Due West Education 途西教育 |

Last Wednesday, November 6, Andover’s Dean of Admissions, Jim Ventre, spoke to a packed house in Beijing. Due West was there, and we wanted to share with you some of the key things we learned about the Andover experience, including what they are looking for in their applicants!

The best way to know if Andover is the right school for you is if you share the same values. There are three very important values every prospective Andover student should know:

– First is their school motto, non-civi,or not for one’s self. Like all top schools, Andover is looking to cultivate the leaders of tomorrow, but they approach this by preparing their students to be eligible to lead when called upon. Andover students are collaborators and partners, people who can share information and use knowledge for the greater good.

– Second is youth from every quarter. Andover is committed to creating a diverse student body. In fact,it’s the most diverse school of the top American boarding schools. This is why 47% of students receive financial aid; 42% are non-white; students come from 49/50 US States; and there are currently students from 48 different countries enrolled at Andover.

– Third is goodness and knowledge. Andover students are nice students, who enjoy helping each other, sharing information with each other, and working together as partners.The combination of goodness and knowledge is Andover’s recipe for students to live a meaningful life.

Mr. Ventre also talked about the admission process at Andover, including how they make a decision, what test scores you need to have, and what traits do they look for in their students:

– Andover involves over ½ of its faculty to read application files and help make decisions. Because the teaching faculty is so diverse, there’s not one thing that they are looking for in their applicants.

– Andover is not a ‘test school.’ Their median TOEFL score is a 100, and they do place a high premium on English competency when they evaluate an applicant. But the most important parts of your application are your essays, teacher recommendations and interview, much more so than the SSAT percentile!

– Andover evaluates students based on the passport they hold. So ex-pat families living in China are looked at differently than Chinese students.

– There are three key traits Andover looks for in its applicants: Optimism, Resilience and Social Agility.The successful Andover student has a good attitude, can get up when they fall down, and can share what they know with their peers and teachers.

Interested in learning more about applying to boarding school? Come to Due West for a complimentary consultation with one of our experienced counselors!