Hey guys, I’m applying to boarding schools for fall 2018. I’m currently an international student in Canada in grade 9, and I’m trying to decide whether to repeat freshman year or to apply as a sophomore? Also, if you are/were a repeating freshman, could you share what your experience was like? (in terms of admissions, academically, and socially?)
My Considerations:
-Academics (curriculum differences between countries?)
-Admissions (more spots in freshman, more competitive in sophomore year)
-Social (one of my bigger concerns, how is it having class with people younger than you? Did age ever seem to be an issue in making friends? Did you ever feel like you didn’t really belong?)
Hi, we did this last year with my son - debated and explored just that question. First of all, are you a girl or a boy & how old are you? What month is your birthday? Are you an athlete? To which schools are applying?
Hi, I can’t speak from a student’s perspective, but my son is a freshman this year in boarding school and is not repeating, but a lot of his class is repeat freshmen. He also knows a number of new sophomores who are repeats. I don’t think it’s true, but he feels almost like he’s the exception being a “regular” freshman. It’s an all-boys school with lots of athletes, which I imagine accounts for a lot of the repeats.
Girl, 14 (grade 9) birthday is march
plan on playing tennis at school, but not as a recruited athlete
applying: Taft, Lawrenceville, Loomis, NMH, Hotchkiss
Most of those schools will have a fair number of boys who have repeated, including some older PGs. Far fewer girls repeat so in your case, I wouldn’t worry about the age/maturity difference. HOWEVER, and this is just my opinion so you can take it or leave it ;-)… it can be difficult to start as a new 10th grader, coming in to existing social groups.
He applied as a repeat 9th grader, but at each school we discussed the pros & cons of this. We said that we were open to him starting in either grade. Our experience was that most schools leave that decision up to you - they didn’t seem to have a preference either way (Cate & Thacher were the exception - they preferred that students enter in 9th and they take very few new 10th graders). None of the schools would say which was easier from an admissions POV, although a few did admit that they are looking for more maturity & independence in their 10th grade applicants. He is both of those things, so if he hadn’t been maybe they would have steered us toward 9th - who knows?
My son was ultimately accepted to 5 schools for 9th grade, and 3 of those schools offered (verbally) a 10th grade spot as an option. This was done at revisit day, I’m sure in an effort to “close” the deal He is now at St. George’s as a VERY happy new 10th grader. As a parent, I wish he had started in 9th - either as a repeat or just a year earlier - because I think that it gives kids much more flexibility in their coursework (more time get through requirements, opening up possibilities for more high-level electives in later years) as well as a head-start in involvement in school organizations like clubs, student council, sports etc. Also socially: my friends’ kids who have started in 10th at various schools have, for the most part, had a tough time socially that first year. Much of this difficulty comes from how the dorms were organized - at quite a few schools they put the new 10th graders with the new Freshmen, so it’s difficult to bond with your grade. St. George’s puts the new 10th graders in the dorms with returning 10th graders, instead of in the (fabulous!) freshman dorm. If this hadn’t been the case, I’m quite sure that my son would have opted to repeat 9th and come in as a new freshman.
He is now at St. George’s as a VERY happy new 10th grader. As a parent, I wish he had started in 9th - either as a repeat or just a year earlier - because I think that it gives kids much more flexibility in their coursework (more time get through requirements, opening up possibilities for more high-level electives in later years) as well as a head-start in involvement in school organizations like clubs, student council, sports etc. Also socially: my friends’ kids who have started in 10th at various schools have, for the most part, had a tough time socially that first year. Much of this difficulty comes from how the dorms were organized - at quite a few schools they put the new 10th graders with the new Freshmen, so it’s difficult to bond with your grade. St. George’s puts the new 10th graders in the dorms with returning 10th graders, instead of in the (fabulous!) freshman dorm. If this hadn’t been the case, I’m quite sure that my son would have opted to repeat 9th and come in as a new freshman.