<p>Being slightly old and mature for your class is often better than the opposite.</p>
<p>I had been young for my class through about 7th grade.</p>
<p>A couple years before I went to Andover, however, I had gone to a boarding school in Austria and was fully immersed (no English spoken anywhere!) for that year, and did not advance that year.</p>
<p>So when I did arrive at Andover (as an Upper, in my case), while the fall term was <em>interesting</em> learning that I really did have to study for the first time in my life, it wasn’t a huge wrench. So there is lots to be said for the process…</p>