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Appleby College

School rating 4 / 5 by

540 Lakeshore Road West Oakville ON L6K 3P1 Canada
Boarding
7th to 12th
Day
7th to 12th
Gender
Coed

Academic

Appleby College review by .

Appleby has small class sizes, with a typical class being around 15 students and getting as small as 7 students in my grade nine english class, or 3 students in my advanced grade 12 math class. Approximately half the students take courses a year ahead in math and french, which lead to AP exams. Some students (including myself) even take AP Calculus in grade 11, and an advanced topics course in grade 12. The AP program is very useful in helping to prepare for university. Roughly half the grade 12 courses have designated AP sections which are more challenging, and most of the rest of the classes allow the students to write the exams with a bit of extra effort from the student. The teachers are largely highly qualified and motivated. All of my grade 12 teachers had at least masters degrees in the subjects they were teaching, and two had doctorates. There is also an adviser system where, starting in grade 9, groups of around 7 students are assigned to a teacher designated as their adviser. The groups meet weekly, and the adviser's job is to look out for their advisees, make sure they are on track and help with any problems that come up. Personally, my adviser was the most helpful teacher during my time at the school.

College Counseling

Starting in grade 9, all students take a guidance class which meets once a week....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

I wrote the SSAT, and scored somewhere in the 90-100 percentile range, but that put....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

Appleby, as a walk through the campus will show, is a relatively wealthy school. As a result, a number of students have well-off parents which can produce a different atmosphere. It is counterbalanced by the large international contingent at the school though. I had friends in my year from Germany, South Korea, Mexico, Spain, England and China to name a few. This really helps to provide a broader perspective in class room discussions. The school's approach to discipline was somewhat liberal with the smaller infractions, but they do not hesitate to come down hard on any serious problems....

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