<p>During our visit for Fall Parents Weekend, we were surprised by the number of repeat students (i.e. repeat freshman, repeat sophomores). Some of DSs classmates were almost 2 years older than him.</p>
<p>Being new to the world of BS and being terribly naïve about the admissions process when DS went through it, we did not know what to make of the repeat phenomenon. Is this a strategy to get admitted into BS, or is it a strategy, once matriculated, to excel beyond younger grade matesi.e. academic red-shirting? </p>
<p>We are concerned that DS is taking subjects for the 1st time that older classmates are simply re-taking. It smacks of playing poker w a stacked deck.</p>
<p>The red shirting trend is happening everywhere – public and privates alike. It was a problem for us before BS because son was big, smart – and young for his grade. Doesn’t seem like an issue in BS so far, but overall I, too, am interested to hear how AOs view this. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” hasn’t helped.</p>
<p>I’m mixed on this. For some reason, “Red Shirting” a Kindergartener makes little sense to me, but repeating a year at BS does…especially if the high schooler is young for grade or has not had a great education through middle school.</p>
<p>If the red-shirt is not an immediate varsity athlete, then you can put money on their being full pay. Schools are not above the economic incentive of grabbing a kid for an additional year of full tuition–that’s how (in part) they can afford to fill out the class with talented FA applicants. </p>
<p>Duly, I’d suggest there’s a clear advantage to getting your child in as a freshman, if you think they can handle the adjustment. It gets DC up to pace with the school’s expectations as quickly as possible, with the least at stake. Sophomore and junior years are both obviously where it really “counts,” so even if your DC is up against a redshirt sophomore or junior, s/he will have the advantage of the social adjustment already under the belt. Also, I think it’s a tough (but valuable) lesson on the inequity of the playing field. It rarely, if ever, IS level, and this becomes more and more true as you go up the tiers of the elite schools!</p>
<p>In our family, the discussion of whether to send a kid to bs on the older or younger side of a grade has much more to do with concerns about social readiness than academic or athletic. I wouldn’t assume that it always has to do with athletic or academic “red shirting.” BS is a big leap into independence, and there are all sorts of things to consider when deciding on the appropriate grade.</p>
<p>My kid went in as an older prep (late summer birthday), but still ended up in the most basic math and foreign language classes–if the deck is stacked at all academically, I’d argue it’s stacked in favor of kids who are lucky enough to come from rigorous elementary and junior high schools.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t care. Colleges are judged on their graduating students and not their incoming freshman class. A more mature incoming freshman bodes well for the resulting graduate after four years.
“Outliers” is great as is “Boys Adrift”.</p>
<p>I know of a few families that considered starting their children a year later in kindergarten. It was always for the question of maturity. I also know of a few families who considered starting their kids in BS as a repeat freshman. I never heard any of them claim it was because of sports but rather for maturity.</p>
<p>I used to believe that the non ahelete repeats would have a big advantage by taking the classes they already took, and being more mature than their younger peers when they first join the school. I don’t any more. By year 3, the playing field would be a lot more even. The kids who are smart, motivated and work hard would shine regardless. Repeating only makes the intial transition easier and it bears costs, eg. one more year of financial investment and – one more year of high school which is not the most fun thing. That said, if your kid is young for his age group and could benefit from repeating a year go ahead. Manage your expectation though. It will not be the main reason they succeed or fail.</p>
<p>Private schools don’t look askance at students who are older than the public school norm. I know of many students who repeated a grade when switching from public to private schools. I also know parents who have reported private schools telling them to “come back next year” to apply for kindergarten, for example, based only on the child’s age. To balance it out, the private schools I know of tend to be at least a year ahead in academic requirements, so a student who repeats won’t be doing the same thing K-8. </p>
<p>I have heard parents swear that a larger percentage of boys than one would believe are repeating. I don’t think it’s a cause for concern. Yes, if they’re repeating courses they’ve taken last year, the students who repeat should receive better grades than the students who encounter a course for the first time. On the other hand, it’s much better to show a trajectory of improving grades over the course of a high school career, than to see the grades gradually decline over time.</p>
<p>As the most selective boarding schools don’t rank their students, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s an option for the families who think they need it. As strong athletes have great cards in the college application process (no matter what school they apply from), I don’t know if the academic edge (if any) makes any difference in their outcomes. I suspect it doesn’t, i.e., they do so well it would be hard to quantify any improvement.</p>
