Will you send you kid to Philips Academy Again?

BAREERS
Mon, 13 May 2013 13:43:27 +0000

Hi ProsParent,

Hopefully, your son had many choices and you and he have now made an informed decision which is best for your family. Though your question seemed to center on college placement, I will try answering from a different perspective. We have a child at Andover and are just completing our first year of boarding school experience. The academics are amazing, the kids uniformly quite smart, and exceedingly driven. Though, the last two items have a flip side to the coin as it’s hard to stand out, and for kids who are accustomed to standing out, there’s a big adjustment and a great deal of self-imposed pressure. No doubt that pressure increases dramatically in the Upper year, but it’s there the whole time.

The school has a multi-tier support system with resident Proctors, House counselors, Academic Advisors, amnesty policies etc. Nevertheless, I suspect that each year with 250+ students/class, the pressure gets the best of some kids. I am sure it’s a small minority whose experience brings them near a breaking point, but it’s a concern to the whole community.

Thankfully, we have not been directly affected by this, however, we directly know of three students who experienced ‘difficult’ times which required intervention. So, the direct question of ‘would you send your kid to Andover again’, my answer is I am not quite sure. Though great new friends have been made, and the courses and athletics are wonderful, I am not sure that it’s been an ‘enjoyable’ life experience. I really think that parents/prospective students should really spend some self-assessment time to confirm that this ‘alpha’ environment is really right for them.