Ask me any questions about boarding school, admissions, etc.
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Hi! I am going to interview with Phillips Exeter the day after tomorrow. I was wondering if there are any questions that you remember about the interview and/or any tips.
Yea i had a chiller for that interview. it was my first interview so there was a lot of sweating ngl, but he did a great job of helping me feel comfortable. i think a blanket thing for any interview is describing why you want to attend said school, my interview centered around this becuase he wanted me to ask him questions about exeter. i think he did this to gauge how much i knew (like how rudimentary or developed my questions were). at the end of the day, interviews are largely based on the type of interviewer you get. i dont think you can do a ton to prep as questions change, just make sure you go in with a level head, and know some questions you might want to ask along with what you think makes the school really special. not “harkness”… bring up how you observed somebody in a math class talking about a famous math question they had read about and delving into the solving process in class and how empowering it felt to view a math class that can bridge past principles and modern media . talk about an interaction you had on the path on a visit day. talk about something special and specific. idk hopefully that helps.
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Here’s one for you:
I was looking at the Admissions profile for PA and noticed that while a 6=A+, a 5=A, 4=B, etc., that an enormous number of students have greater than a 5 average (like the majority).
How is this possible?
That’s saying a majority of the students have higher than a 4.0in the traditional scale. Is that reality, or is a 4 a C, 5 a B and 6 and A?
Seems odd if having an A average at Andover puts you below the bottom half of the population. Supports the argument that you are better off getting A’s at your LPS and being a standout, no?
there’ a heavy amount of grade inflation. it used to be 6 is going to princeton/harvard and that scale you showed was accurate. now 5 is average, and 1 2 and 3 never get used. they’ve recently been giving teachers 4 quota, and limiting teachers to one or two 6s per term in an effort to bring grades down. obviously top colleges get PA applicants every year, so they view such fluctuations in real time and can adjust accordingly.
How can you only give out one or two 6s and have the average gpa be 5.5?
You’re saying it’s pretty easy to get a 5?
no, im saying as of late they’ve been trying to move the average back down, make 1/2/3 more common, and give out only one or two 6s per class. they cant trend down everyone right away, its being gradually implemented.
Any particular reason why Phillips Academy didn’t rebrand itself as “Phillips Abbot Academy” when it merged with the prestigious Abbot girls school in 1973?
probably above my “pay grade” (i pay to go to school 
), but ill say what little i know.
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Abbot was the much smaller partner in the merge, half the student population, newer, smaller endowment, etc.
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phillips has more history, brand acclaim, etc. although people would have been able to make the adjustment from phillips academy to phillips abbot academy, phillips academy seems to roll of the tongue and the recognition that comes with the name could have been tainted.
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PA opted to preserve the abbot legacy in other ways, namely the allocation of the abbot endowment to the abbot academy fund, which gives out abbot grants among other things.
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I vaguely recall seeing Abbott on one side of the girls’ swim caps in a picture, so the tradition seems honored.
yea, theres also a cluster abbot (i think ill be there next year? out da knoll)
Funny. My daughter requested the Knoll. Hard to beat Rabbit Pond and the Sanctuary. But she’ll be a Junior, so…
hmm… i was js looking to stack. idk if u mean “junior” as in freshman or junior as in “upper”. i find that stack house counselors are much more lenient specifically around room visits, initial, curfue, etc.
No known answer, but the colleges that merged single sex colleges didn’t tend to keep the name of the women’s college or keep it prominent. In most cases, they didn’t have endowments of the same size simply because women were less likely to control family finances/have their own money, etc. Often fewer alums as well.
Pembroke merged into Brown around the same time and feels equally lost. Jackson at Tufts, even Radcliffe…
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Had no idea there once was a Pembroke College or a Jackson College for Women at Tufts.
These schools should be remembered. I like the idea of honoring Abbot Academy on PA’s athletic uniforms.
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