Phillips Academy Summer Session offers a rigorous, engaging academic program for middle and high school students from around the world, with options to attend as either a boarding or day student. Courses like Media, Politics and Persuasion, Prep for AP Physics, Entrepreneurship and Beyond Robots: Engineering Design Lab, are just a small sample of the extensive array of classes available to choose from.
What if, in one summer day, you could build and test a six-foot slingshot, analyze and discuss globalization, eat a delicious panini, rehearse with a chamber ensemble, and take a nature walk – all before 5 p.m.? Or maybe you’d rather debate ethics with your classmates, use a 3-D printer to create parts for a robot, and play a game of soccer against a new group of friends? Perhaps you’d like to write and perform a dramatic monologue, savor a slice of veggie pizza, and view and extensive photography collection at the Addison Galley of American Art before heading out to take your own shots for class.
You can do all of those things and more in a day at Phillips Academy’s Summer Session.
Not just another summer school, Summer Session is a five-week intercultural exchange for students entering grades 7-12, with more than 600 students from 54 countries enrolled each year. Now entering its 84th year, Summer Session offers an extensive array of both innovative and traditional courses and activities to support students in developing independence, honing their academic skills, and exploring their interests. With a special Lower School Institute designed just for middle-school students and Upper School programs that include English Language Learning (ELL), math, science, writing, art, music, and theater, Summer Session offers something for everyone.
Summer Session provides students with the opportunity to take full advantages of the resources of Phillips Academy, which is located in Andover, Massachusetts on a breathtaking 500-acre campus. Founded in 1778, its facilities include the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Addison Gallery of American Art, R.S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, and Gelb Science Center – home of the PA Observatory, and our spacious Pan Athletic Center which houses a specially designed competition swimming pool.
When considering how to spend a summer, students may find themselves asking, "Why Andover?" Below are just a few of the answers to that question:
Rigorous Academic Program
Be prepared for courses that push you to perform to your fullest potential. The classes challenge and extend the intellectual, aesthetic, and ethical interests of able students who want to reap the rewards of intensive study.
Varied and Extensive Course Offerings
Do you want to enhance your knowledge of a subject you already love? Do you want to explore a subject you have never studied before, something your school doesn’t offer? Do you want to get ahead in anticipation of a difficult course next fall? Are you an aspiring artist, musician, or photographer looking for opportunity, guidance, and enrichment? Andover offers a wide array of courses from geometry to philosophy, from English as a Second Language to advanced literary analysis. Flip through the catalog and see what appeals to you.
Experienced and Creative Faculty
Summer Session faculty, composed of teachers from Phillips Academy and other secondary schools, colleges, and graduate schools, return summer after summer for the chance to engage in and learn from this exciting international community. The summer offers faculty opportunities to experiment with innovative approaches to teaching and to share ideas with insightful colleagues and eager students from around the world. The senior teaching staff is augmented by a corps of teaching assistants whose enthusiasm for learning provides students with a model for serious but dynamic intellectual inquiry.
Outstanding Academic Resources & Facilities
You will have full access to the wealth of resources and state-of-the-art facilities of the Phillips Academy campus. These include the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, located in the heart of campus, which offers a circulating collection of more than 90,000 fiction and nonfiction printed books supplemented by electronic access to more than 47,000 full-text academic titles, as well as access to more than three million items in all media through the NOBLE library consortium. Additionally, students in the summer regularly use the Phillips Academy Computer Center and the Polk-Lillard Electronic Imaging Center for all of their computing and electronic needs, freely visit the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology for an exploration of the latest collections, and take courses in the Gelb Science Center, with its modern lab facilities and astronomical observatory.
Extraordinary Diversity
Among the most exciting and rewarding aspects of Summer Session is the chance to live and work with other students who represent an unparalleled diversity of geography, religion, race, and economic circumstance. Students typically arrive from over 50 different countries, making summer at Andover an incredible opportunity to get to know those from different backgrounds.
