<p>Acknowledging that is a wide range of personality and cultural "types" at each schools, it seems to me there are also some characteristics that are unifying at individual schools and help define the essence of the student body. Any thoughts on what those are? I'm specifically interested in PA, PE, Deerfield, SPS, MX, Taft, Hotchkiss, Choate, Lville and Peddie.</p>
<p>Before the serious talk, check this out: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/304730-um-i-found-facebook-bs-its-light-problem.html?highlight=light[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/304730-um-i-found-facebook-bs-its-light-problem.html?highlight=light</a>
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<p>I can’t speak in comparison to other schools (except maybe the reputation of Exeter), but here’s how I felt about the student body and its characteristics at Andover. My saying this doesn’t mean that I don’t believe the other schools have these characteristics; I would hope that students at these other very good schools are mostly hardworking.</p>
<p>Andover students often take to heart the phrase “non sibi” (not for oneself), and a large number are involved in community service to some extent. With that said, there are some people who were upset at the mandatory day of service (a Saturday) that was created 3 days ago. Typically, the majority of the students lean towards humanities (<em>maybe</em> social sciences) rather than math and science, though there’s a decently sized group of students who are exceptional at math and science, not to mention performing arts, music, visual arts, etc. They’re generally reasonably hard working, but easily stressed out.</p>
<p>Uroogla, how and why do you think they are “easily stressed out”?</p>
<p>I attended an Andover event with current students, and virtually every one talked about the workload and academic intensity. Not clear to me whether this is because they all came to the same idea independently or if it’s simply a school theme. ;-)</p>
<p>Benley, thanks! That was entertaining. Based on my visits to schools there’s definitely some basis for some of the humor.</p>
<p>I can’t speak in comparison to other schools (except maybe the reputation of Exeter)…</p>
<p>OK, I’m naive… what’s the reputation of Exeter???</p>
<p>@Benley:</p>
<p>When you put a large number of top students who are accustomed to being very high up in their old schools, something has to give. Not everyone can be in the top 20% (lack of class rankings aside, there are ways to tell) or even the top 50%. This school profile (<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/CCOProfile09-Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/CCOProfile09-Final.pdf</a>) shows that the median GPA rounds to a 4.5/6.0, so it’s around a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (these people place very well in college, but not necessarily into the Ivy League school they’ve dreamed of). Not getting very high grades, or even the possibility of not getting very high grades, means that you might not get into your dream college, which can feel devastating to people, especially teenagers who have pressure on them from themselves, friends, teachers, and family. The workload is definitely challenging, and often, freshmen boarders have to choose between breaking the lights out rules, waking up extremely early, and not finishing all of their work. Teachers expect a lot, of course (my papers were graded roughly the same as they have been in upper level college courses). Another factor is having so much to do, between music, clubs, athletics, community service, and academics. Whatever time you don’t spend on homework often is taken up by the clubs and such you want to join. While I wouldn’t say the stress comes from competition among students, it certainly comes from feeling that you might not do well enough.</p>
<p>@Mainer95:
Exeter is similar to Andover, but they’re much more math-focused. They have a (slightly?) stronger Classics department (and the top students in it work hard to prepare for contests, while those at Andover were less interested because of their own schedules). There are also regular Saturday classes, and none of Exeter’s courses are listed as AP so the teachers have more freedom in what to focus on in a course. I wouldn’t say one’s better than the other, but their focuses are different (sort of like a Yale/Harvard sort of thing, if you want to buy into that).</p>
<p>For whatever it may be worth, my brother decades ago went to school at both PA and Harvard. He is now a practicing physician. He said that Andover was harder and more stressful than Harvard. I assume that things have changed at both schools over the years, but…maybe not.</p>
<p>I thought Exeter did have AP classes? I think Exeter is big into the Harkness thing. They are also occupied with their history and their reputation, but I suppose any prep school would be. I’ll have to say that I didn’t like the crew program at summer school because I felt the coaches were unfair. Also, I considered most of the people in crew to be the “snotty, private school, easterner” type. Of course, I am from Idaho where most of us are rednecks and there are few private schools, so almost anyone seems snottier and more sophisticated than my classmates.</p>
<p>Musisat, sorry that you didn’t have a good experience at Exeter’s summer school, but I have to speak up and point out that Exeter students are not allowed to attend the summer school, so the students you had to deal with weren’t Exeter students.</p>
<p>Overall, students at any of the top schools will be serious about their studies while also serious about their other activities. From my experience teaching at schools that aren’t “the top,” students tend to complain about their workload everywhere.</p>
<p>At the larger schools with around 1000 students (such as Andover and Exeter), I think it would be difficult to generalize about student personalities or major “cliques.” There are so many students that everyone can find a group of students with the same interests.</p>
<p>what is the rep of middlesex
anything would be helpful</p>
<p>Toombs61: I have a friend who was SPS/Harvard and said the same thing you related about PA/Harvard. I don’t think times have changed that much.</p>
<p>My interviewer was Exeter/Vanderbilt, and he said Exeter was harder</p>
<p>my cousin was andover/penn and he said that andover was harder!</p>
<p>Hey, I have friends at almost all of the schools you listed, so I’ll try to help you out…</p>
<p>A common thread amongst all these schools is that they are all acdemically very intensive…If you want to do well, you’re working 3-5 hours a day…Your extracurricular activites are a function of the amount of time you have left after you “believe” you’ve acomplished your day’s goals academically. Some may say that the bigger schools are more challenging based on their couse catalog - but the reality is you will be very challenged at any of these schools. </p>
<p>Also, the size of the school changes its personality. For big schools (eg Andover) there are more defined social groups than at the smaller schools (eg Middlesex). All schools seemed to be accepting of people’s differences.</p>
<p>I know about 30 people dispersed amongst the boarding schools you listed (I go to MX)…if your goal is to go ivy, you can do than from whichever school…believe me…</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that in upper level classes, 3-5 hours may be nowhere near sufficient to work, and it’s often sleep that goes, not EC activities. I took one course where the teacher legitimately expected 6 hours of work a night (in this case, my other courses lost time, rather than sleep). That’s been my experience at Andover, at least, and I’d be unsurprised if upper level courses at the other top schools require lots (although hopefully not as much work as that course I took) more work than 3-5 hours a day for all your classes.</p>
<p>do andover preps have lots of homework as well?</p>
<p>When you say preps, what exactly do you mean? My brother is currently a 9th grader, and it’s a mixed bag. Some nights he comes home having done his couple of hours of homework and goes straight to bed. A few nights ago, he was up until 1:30 after working for 6+. Distractions are so numerous, however, that it’s hard to get a good sense of how much work is actually given.</p>
<p>I’ve been able to make multiple visits to the schools where my D applied. I’m starting to think the revisits will be key her being really comfortable with a final decision. Until acceptance it’s harder to feel part of a school.</p>