I can say honestly that Potomac prepared me well for my university experience. I arrived at Brown my freshman year startled that many of my peers didn't know how to write an essay. Potomac's writing program is in my opinion one of its great strengths, and it starts in Intermediate School. That advantage I had over my peers for the first few weeks of freshman year really helped me feel prepared for college as a whole. Potomac's math and science curricula were also rigorous, and having taken the most advanced classes available, I found myself with a fairly average math background compared to my new Ivy League peers. At first, I'll admit this was demoralizing - I had classmates who had taken multivariable calculus at their local community college, and I asked myself why I hadn't been on some similar fast track. At Potomac, such a situation is incredibly rare, and reserved for people like, for example, Grace Young, who graduated a year early after having been accepted to MIT. (She was recently featured in Glamour Magazine. She's so cool: http://www.glamour.com/inspired/2013/04/grace-young-top-10-college-women-2013). Anyway, here I was, feeling inadequate, when I realized what I perceived to be a weakness was actually one of Potomac's strengths: the math instruction is engaging at every level. From what I've gathered from my friends here at Brown, they skipped ahead in their high school math curricula because the younger level classes were too easy or too boring. At Potomac, 9th grade accelerated geometry is as challenging and engaging as 12th grade AP Calculus. Students who want to take on more than the recommended course-load must advocate for themselves, because the Potomac administration is inclined not to allow students to get in over their heads. In my sophomore year, my chemistry teacher suggested I take AP chemistry concurrently with advanced physics the next year. I did, and wouldn't change a thing about it, but at every step there was an administrator reminding me that I didn't have to unless I wanted to, and I could always drop the extra class if I felt overwhelmed. It was reassuring to know that my wellbeing was more important than my transcript. Classes are small at Potomac. I think my largest class was no more than 20 people, and that was unusual. Since I graduated, the Upper School has grown, so I can't speak to class sizes now. The small classes were conducive to discussion, which teachers usually encouraged. Potomac's student body is tight-knit and generally a lively group, so there was never a dull moment. Teachers were available to talk whenever you needed them. If you didn't have an overlapping free period, they would make time to meet with you during an activities block (when clubs usually meet) or even in the few minutes after school. They liked hearing about our lives, and generally had close relationships with the students. As an academically advanced student (I cannot deal with how pretentious I sound right now), I felt that I was given every opportunity I could want. Even in Lower School, there were breakaway groups for the advanced math students. The miracle of this is that they were considered cool. Going to "math club" during lunch was actually a pretty desirable activity. I have no idea how they pulled that off, but I'm thankful, because it set the tone at Potomac: being smart is cool. No, I wasn't taking multivariable calculus at the community college. I don't feel like I missed much. As for additional resources for those who needed extra help, I know they existed and I know there were at least some people who seemed to really appreciate them. I can't speak to much more than that, unfortunately.