The Precollege Boarding Experience
You will share the campus and its many resources for five weeks, living in dormitories and learning community responsibility and self-discipline. While the dorms are supervised and the faculty constantly accessible (faculty-student ratio is 1 to 8), you will quickly learn how to budget your own time and respect the needs of others.
College Counseling Program
As a student in the Summer Session, you will have access to our afternoon college speaker series, which brings representatives of the top colleges and universities from across the United States to speak about topics related to the admissions process. Additionally, you can sign up to attend college visits, which take place weekly and include tours and information sessions at some of the most prestigious institutions in New England, including Harvard, Yale, and MIT.
Prime Location
Phillips Academy has a safe, scenic, and spacious campus, located only a short train ride from the beautiful and historic Boston and Cambridge. In addition to the sights, museums, colleges, shops, and restaurants of these two cities, Andover lies within easy driving distance of the beautiful seacoasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Summer Session organizes several trips to a variety of venues that may include nearby beaches, musical and theatrical events, outlet shopping, and amusement parks. In addition, students may – with permission – use their free time on Wednesdays and weekends to explore Boston with friends.
Athletic, Cultural, and Social Opportunities
In between classes and study, you can enjoy weekly dances, lectures, films, and cultural events right on campus. Open observatory nights, a weekly faculty colloquium series, student art and theater shows, and intramural or dorm competitions provide a multitude of options for how best to spend free time. Students also participate in one of our many afternoon athletic activities to enhance their daily schedules.
Day Student Opportunities
Students who live within commuting distance of the academy are an integral part of Summer Session, attending all classes and activities, eating all meals, socializing with the entire community, and making full use of all the facilities.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who may apply?
Summer Session accepts academically qualified students who have completed the sixth, seventh, eigth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades. Students who have graduated from high school or who are 18 years old or older are not eligible for admission. The session expects a serious academic commitment from students, who are held accountable for all requirements. Summer Session at Phillips Academy in Andover is a competitive academic program, and not every student who applies is accepted into the program.
When should I apply?
Students are urged to apply early (before March 1) for the best chance of acceptance and in order to obtain their first choice courses. International students, especially, need adequate time to make travel arrangements.
What is it like to be a day student?
Other than not having an assigned dormitory room on campus, day students maintain the same schedule and lifestyle as resident students. Day students have access to lockers and are assigned an advisor to support them during the summer, and are encouraged to attend the same social events as their resident peers. College trips, dances, weekend field trips, and daily college counseling workshops are just some of the activities that day students can choose to engage in during their time at Summer Session!
What’s life in the dorm like?
For students who will soon be faced with the responsibility and independent of college life, a summer of living in a dorm provides ample opportunity for developing self-discipline, time management skills, and respect for others from different backgrounds. With the guidance of trained faculty who share the dorms, students learn to make adjustments necessary for communal living. During quiet evening study hours, many students choose to settle into their rooms to prepare for class the next morning, while others choose to study in groups in the dorm common room or head to the library, science center, or other designated place of study. The dorms also serve as a comfortable social environment in which students develop lasting friendships with peers and faculty. Living closely with other young people from widely differing backgrounds is one of the most rewarding experiences of Summer Session.
Will I have free time?
Days are structured to allow time for required classes, activities, and appointments. There is also ample time for individual study and relaxation, as well as social events and trips into downtown Andover. During their free time, students may choose to use the athletic facilities, visit campus museums, study in the library, walk into town to buy a cup of coffee or stock up on snacks for their dorm rooms, or simply hang out with friends on the great lawn. Part of the Summer Session experience is learning how to manage one’s own time and be independent; many students say this was the most important skill they learned during the summer!
What is expected of me?
We expect that all students come to Phillips Academy for a serious purpose, and are prepared to engage in a challenging, academic summer experience. Students joining our community are required to treat others with respect and to take responsibility for their own actions, whether or not those actions are explicitly covered by the rules. Rules and regulations, such as prohibitions on smoking and alcohol use, are clearly noted in our handbook – The Blue Book – sent to admitted students and families. Students sign a community agreement, thus committing to living honestly, safely, responsibly, and respectfully in a multicultural setting.
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