I see lots of people talking about applying as a “repeat 9th grader.” Am I understanding correctly that they are applying to repeat a year of high school? What is the benefit? It seems counterintuitive for a student accomplished enough to be admitted to these selective schools to repeat a year. What am I missing?
The reasons to do this are many-varied. Some feel their chances would be better repeating a year (for instance, repeating 10th grade makes a lot of sense for that reason), others feel like they are too young for their grade and want to study with more peers. Some people want to live the boarding school experience from the start alongside people that are new to the environment as well.
The important thing to note is that the sentiment around repeating a year in a public school is much different to that of boarding school, as it is almost always done for a different reason that disciplinary or academic issues. Admissions officers will not hold repeating a year against an applicant - oftentimes, they may even welcome it.
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My kiddo is a repeat Junior. She discovered boarding schools as an option in 2020, while doing her Jr year at a cyber charter school during the height of Covid, in her room. The first school we inquired at suggested repeating Jr year and we had never heard of that before. Besides the fact that a lot of BS don’t accept Seniors, it made sense. She is young for her grade, she spent a year doing school in her room alone, and with all of the course options, she would not really be repeating any content. Very happy with the decision. Kiddo number two is a current freshman and an applicant as a repeat freshman. He is also young for his grade and never considered BS either until we visited his sister’s school. He wants to have the experience of 4 full years if accepted. Also, there are more spots for freshmen. I think we are the less common examples of why people apply as repeats. There are many reasons. Those are just a couple.
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Particularly with the COVID challenges, this makes a lot of sense to me. Going to school at home for a year and a half definitely had negative implications and I’m certain my kids would benefit from an additional year of high school.
I repeated 9th when I started senior boarding school once upon a time. I had skipped several grades so repeating put me closer in age to my form mates. I went to a junior boarding school that was 7th-9th and then did 9th-12th at a GLADCHEMS school. On paper I was ready to go straight to 10th but repeating 9th made a lot more sense outside of the classroom. The secondary schools I was aiming for all had plenty of options to keep me academically engaged for four years (through standard course offerings or independent studies/projects) and the boarding school environment meant I was usually in mixed-age groups both in and out of classroom, so I wasn’t in danger of outgrowing the school in 4 years. Pretty much everyone I knew left BS feeling like they hadn’t gotten to take anywhere close to all the elective classes they wished they could - I got almost a full year of extra electives in because the only courses I “repeated” in my second year of 9th were the humanities ones. That repeat wasn’t really a repeat of anything since reading lists were totally different and the courses were centered around discussions with my new form-mates.
Repeating was a big advantage for college admissions and thriving once I got there. I wasn’t as young (most schools are wary of super young applicants), and I had had more time to put together a stellar application with leadership positions, summer experiences and advanced studies. The extra year was also a huge boost as a recruited athlete; this is a big boon for many people.
Repeating wasn’t nearly as common when I did it 20 years ago, but even then the average age was definitely older than you’d find in a local public school. I distinctly remember my first class in secondary school: accelerated calculus 1-2. I was a 4’10" twelve-year-old sitting between two seniors who were already 18. We didn’t have that much in common 
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Being young at BS is rough. It is an environment that requires a lot of maturity to navigate successfully so kids who were previously accelerated, or on the tail end of their class, benefit greatly from repeating. I cannot stress this enough. There is little supervision and there’s lots of “mature content!” If a kid doesn’t know how to deal its going to be hard for them. There’s also much less social scaffolding than parents might expect, more kids thrown together and expected to be mature. There are always issues, often stemming from the insecurities (and therefore nastiness) of the less mature kids.
Additionally, entering top schools after 9th grade is academically more challenging. 9th grade is by no means easier but it’s generally acknowledged that having your grades dip freshman year while you learn to navigate BS is ok. A similar dip sophomore or junior year is a bigger deal.
The kids we know who have entered Groton after freshman year have struggled to get their legs under them academically.
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In my experience, most who repeat a year at boarding school are athletes trying to gain an advantage in sports for college recruiting.
Some do so for academics. Applying as a repeat student will raise one’s SSAT score.
FWIW One of ours recently remarked that attending an elite New England prep boarding school was like going to college.
