Advice from A Grad to a Newcomer: What to Expect When Coming to Brentwood

There are a lot of things to know before you enter this community but here are the top 10 things I think everyone should know before making their way into this school: 1. There is always something going on. If you are bored, you are missing something. To keep up to date with events, you should always check in with your friends or the whiteboard at the front of your house that will have been gone over in your weekly house meeting. 2. Every Sunday there is a brunch from 10-12. You do not want to miss this. There are so many options as well as the food staff is always trying out new foods for us. Waking up after an open house and making your way down to Crooks Hall to stuff yourself full is always something to look forward to. 3. Having a roommate is awesome. Sometime it may not be obvious, but you would get lonely without one. You may think that you will have no personal space or they will be super weird or always be talking to you when you want quiet. But, they could easily become your best friend. 4. Pack a foam topper for your mattress…and a desk chair. Brentwood supplies you with the basics, but when this is about to be another home for you, you want the homey feeling to go along with it. Invest some money into a comfy foamy to go on top of your mattress. Also, for at least two hours every night you are going to be sitting at your desk doing work or other things. You do not want to sit in a tiny plastic chair. I would highly recommend purchasing a desk chair that you won’t mind sitting in for the next couple of years. 5. Prep. You probably just read that you will be sitting at a desk for at least two hours every night and this is mostly true for weekdays as there is prep from 7:30 - 9:30 every night when you can work on homework, read, go to extra help, go to tutoring, mostly just get your work done. Having everybody in the house doing her/his work, away from distractions, at one time, can be really beneficial. 6. Interhouse! Don’t miss out on it. Your respective house and its partner are going to be doing a lot of competing. Try and find out your house colours before coming here so you will have something to wear and represent your house for the competitions but, if you cannot figure it out, somebody else in the house will always have something for you to wear. 7. Time management. They give you a very well planned agenda at the beginning of the year. My recommendation would be to utilize it: it can save lives. There are all the internal events happening labeled in it as well. Bring your agenda everywhere. Your phone is great, but not as great as the Brentwood Planner. 8. Number 1’s Thursday’s and Saturday’s. We ditch the polos and we throw on a nice white, ironed button-up shirt, tie, and blazer. This is the Brentwood formal dress (your number ones). Also, every Thursday there is an assembly. When I first got here it blew my mind that every week we would have something to talk about, but with a school so full of talented individuals, it isn’t hard. 9. There is school on Saturday. This may sound daunting at first, but you get used to it and realize that it is best to keep busy. It isn’t as long as the regular school days either. And weekday classes end at 1:15. 10. You are about to be part of a new family; embrace it. Take a selfie with Patel. Georgia Phillip, Mackenzie ‘16