Post-Graduate Year (Year 13)

Profile of a Post-Graduate Year Student

You are...

• Age 17/18/19 and a secondary school graduate (i.e. you received your diploma from your current school).

You have...

• An ambition to pursue a university degree in the United States.

And so, you...

• Attend a boarding school for one year before attending a university.

Why a Post-Graduate Year?

• 

  You want an additional year of challenging university-preparatory work to obtain admission at a more selective university.

• You seek the advantages of a year of skilled university counseling to assist you with applications to universities of the highest quality, suited to your talents and needs.
• You need a year of intensive English instruction in a fully English-speaking environment to improve English proficiency scores, such as the TOEFL / IELTS.
• You would like a year of immersion in the American educational system prior to attending university to increase the potential for a more successful academic transition to an American university.
• You are a younger secondary school graduate who might benefit from an extra year of study to gain maturity and self-confidence in a secure and caring environment before attending university.
• You wish to gain a broader, international perspective to compete successfully in the global marketplace.
• You have an ambition to travel, study, and live abroad, while meeting new people and visiting new places.

A Post-Graduate Year

• 

  Offers students the option to explore a wide range of challenging courses that suits diverse interests and abilities. 

• A full range of courses are open to 13th-year students, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Each conducted within the supportive atmosphere of a boarding school and with the faculty guidance for which boarding schools are renowned. 
• One great advantage is that many of these AP courses give students university credit while in the post-graduate year.
• Students benefit from working with the university counseling office at the boarding school. 
• University counseling offices work with you individually and help you select universities that are a good fit for you. Most importantly, they help you with the entire application process.
• Most universities visit boarding school campuses, so you can meet someone from their admission office face-to-face. In addition, most schools offer trips during breaks to visit university campuses.
• Students might enroll in an English course, either English IV, AP English, English-as-a-Second-Language, or maybe an English elective, such as an introduction to Twentieth Century Literature.
• Students may then either focus their studies with specific disciplines, or they may continue to follow a liberal arts curriculum to strengthen their foundation for university. For example, a student with strong interest in the sciences might include AP Biology, Physics, and upper-level math courses. 
• Allows you to earn university credit while in the safe environment of a boarding school.
• Helps you explore courses and interests so your university years are more meaningful.
• Helps you to enter highly selective universities instead of attending community colleges or less-selective universities.
• Boarding school graduates are consistently the world’s great leaders. They are the undisputed political and corporate trailblazers as well as pioneers for social causes and justice around the globe.

NOTE: Hawai’i High School State Athletic Association (HHSAA) regulations prohibit post-graduates from competing in interscholastic sports. With approval, post-graduates may work out with the various school teams, enroll in a conditioning program, or obtain approval to participate in an independent sport.