On March 10, the Class of 2029 received their acceptances as the 248th admitted class. As the newly admitted students visit Andover for the first round of revisits today, current students shared their revisit plans, insights on the admission process for the upcoming school year, and offered advice for the incoming class.
The Admissions Office has extended its programs designed to welcome admitted students to campus. Jill Thompson, Associate Dean and Director of Admissions, James Ventre, Assistant Head of School for Admission and Financial Aid, and Timothy Liu, Assistant Director of Admissions, highlighted some of the additions.
“Mr. Liu organizes a video campaign for all admitted students, regardless of their interests, so that every admitted student receives a personalized video from one of our admission ambassadors. Additionally, this year [Terrell Ivory, Associate Director of DEI Outreach and Associate Director of Admission] organized a way for members of athletic teams that opted in to create a video welcoming students with a strong interest in their particular sport,” wrote Thompson, Ventre, and Liu in an email to The Phillipian.
They continued, “Due to the popularity of our Spring Visit program, we added a fourth Spring Visit date option this year. We actually used to have four visit date options before COVID but had scaled back to three in recent years. Having outstretched our capacity at a couple of our Spring Visit programs last year, we decided to add a fourth day back into our planning. This year we are also hosting two special additional events for students who have self-identified interests in interscholastic sports and the arts. All admitted students are welcome to join these extra events.”
For many students, hosting revisits is a way to convey their appreciation for Andover and help new admits feel at home. Magdalena Mercado ’26 noted how her revisit day as an incoming freshman drove her to become a revisit host the following year.
“I wanted to sign up so I could give my revisit kid the same experience that I was able to have, especially having been a student at [Andover] for a year [and] being able to share that experience with someone that’s looking to come to Andover. It was something everybody was eager to do. This community is always willing to step in and really wants not only to support the community we already have, but the incoming community as well,” said Mercado.
Nitya Madduri ’28 appreciated how her revisit host introduced her to the Andover community through their athletics program.
“I got [hosted] by a girl on the tennis team, which was really nice, and so I got to go to practice. It was really nice because I got to see a sense of community within not just the classroom but also in sports, and I got to see the environment, especially during meals, which was really nice, so I really enjoyed it. The fact that I had such a great time here definitely played a role in why I chose to say yes to Andover, and so I hope that I can convince someone to come,” said Madduri.
Julie Chan ’27, who came alone for her revisit as a new Lower, shared insights for incoming students who may feel nervous or anxious.
“[My advice] is to not be afraid to ask questions and to say hi to people. For me, in the morning when I first walked into Elson, I didn’t talk to anyone because people were all talking to their family and I was just alone. But then in the afternoon, when I started opening up and talking to people, I found that a lot of people had the same feelings as me, and they were also really nervous about the revisits and getting into Andover, and so my advice would be just to talk to people,” said Chan.
Migyu Kim ’25 encouraged incoming students to be proud of themselves for how lengthy the admissions process is, and to acknowledge the work they put in to get to this point.
“Recognize your success and just take a moment to really appreciate all the work that you’ve done. For me, it’s easy to forget how much work [I’ve] put in and the uncertainty and stress that [I] had been feeling before, so really just take the moment to celebrate yourself and all the hard work that you and your family have put in over not even just the past year, but your whole life leading up to it,” said Kim.
