Kent parent here - Congrats, I believe you will really enjoy Kent! Our daughter is an international student as well and has loved her freshman year at Kent. Classes, teachers and staff work hard to make the academics work for each student. Atmosphere is kind and accepting with enough freedoms to learn from mistakes but keep you moving forward to success. My daughter has developed friends at all 4 grades and can move between the sports folks & arts/music folks and finds a welcoming group in each area. Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions. Congrats!.
Thanks, I am offered to Kent and will join 9th grade. Any suggestion and tips for the courses selection for freshman.
Hi guys, I haven’t been active, so I just saw your replies. Thank you so much!
However, I’m still wondering about the academics at Kent. I know that there are 2-hour study halls each day, but I’m not sure if they are productive or stressful. So basically, how is the workload, and are there any tips/suggestions regarding course selections?
The study halls are meant to be productive, but it up to you to use them well. As a freshman, if you are good with time management, you should be able to complete all of your homework within this block of time. As you get older your workload will get heavier (assuming a natural progression of rigor) and you will likely need to use free periods within your day to get started before finishing up during study hall. I hope this helps!
Hey lol, another question I have for current students/parents is: Were you allowed to sign up for “elective” courses during your first year? I’m asking this because for the course selection form, I could only sign up for science (not specific to bio, chem, etc), language, and history, although in the course catalog, there were multiple arts and music courses.
I also wrote some emails to the Kent studies office, but they replied with 2 curt emails that didn’t answer my question.
Hi there! If you are entering as a 3rd Form (freshman) student, most of your courses will be pre-set for the standard curriculum - math, science (which you can choose an honors level if your HS transcript supports that), history, FL, English, and the new student seminar. The levels will be based upon your placement tests. In addition, if you choose to, you can take a term-contained art or music class, but the studies office won’t likely encourage that as they want you to acclimate to boarding life, etc. As a 4th Former you can begin adding all of the cool elective courses you read about in the course catalog. Read carefully - many are quite specific and require prerequisites. The reality is, most of your electives will take place during your upper form years, and are a fantastic way to dive deeply into subjects that you have developed an interest in.
Ohh, thank you so much for your help! I was really confused, but this explained it perfectly!