<p>what would you judge it on if not personal experience? i’d imagine that’s all busy bee CAN speak from, the mx freshman experience.</p>
<p>in my opinion middlesex’s problem is that the parents of its students are increasingly overprotective and faculty have their hands tied with rules because its parents that are paying the bill. that combined with poor communication between the higher levels of administration and students causes lots of kids to feel like their voices aren’t being heard.</p>
<p>i was on the student-faculty committee where the deans met with us - four upperclassmen - every week to talk about how the school was resolving problems like this and they really want to make mx kids happy, that is genuine. but the combination of entitled kids and faculty cracking down seemingly for no reason causes the problem.</p>
<p>@urbanflop</p>
<p>and being on CC longer doesn’t necessarily mean you have more knowledge on the school you attend</p>
<p>I am an entering sophmore. I hav a few friends who go to MX and they seem to like it alrite. Compared to other boarding private schools, MX is considered a smaller school. Most ppl noe each other and the faculty, so I think a student’s voice will have a higher chance of being heard than, lets say, at andover or exeter.
But i guess ppl hav different opinions, I myself will find out soon enough, so just let it rest and stop arguing about it. </p>
<p>@Izzy Buzy Bee,
->->I think new sophomores get to choose, since they won’t take all of those. So you’ll take your choice of music, drawing or art history one semester, and then drama the next [or in the reverse order].</p>
<p>Dramas required…?? :o</p>
<p>@Brookie17 - Art history is required and you get to choose for the other semester.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I haven’t been around this forum much recently but I have answered questions about mx in the past so I figured that I’d give my two cents about the recent changes in student life. Next year will be my fourth year here so I daresay I am qualified to talk about fun at school since you all seem to be arguing over Izzy’s qualified opinion versus l4life’s qualified opinion.
The school has definitely changed over my career. There were a lot more dances my freshman and sophomore years and in general a lot less negativity. As students get older at mx (as at most other schools), their workloads and stress also grow and I have found that, as an upperclassman, there are less new people to meet because of the small school environment and there is much less to de-stress. If you don’t take advantage of your free time and make fun for yourself whenever you can, then it definitely can be unpleasant to get through the school year. That said, it isn’t too difficult to find stuff to do, but the problem is that when you are trying to find something new weekend after weekend, it can be monotonous.
That was rather long-winded and might be confusing if you aren’t cognizant of the details of a typical weekend at Middlesex, but my point is that the school does have a different structure than years past, but student activities have not gone as downhill as last year’s seniors seemed to think.</p>
<p>I agree with NYprepster ^^^</p>
<p>Drama is required for all sophomores [I’m pretty sure? idk, check with someone who came as a new sophomore on that. You can only take standard drama as a sophomore though]. </p>
<p>As for weekends: I didn’t notice boring/not fun weekends as much as I noticed negative attitudes from certain upperclassmen. It seemed to me that there wasn’t much of a problem until they started complaining. There are plenty of things to do on the weekends- student activities, trips to the mall/train station, a regular shuttle to town, occasionally trips to places that are organized by teachers [Korean restaurants the opera, and BAGLY prom, to name avery small portion], dances, and just chillin with friends- whether it’s watching a movie or swimming in the pond. I think, more than anything else, negative attitude is what makes a school unhappy, and we had a lot of that with the class of 2010.</p>
<p>Granted, I only have one year’s experience and being on CC longer does NOT make me more qualified. But coming on here and immediately citing my lack of experience and dissing the school DOES make YOU rude.</p>
<p>Izzy, Admissions are looking for more upbeat students like you. I hope I get in there too.</p>
<p>Alright. Let me clarify.
I am not dissing MX in any way, nor did I say anything rude. I couldn’t be happier that I chose Middlesex and I’m really sad to be leaving.</p>
<p>That said, there are aspects of Middlesex’s culture that change when you enter your upperclassman years. your workload increases a lot, you start to see the flaws in faculty you used to idolize, and the fact that so many rules that are in place for the protection of underclassmen still apply to you can be frustrating and feel restrictive.
especially with the many changes and restrictions that were imposed this year, it’s been difficult for older kids to adjust. my only point was that it is not so happy-go-lucky all the time, there is a lot of negativity in the student body and a substantial gender divide.
l4life was just annoyed because your portrayal of middlesex is strictly from an underclassman point of view.</p>
<p>however, like i said before, the main problem with the attitude of middlesex kids is an inability to see the opportunities the school provides. the teachers work ceaselessly to try and make kids happy, and Carmen Beaton who is the dean of students cares for the kids like they were her own. she started crying in one of our meetings when she heard how upset some of the seniors were. and again, they often have their hands tied. and i’m really glad there are still kids like you who can see those opportunities.</p>
<p>so relax izzy, before you start calling people rude. no one is attacking you.</p>
<p>PS drama is not required if you are a new sophomore, as i was.</p>
<p>Hey prepster and Izzy, Whats the deal with the essay after the interview? What type of questions do they ask for the essay?</p>
<p>they typically ask you to write about your opinion on a particular topic, like what you value most in life or what your most life-changing experience was, or why you love to do whatever you said you loved to do. they’re pretty general.</p>
<p>i applied twice, because i was admitted as a freshman and my mom convinced me to go to BB&N. i was miserable, applied back to mx and luckily got in again 
so i had two questions. one was something along those lines i cant really remember specifically, and one was what makes you a good friend.</p>
<p>admissions is looking to get to know you personally, and these essays are their way of doing that.</p>
<p>Sorry ny, I wasn’t trying to diss you, I was just annoyed that any opinion or experience that I did have was so quickly discredited [by l4life].</p>
<p>haha izzy don’t worry about it i’m glad you like middlesex so much!</p>
<p>i agree with what nyprepster said up there^. my perspective of the school has totally shifted since i started here.</p>
<p>about the essays: when i had mine i think there were two different prompts. the one i answered was about where else in the world you would live if you had the choice. completely took me by surprise because i didnt know the essay existed until my interviewer told me 30 seconds before i started.</p>
<p>haha. Mine was so bad. Do you think they take it completely seriously? My had so much crap in it.</p>
<p>I can kind of remember the options from this year:
Something about an environmental issue.
Something talking about your family.
Something about something else.</p>
<p>Sorry that I am not that much help.</p>
<p>You definitely don’t have to do much writing on the actual MX application, so I am guessing that the 10-minute writing at the interview would be the equivalent of the application essays. I was taken by surprise too, nobody warned me about it. :/</p>
<p>I am pretty sure I wrote a bunch of crap too, and I didn’t have time to do any proof-reading whatsoever. Though I did squeeze in three paragraphs. :)</p>
<p>yah, I`m worried about an essay with little time to proof read and I have terrible hand writing.</p>
<p>don’t worry, no one’s prepared for it.</p>
<p>god i haven’t been on CC on a long time</p>
<p>anyways izzy i have a question when did you find out
whether you will have a roommate or not and who it
will be. risley told me that most likely i will have one
and i know who it will be if i have one, as there are
only two new 2012s. oh and have you started the
summer reading i bought on the kindle meant to read
during a flight never got around to it. if have you read it
tell me if it is any good.</p>
<p>OK: I got an email about who my roommate would be a couple weeks before the start of school, sometime in August. You don’t find out where you’re living until you get there on move-in day [which will be earlier for you then me, as new students and seniors get there a couple days early; returning non-seniors arrive the day before classes start]</p>
<p>i read the all school read on my plane home for the summer. I found it particularly interesting and it really hit home for me, but then again, I was living in New Orleans during Katrina. I though it was really good.</p>