Stress vs. Opportunity

AppleNotFar
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 19:13:10 +0000

“they didn’t feel comfortable with the students they met at ANY of the schools”–that makes my heart ache for you and your kiddos. I’m guessing that staying home, and not going to BS, isn’t an option?

As for another “large” school perspective, my kid (an introvert) attends Andover. At just over 1,000 students, the size is comparable to the options we have at home so it never seemed “big” in our perspective. (The LPS I attended had 4,000–that’s truly “large”.) The important size consideration for us was class size, and at PA 12 is the higher average class size; my kid has/has had classes with less than 12 students. Faculty have a limited number of classes each term, and so my kid has never felt like “just a number” with regard to any of the teachers. And in terms of residential life, AppleKid has been in small dorms both years and loves that environment. I think that the school having that kind of housing option mitigates the large feel for kids who prefer a closer community. I really think that the only time AK has a sense of being part of a large student body is during the all school meetings. Otherwise, my kid is part of intimate communities within the classroom, in the dorm, and in each of the different activities the kid participates in.