Top Ten Reasons to Come to Andover
By
Alex Salton ‘11
and
Julia Dean ‘11
10. The Chance to Expand Your Horizons
Andover offers an enormous spectrum of activities and opportunities. Whether you try instructional crew during fall term or join Andover’s debate team, the community has something for everyone. You will never be bored!
9. The Teachers
The teachers at Andover are awesome! Almost all of the teachers live on campus, which allows you to form close relationships and interact with teachers in a non-academic environment. Your math teacher could be your soccer coach or your house counselor. At Andover, the teachers are genuinely interested in your well-being, both academically and personally.
8. We Learn From Each Other
The students and faculty at Andover come from all over the world, and through daily interactions, you get the opportunity to learn about new cultures, and see things from someone else’s point of view. Andover fosters our individuality, but also shows us just how much we all have in common.
7. The Cluster System
A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. Dividing the school into smaller clusters creates five familiar neighborhoods within the school. Cluster Council provides opportunities for student leadership, and weekly cluster munches are the ideal place to hang out with friends and eat pizza. Cluster pride helps to define the Andover community. (Of course, West Quad South is the best.)
6. The Blue Key Heads are Ridiculous
Everyone at Andover loves it here, but no one shows their Big Blue spirit more than the Andover Blue Key Heads. From day one at orientation, the Blue Key Heads will scream, dance, and lead our athletic teams to victory with their rowdy cheers and blue skirts (dudes too). They constantly remind us just how much we love this place.
5. The Support
More is expected of you when you go to Andover. But you aren’t expected to do it alone. Friends, teachers, coaches, advisors and house counselors are there every step of the way to celebrate your successes and pick you up after a bad day. With a support system so strong, the school seems much smaller than it is.
4. The Education of a Lifetime
The breadth of classes offered at Andover is truly amazing. With so many choices, each student easily finds a field that intrigues them, and once that happens, they can follow their passion, wherever it leads. Andover classes have incredible depth, be it Spanish 100 or Biology 600, you are never done learning.
3. Independence
At Andover, you will learn to advocate for yourself and quickly come to terms with your autonomy. By the time you have finished your Andover career, there is nothing that life can throw at you that you will not know how to deal with. Daily decisions test your skills at time management, prioritizing and problem solving. The reward for your work is phenomenal!
2. It’s Cool to be Smart
Everyone at Andover is. Classes are never dull, since students and teachers engage in a lively dialogue, sharing personal anecdotes and learning from one another. And there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Your classmates are always helpful and they may be just as likely to answer your question as the teacher.
1. The People
Your peers at Andover will never disappoint you. Every person brings something unique to the Andover community, and it’s amazing to meet new people every day. With such a wide variety of talents and personalities, you will make friends everywhere you go. And you can have several groups of friends. Whether you make friends working together in class, playing with each other on the athletic field, or eating pizza late at night in the dorm, while discussing Obama’s healthcare policy, all of the students at Andover make it a place that will quickly become your second home.