Everyone’s experience is different so I would take opinions on this forum (including my own) with a grain of salt. Some of the opinions I have read here from a couple of the same posters on multiple threads have no resemblance to our own experience thus far.
I have a child at Andover. Her teachers, coaches, teammates, and dorm mates have, so far, been incredibly kind and easy to work with. No, it’s not saccharine/phony and it’s not a summer camp, but this vibe that the student body is mean or there’s nothing nice about the school couldn’t be further from our reality. Not trying to discount anyone else’s experience, but that has been ours.