<p>I was thinking about repeating my junior year at PE or PA, but I soon had second thoughts.
I realized there are many disadvantages for entering these highly competitive institutions at the 11th grade. First of all, it would be nearly impossible to get any leadership position(student council, dorm proctorship, club officiers) in your senior year, because by the time you are a senior you have only been there for one year, whereas most of the people have go there for four years! Second, I suspect teachers will write you a glorious recommendation if they only you for one year. Third, it would only look worse if you get lower grades at Andover than from your previous institutions, people will be like this kid repeated a year and had gotten worse grade second time. Fourth, entering as an 11th grader means you have less time to make friends and your bond with your classmates won’t be really strong after the graduation. Anyone had the experience of entering PE or PA as an 11th grader? Any comments?</p>
<p>good point, I’m thinking about applying for 11th grade and I have to say that I don’t really consider these disadvantages, Deerfield interviewer asked me to consider repeating 10th grade (I’m a sophomore right now), but I just don’t like the idea of repeating. Well, guess I have to think more about this</p>
<p>A lot of that stuff isn’t necessarily true. About the leadership roles I know one of the proctors in my dorm came as anew 11th grader and she’s also the captain of some team (I’m not sure which one). And about the not knowing people this year at exeter there were 46 new eleventh graders</p>
<p>My son does not attend Exeter, but there are always newcomers (repeat juniors are common) and they fit right in and many end up with leadership roles. I really think the teachers/advisors are tuned in to this.</p>
<p>Only you can know. I think you should sit down and make lists of pros and cons, comparing entering PE or PA at 11th to remaining at your present school, or potentially trying to enter college early, if that’s possible at your school.</p>
<p>From my daughter’s experience it is quite possible to enter PA in the 11th grade and become well integrated into the community. She entered among a group of 20 or so new uppers and they became Blue Keys (school spirit leaders that are selected in an extremely competitive process), club founders, club officers, proctors and prefects, performing artists, etc. They also went on to Ivies, MIT, NYU, Berkeley, etc. so some clearly must have gotten outstanding faculty recommendations.</p>
<p>Make no mistake, however, entering as an 11th grader is very difficult. Upper year is generally acknowledged to be the hardest so new students are thrown into the fire immediately. Andover tries to ease the transition somewhat by housing new uppers together in a few centrally located dorms and putting them in special English sections as that is the subject area which deviates most widely from the teachings in other secondary schools, but there were days when each must have thought, “What have I done?” By the end of the fall term, however, most had settled in nicely and were full-fledged members of the school community.</p>
<p>As for getting lower grades, I think that is expected (a few world class superstars excepted). Virtually all Andover (and Exeter, Deerfield, Choate, SPS, et al) students are in the top few percent among their peers nationwide. Universities recognize that students in the middle of the class would be at the top of the overwhelming majority of secondary schools. Furthermore, they like to see students that have successfully acclimated academically and socially into a new, highly competitive school - because that is exactly what will be necessary when they step onto a top tier college campus. </p>
<p>Bottom line: If you go into it with your eyes open and a commitment to making it work, entering boarding school in the 11th grade may turn out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.</p>
<p>Thank you Padre13, I mean really. But, I also want to point out there are only like 20 of new uppers versus like 250 people who already been there for at least a year, to me the transition won’t look easy. Btw, how are Blue Keys, Proctors, Perfects get selected? Who select them? How’s the social scene for these new upper students? Do they hang out everyday with friends or just on the weekends?</p>
<p>It is definitely not easy, but the overwhelming majority of new uppers successfully integrate into the community and gain tremendous benefits from attending schools like PA or PEA. It’s my understanding that the new uppers tend to bond initially but once classes begin they start to branch out and develop a wider circle of friends. There are opportunities at meals, dorm or cluster activities (most of which seem to have food as a key ingredient) and just downtime between classes or in the dorm for daily social interaction with other new uppers, friends and classmates.</p>
<p>The rest of your questions are probably best answered by students, but I’ll take a shot. Blue Key Heads, proctors and prefects are selected through competitive processes during the spring term. Proctors and prefects must submit an application and interview with the counselors in each dorm for which they would like to be considered. I believe the final selection comes from the Dean of Students Office but I don’t know if it is done by committee or just the dean. Blue Key Heads (essentially the craziest kids on campus - in a positive way) are chosen through a slightly different competition. Each candidate gets to exhibit their skills for instilling school spirit by performing in front of the student body. I’m not sure who makes the final selections but I’m sure a PA student will fill us in.</p>
<p>I’m with Padre13: the biggest disadvantage at a place like PEA is that you would be heading into what is academically by far the toughest year, and a year in which you might have to work a little harder at social relationships because a lot of uppers will be literally withdrawing into their library cubby holes to do intensive long-term individual projects in English and US History, etc. </p>
<p>It seems to me that the unique academic pressure of upper year is compounded by a particularly intense lead-in to college applications, as uppers are expected to have a lot of introductory work done on their own towards picking out colleges, and both of those schools take their college placements relentlessly seriously. </p>
<p>I disagree with any implication that your teacher recommendations will be any less stellar than they would be had you been there as a Prep: keep in mind that every student, no matter how long he/she has been enrolled, is likely to start fresh with a new teacher in every class in every single term of his/her PEA year(s), and for college you will be expected to have recommendations from upper or senior year teachers. How glowing your recommendations are will depend upon your performance in those classes, not how long you’ve attended. It’s true that your advisor will not have known you for as long, but no one is even assigned a college counselor until the end of upper year, and it’s your college counselor who supervises the application process (not your advisor–and in any event, it’s standard practice for advisors to pick up new advisees every year). </p>
<p>There’s always room to take a leadership role, but I’d suggest you look at the myriad of activities that would be open to you and see what would fit your interests.</p>
<p>I’m a new Upper at PA - it’s been an adjustment so far. But as Padre13 noted, new Uppers tend to be some of the highest-flying members of the community - it’s the most selective year for admission, so I think bestswimmer can put most of his/her worries at rest - if you’re good enough to get into Upper year, you’re good enough to acclimate fairly seamlessly, good enough to get good teacher recommendations, and definitely good enough to attain leadership positions.</p>
<p>TomTheCat,
How many new uppers matriculated at Andover this year? How many asain americans out of that number? Are these people all exceptionally good at something?</p>
<p>I can answer that. Among the 22 uppers whoo entered this year, there are probably 4-6Asians (not necessarily Asian Americans), and that can change from year to year.</p>