Students
When do I start?
At Andover, every aspect of your education is customized. The beginning and end of each semester is determined by you and your parents in consultation with the dean and your ability to appropriately master the material. You may begin at any time and proceed at your own pace. As such, your semester may be shorter or longer than a traditional semester. It’s up to you.
Is there vacation?
Vacations occur according to the schedule determined by you and your parents in consultation with the dean.
Who are my friends going be?
At Andover, you’ll meet other students, engage in social events, attend a SAT (or ACT) prep class with other students, and hang out in the student lounge. And that’s just the beginning. We’re dedicated to creating a supportive, healthy social environment for everyone. (See more: Campus Life.)
What if I want to be in a theater production or play sports?
As a full-time student, you’ll be to participate in athletics and fine arts, and the scope and nature of your participation is up to you. You can join youth leagues or club teams. You can try out for community theater productions or even theater productions in New York City. Sure, that’ll take a lot of your time, but at Andover, your academic schedule can be as unique as your interests. We’re here to motivate and enable you to do something amazing at the highest level possible.
I have a job. Can I work more and still attend Andover?
At Andover, every aspect of your education is customized, so your schedule is determined by you and your parents in consultation with the dean and your ability to appropriately master the material. Your classes may meet in the morning, at night, and/or on the weekends.
I spend a lot of time competing in a sport. Is Andover right for me?
Andover is designed to maximize the time and effort you can put into your passions. We’re here to help you do something amazing. Not only will Andover design a course schedule around your schedule, but we’ll design courses around your passion. Tell us what you love to do, we’ll help you take it to the next level.
I like video games and playing guitar. How can that be turned into class?
Video Game Design. Game Theory. Dynamic Narrative Structures. Music Theory. Music Production. Sound Engineering. Game and Music Industry Marketing and Finance. Entertainment Industry Analysis. Gibson Guitar and Sustainable Forestry. Entertainment Music Production.
And your assessment can be tests, papers, blogs, video games, songs, competitions, conventions or some combination – as determined by you, your teachers and the dean. The first question we must answer is: what’s your goal? What do you want to do in college? In life? How can you turn your passion into a job? What’s the path for becoming very good at what you like to do?
Parents
What type of student attends Andover College Prep?
Low-performers
Andover College Prep is the right choice for students for whom the traditional classroom setting and one-size-fits-all structure of school doesn’t meet the student’s needs. Andover College Prep tailors every class to the individual student’s needs and focuses on content mastery. Andover College Prep will transform the low-performing student into a confident self-directed learner.
Underachievers
Getting average grades in average classes or good grades in easy classes? Not the child you knew? Andover College Prep specializes in raising expectations and performance levels. We don’t set school-wide acceptable performance levels but rather tailor our expectations to your ability. Performance in school can affect a lifetime
Peak Performers
Hard classes and good grades, but is your child performing at his or her peak or the school’s peak? Don’t be restrained by what the school offers. Andover College Prep customizes courses to your child’s ability, not to our capabilities. The structure of the school depends entirely on your skills and goals.
Is tuition inclusive of Test Prep and College Guidance, or do I have to pay extra?
Tuition includes 7-11 academic one-on-one course per year, SAT/ACT prep classes in the junior and senior years, and college guidance all years, inclusive of all books, technology (tablet PC) and general lab fees but exclusive of extra-curricular and extraordinary fees. Tuition does not cover activities or classes taken outside of Andover (e.g. athletic & art classes).
How are you going to motivate my child, who needs structure and discipline?
Andover’s approach to education is dynamic, not undisciplined. In fact, we think it’s far easier to float through a traditional “structured” school that it is Andover, because students, parents and teachers rely on that apparent structure, and yet that structure can be a chimera and the student can remain unengaged for years. With Andover’s one-on-one approach and dynamic collaborative learning structure, students are required to be engaged. There is no back of the classroom, rote learning or perfunctory assignments. Students cannot go through their classes without thinking. We require students to not only be engaged in every class, every time, but also to be engaged in creating the overall structure of their school experience. Schools try to get students to think; we require it. Through constant engagement, the Andover environment teaches students to become disciplined, self-motivated learners.
It makes me sad that my son/daughter hates going to school. How is Andover going to be different?
Andover is different from traditional school in nearly every way. We focus on learning, but we don’t have pre-conceived notions about how your child learns or what he/she wants to learn. So while the focus is on learning, the process and content is adapted to each student, subject by subject. And each student has tremendous input into the entire process – what to learn, how to learn, and how to assess content mastery.
And Andover doesn’t have the social pressures, anti-social behavior, and other social issues that detract from a student’s learning experience. We promote a collaborative, caring environment customized to each student’s needs and interests.
So we understand that many students don’t like school or don’t seem to get much out of it; traditional schools are designed to produce a homogenizing uniform service for a large group of people. Andover is designed for each student individually.
My child has had disciplinary/academic problems in the past. Can he still attend Andover?
We’re most interested in potential, not the past, and generally we’re optimistic in the power of the Andover approach. Contact the dean to arrange for a meeting and we’ll see what we can do.
With all this time out of the classroom, how is my child going to stay out of trouble?
The Andover approach allows for considerable time outside of the classroom, but this time isn’t a void. Rather, it’s a highly structure opportunity to pursue the student’s interests and passions. Each student works with the teachers and dean to create constructive and amazing projects. This is “free time.” This is the time to do something amazing.
What does a student’s week look like?
Schedules are as variable as a student’s needs and interests. So there is no standard schedule and technology makes customized scheduling not only feasible but easy.
With one-on-one teaching, students are required to attend at least 15 classes of 45-minutes each per course, per semester. So at its most basic level, a student would attend 4-6 classes of 45-minutes each per week for 15-18 weeks, but even this can be compacted or lengthened, according to the student’s needs (e.g. a student moving quickly can attended 2-3 classes per week in one subject and get through the entire semester in 6-9 weeks and all of high school in >3 years).
Whether those classes meet at 9am or 9pm is up to the students, parents, teachers and dean. (The most common meeting time is 9am-2pm, weekdays.) Whatever occurs in addition to those meetings is up to the student, parents, teachers and dean. The parents may want the student at the school for 3-5 hrs/day to do homework (in addition to classes); the teacher may want to conduct a Saturday chemistry lab to go more in-depth in a subject that a student finds particularly compelling. There are also social components and online components.
So there is no standard schedule just as there’s no official start and end of the school year.
“What do I do with my child on Monday morning? Let him hang around the house when I go off to work?”
If you want your child at the school 8am-3pm (or whatever), we can do that. The child will have their classes and then tutors will be there the remainder of the time. But the school’s objective is to take advantage of what is essentially a huge waste of time (being at school 7 hrs/day). The parents’s, student’s and dean’s job is to discover and develop that child’s passions and strengths. It’s great if that passion is academic, but it may not be. If necessary, we’ll arrange for a service to take the student to other activities (violin lessons, flying lessons, painting lessons, soccer practice, etc). It’s our objective to have students develop themselves in whatever way best suits them. To be a creative problem-solver, a student must first creatively solve the biggest problem: what is my strength?