How long ago did you have a child in BS? I think the repeat syndrome has slid into the mainstream. Yes there are kids who are repeating “because of sports” but most of the kids we know who repeated did so because they are incredibly immature. Immaturity and boarding school is a terrible combination.
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My experience differs. Yes, some were athletes, but they were far from the majority. The majority IME were those young for their grade and those coming from weaker schools.
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Repeating a year will not be a substitute for maturity.
As I noted above, some apply as repeat students in order to become more competitive applicants since applying to repeat will raise one’s SSAT score versus as applying for one’s normal progression.
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Any idea of the percentage of students at Andover who enter as repeat students ?
Back in the day it was about 20%. I’ve heard it’s higher now, but have no data.
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My repeat is young, as is my repeat applicant. They are both far more mature already than the older kids in their grade and immaturity did not have anything to do with it. Boarding school is no place for immature kids.
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Repeating can be for a myriad of reasons - sports, or relatively more maturity, or because JBS goes to grade 9 and that student wants 4 years at BS. Or sometimes the BS recommends it/has more freshman spots.
It can also be because a family wants one more year with their kid at home. That’s us!
When kiddo went to prep school
Surprises were more than few
A quarter or more were repeats
Some are 20 when they’re through!
The age range is impressive
13 to 20 in some classes
Some were young and callow
But most were just smartasses 
They know the trick
To get ahead - smarter than their peers
They’ve prepped for prep and know the game
So what’s a few more years? 
It’s not just blondes from Greenwich
Or jocks from out of state
It’s also foreign students -
Repeat and you’ll do great!
There are repeats who are fac brats
Their parents know the score
They need to gain some leverage
And pre-prep one year more!
You’ll know them once you see them
In your class or in your dorm
They’ve already had Physics twice
What? That’s not the norm?
The repeats are more common
Now than ever than before
They have a lot of chutzpah
And tend to hog the floor
Don’t say I didn’t warn you
Repeating can be a game
In some ways it is entitlement
But called another name
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As amusing as I always find @Golfgr8 's poems, let me clear up a misconception that comes up from time to time: while a student may repeat a grade, it is rare that the school forces them to repeat a STEM or foreign language class they have mastered. Yes, they may be taking something called English 9 again, but I highly doubt it was the same product that they took last year at their old school.
That said, students (whether on their own or complicit with their parents) have been known to tank a placement test in order to potentially ace the course the second time around.
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So, if my 14 year old 9th grader ends up in a highly competitive boarding school next year, is she destined to be much younger than other incoming 9th graders?
Obviously she doesn’t intend to repeat 8th grade and definitely plans to go to high school somewhere next year. Are there some families going into this who intentionally plan that their kid will go to 9th grade at one school and then transfer to a boarding school the following year as a repeat 9th grader?
She’ll be younger than some but depending on her birthday not the youngest. I’d say about 30% of my kids’ grades were repeats. Maybe a bit more, especially these past Covid years.
It’s not that parents plan on it but more and more middle schools are going through 9th and fewer kids want to enter a highschool in 10th grade. It’s socially and academically easier to enter in 9th.
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I’m surprised about how much repeating the people in this thread are describing. I entered Lawrenceville as a 14-year-old freshman, and I’d say I was on the older side; there were maybe 10% repeats max that I knew of (a bit more now with the repeat sophomores and new juniors, almost all of whom are repeats). Don’t think that your child’s not repeating will put them at a disadvantage; many of the “topper” students in my grade are actually some of the youngest.
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The portion of “repeaters” in a class seems to vary pretty widely by school. It seems to be far less common among day students so schools like Lawrenceville with larger day student populations may see less of it. Schools with large international populations or highly selective admissions see more.
As repeating or delaying kindergarten becomes far more common (especially with boys) theres already a spectrum of ages within each grade. And many who repeat 9th or 10th were young to begin with, so they don’t necessarily end up older. You and your kid often won’t know who did or didn’t repeat what grade.
It’s good to know that it’s an accepted practice with a lot of potential benefits for the right kid if yours is in a position to consider it. But if your kid is average age for their grade, appropriately mature, and well prepared for their target admissions cycle then don’t worry about it.
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