<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>