Returning Sophmore at Andover willing to answer questions!! - Page 2

PrepQWill · 10-01-2012, 07:11 AM

Thank you. Would you recommend applying as a sophomore or a repeat freshmen?

J24601J · 10-01-2012, 09:07 PM

PrepWill,
It depends on your age. If you're young for your grade, definitely apply as a repeat freshman. If you're old for your grade, I'd advise against it. You don't want to be an old 19 year old when you graduate high school.

And ballerina22, your personality is pretty similar to mine. I'm sorta quiet at first too. Feel free to PM me. However, I have a killer chem lab to do tonight, so I probably won't get back to you today.

gonewiththeair · 10-02-2012, 07:19 PM

Hi! I'm an Andover hopeful (I'm currently a freshman at a public California high school) and I have some questions about the school.
1) Is there a debate team at Andover? If so, is the policy program there good? I'm a huge debater, so this will probably be the deciding point for me.
2)In addition, the only extracurricular I'm in is speech & debate, but I had success at the tournament I went to.
Thank you!

J24601J · 10-02-2012, 08:47 PM

Andover has a debate team called the Philomathean Society. It's one of the biggest and most popular clubs on campus. They do extremely well at competitions and such.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article: The Philomathean Society (Phillips Academy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

swimdude006 · 10-02-2012, 10:12 PM

I'm part of the debating club (philo) and have to say its a gret experience. We run mock debates once or teoce a term ( parlamentry style), and do practice rounds at each meeting. There are a lot of experienced members on the actual team, and they are VERY good. To get on the team, you need to show your Skills at one of the mock debates, thus your previous credentuals really don't mean much. All in all, philo is awesomr

beprepared · 10-03-2012, 04:09 PM

@swimdude006: could you please talk more about the swimming and water polo teams? I assume you have years of competitive swimming experiences. Did you practice year-round before PA? Are you still practicing year-round now?

swimdude006 · 10-03-2012, 05:54 PM

I'll pm you about the details

Mk1801 · 10-05-2012, 01:25 PM

Can you guys leave the school and go out ( like groceries shopping) by yourselves or not? Or does someone go with u?

J24601J · 10-05-2012, 10:49 PM

You can go anywhere in the town of Andover by yourself pretty much whenever you want. You can request overnight trips and day trips.

rajriarup · 10-08-2012, 11:58 AM

want to get an idea on how fast one has to be to swim on the varsity team? is 30sec for 50 meter freestyle good enough?

swimdude006 · 10-10-2012, 06:44 PM

I'm honestly not in the position to tell you whether or not you would be a good candidate has a good chance to get recruited for swimming, nor if you could make the varsity team. No person is guaranteed a spot on the varsity team so the team could be completely different from year to year. I will tell you that PA does have one of the most prestgious programs in the country so ANYONE's chance of getting on the team is a crapshot. If one can make it, then they are just very lucky honestly. It all depends on what the team lacks and needs on a particular year. BTW, the PA sports teams have very little input as to whether or not sports candidates get accepted to the school. PA tries to emphasise that it is an academic institution rather than some other schools who put more of a focus on sports. Because of this, even the top recruit for one year could get flat out rejected because of the fact that his academic credentials, interview, ssat, or recommendations were not at the rigor and level needed to succeed at PA. Sorry I wasn't much help, but it's the truth.

And this goes for anyone on this board, I will NOT answer any questions regarding "recruiting times" as these are non existent and I am in no position to deem whether or not you could make the varisty team/ be recruited.

rajriarup · 10-18-2012, 02:45 AM

I am asking timing qustion, is not for recruting purpose. I just want to understand the standards of swimmers and intensity of training.

We are in tropical country, so swim training 5, 6 times a week, all year around. Some of the 14 year old boy can swim 27 seconds for free style.

How about your school?

swimdude006 · 10-21-2012, 10:10 PM

Look, you specifically asked if a 30 seconds freestyle would be competitive, and I simply don't want to reply because of the fact that I would be judging your swimming ability. All of this info is posted online. Go to the team page on the andover website, and under boy's varsity swimming (it's a winter sport), somewhere in the description there will be a link to the unnoficial andover aquatics website where all the records and results are posted. Also, NEPSSA website has all the results as well. I just don't want to be the person judging whether or not you will be competitive. I'm in no position to say so, and have no intentions to do so either.

And honestly, I am not appreciating the sass from your statement, "What about your school". If you were literally trying to ask, then I'm sorry for my interpretation, but I'm sure many other people interpreted that statement like me.

rajriarup · 10-21-2012, 11:02 PM

Thank you very much for providing the link. It is very helpful. I took a look and it is very impressive and certainly competetive.

When you say, "it is a winter sports", do you mean that the team only train in the winter? or they train during other seasons too in the school?

pascale5678 · 10-21-2012, 11:32 PM

How hard was it to get in? I'd love to go to andover but I doubt I'd get in, so I'm not sure if I should apply.