<p>If a student’s coming from a school which hasn’t prepared him well for boarding school academics, he could need the extra year to stay even with his new peers. Students arrive at boarding schools from many different schools. Some are ready to jump right in, and others have never had a chance to develop good study skills.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of this information as I was completely confused about “repeat 9th grade” and “post-graduate year”. (Everyone we’ve met in either of these situations is an athlete.) The first time a parent told us that DC was repeating 9th grade, my mental tumblers didn’t know where to fall. All I could think of was that DC had failed 9th grade in previous school (too much emphasis on sports, not enough on academics?), and I didn’t see how that could be a plus for entrance to BS. I didn’t know how to compose my face, and I couldn’t think of a polite response. As for PG year, I couldn’t really understand why any kid would want to drag out high school, but that particular student explained that the extra year of practice was beneficial for playing on college teams so, even though that seemed odd to me, strategically it made some sense. Anyway, thanks for the clarification!</p>
<p>My son repeated junior year (the grade he entered prep school) and yes he is an athlete. However he did not repeat a single course. The beauty of prep school is the incredible choice of classes. He was able to do many AP classes and higher level classes plus explore more interests than if he had not repeated. Overall it has been an excellent experience and colleges were not at all disturbed by it. I like that he is only entering the college “scene” with another year of maturity under his belt.</p>
<p>Daughter is now in 10th grade with a July birthday. She struggled in several ways through 9th grade, and my single biggest regret is that she didn’t do 9th grade at home and then repeat. Many of her classmates did just that, and she finds that she is a year or more younger than many classmates. This is NOT just an athletic issue, but involves academics, study habits, physical, social and emotional maturity. I would advise you to look carefully at the kid, maybe talk to other parents and/or teachers. I have to admit, the idea of a repeat never crossed my mind, because I subscribed to the idea that it was only for athletes (which she is most definitely not). I would never have seen this coming based on her school career through 8th grade, but maybe someone with more experience could have.</p>
<p>Having been new to all things prep school, we were taken aback by the number of sports-related repeat freshmen. DS was small to begin with so, admittedly, I may be even more sensitive to that added year of growth he’s behind.</p>
<p>@Govsparent, I retrospect, even if my son had not been an athlete, repeating was an excellent choice. As I said, he had completed all required sciences, math etc when he repeated junior year but he did not have to repeat any of those. He took advanced courses for the following two years and took many more APs than if he had not repeated. He also has an extra year of maturity and confidence. No regrets!</p>
<p>Unless you’ve heard it directly from the parent, I wouldn’t ever assume a kid is a sports repeat. You’d look at my kid, for example, and think that it was all about sports–but it wasn’t. It had a lot more to do with determining when said child is ready to make the major life commitment of living away from parents and home for two-thirds of the year–a pretty huge leap for many young teens and not one to take lightly.</p>
<p>I wish we were aware of “repeating” as a possibilty when DS went thru the application process. Not sure he would have availed himself of the opportunity, but would have been good to understand it as a viable option.</p>
<p>Please don’t throw anything, but even now that I see the “reasons” for repeat and have had some time to think about it, I can’t help but see these do-overs as just another misguided strategy to give some kids a leg up over others, causing further disparities in the levelness of the playing field (although I’m not just referring to athletes, and I’m not including repeats for true remedial purposes as GovsParent posts). Of course, I can see that leveling the playing field is precisely what this strategy is designed to prevent. If you extend this logic, perhaps a kid should be allowed to repeat EVERY grade plus a post-graduate year. Can you imagine how well-prepared your 22-year-old freshman would be to mow over mere 18-years-olds in the college academic and athletic arenas? (Not to mention how happy those boarding school tuition offices would be for those FP repeats.) LCMamma’s observation is a distressing one. At worst, non-remedial repeats seem to me to be a system-approved form of cheating; at best, an elitest luxury. (Quick, duck!)</p>
<p>@classicalmama: If DC is not ready to leave for BS in 9th grade, logic would say (to me) to enter later in 10th or 11th when s/he is ready, not repeat until all the emotional/developmental planets align (if they ever do). Yes, I know it’s harder to get in to BS in upper grades when there are fewer slots but, again, repeating just seems to me to be a positioning game.</p>