<p>My s is currently in grade 9 and is 14 years old (born 1993 Aug) and applied for grade 10 of Fall 2008. However, Brooks offered him a seat in grade 9. What are the advantages or disadvantages of going back to grade 9 again? any suggestion would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Having a late summer birthday like that, your son probably won’t even be the oldest in his class. He will be on the older side, but I’ve heard for boys especially, that can be a good thing. (In sports, for example).</p>
<p>And if he’s coming from a non-prep school, having the extra year will allow him to get caught up in any subjects his former school may not have prepared him for as well. And since most prep schools have courses that go beyond the traditional four years of high school, you don’t need to worry about him running out of options. Having the extra year could possibly allow him to take courses to bypass college classes. My older sister took enough APs at her high school that she’s now easily able to take enough classes to have two majors with distinction and a minor at college!</p>
<p>Disadvantages would of course be the extra year of tuition, which could be hard for your family, and possibly resistance from your son. A big question would be is your son willing to repeat ninth grade? It’s hard enough for some kids to accept going to a new school, but going to a new school and staying back a year? that’s a big change!</p>
<p>So there’s both sides of the argument, personally I think there are a lot of benefits to staying back a year when you’re young for your grade anyways and transitioning into a tough prep school, but in the end it’s up to you and your son!</p>
<p>Your son is lucky that the school gave him that option rather than just rejecting him. It is quite common to repeat a year in prep school. Not only are there quite a few freshman (I think I read somewhere that the number is as high as 30%) who repeat the freshman year when they enter, there are several who repeat the junior year.
My son completed a year of public high school before applying as a 9th grader. (Initially he had applied directly from eighth grade, but we didn’t get the fa we needed, which is he reapplied the following year. I am so happy it worked out this way though; the extra year of maturity has helped him greatly.) I think it is an excellent option. There are many “re-freshes” at my son’s bs, yet he is friends with the true freshman as well. The age difference does not seem to create a problem and there is no stigma, as this is so common in bs. My son very much wanted to be a “four year senior” at his school and does not view it as “staying back”. On the contrary, he received excellent grades his “first” freshman year. He views this an opportunity to really “get ahead” academically.
As far as academics, my son moved up in all his subjects and is taking the courses he would have taken if he were a sophomore. The only repeat is humanities (he had already taken Honors Freshman English in public school, but the bs program is quite different and included two courses (English and Religious Studies).
The only disadvantage might be financial. If it is going to be difficult to pay already, you might not want to pay for an additional year if you didn’t really have to.</p>
<p>Well…thanks a lot for your kind input fadedskyline and keylyme. It is very helpful for us to make a decision. What make it difficult is- son also got an offer for Grade 10th at Mercersburg, and we love both campus. Any suggestion for us?</p>
<p>does your son play sports?</p>
<p>He plays tennis, rugby, badminton, basketball and he is very keen to try football and squash at bs.</p>
<p>As an August b-day he will not feel odd at all repeating freshman year, and really it is a totally new experience with new kids, most won’t even know.</p>
<p>If he is not academically very strong ( like coming from mostly honors classes in previous school) it will give him great confidence boost and a very strong base for a more rigorous curriculum. </p>
<p>The sports is a very common reason to repeat, it is a huge advantage so if this is important to him it is a win win any way you look at it (except for the $)</p>
<p>If dollars won’t be a problem, and he prefers Brooks, then you can’t beat the full 4-year experience.</p>
<p>i would have him repeat because he will be bigger and stronger for football and he will be able to adjust to boarding school</p>