What grade is Jackie in My Life with the Walter Boys? Details from the Netflix series, explored

My Life with the Walter Boys is a coming-of-age drama that was released worldwide on December 7, 2023, by Netflix. It indulges the audience with emotional storytelling style, powerful characters, and the rough and tumble of young adulthood.

The series is based on Ali Novak’s popular novel of the same name and has been adapted by Melanie Halsall for the screen. Soon after its release, it became one of the most discussed YA screenings on the streaming platform. Season 1 received positive ratings, with viewers binging the series so eagerly that it shot right up into Netflix’s Global English Top 10. Fast forward, Season 2 was released in August 2025, and showmakers have already promised a third season in 2026.

The series features everything that comes with peak teenage: romance, friendship, competition, and self-discovery. While fans are following Jackie as she navigates through life, one question that seems to puzzle fans is what grade she is in.

Is she a sophomore? Junior? The point is, wherever she lands on the academic ladder, it shapes how she deals with friends, crushes, and classic high school problems.

If she is a freshman, everything feels like a first. If she is an upperclassman, the pressure is on. So, her grade might seem like a tiny detail, but it defines every single relationship and challenge she bumps into.

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What grade is Jackie in My Life with the Walter Boys?

When the series starts, Jackie Howard is 15 and a high school sophomore. This puts her squarely in the 10th grade, a fact repeatedly mentioned throughout the sources and recaps of the plot.

Jackie, who attended an elite school in Manhattan, had been fixated on taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and managing the events committee in her school before her family died. Her academic desire comes out clearly in various episodes, in the form of tense moments with the school administration, school social events, and guidance counselors who persuade her to put her academic assignments aside to focus on emotional recovery.

Her grade and age matter for several reasons:

Peer relationships: Most of the main squad and the love triangle aspect (Alex Walter included) are Jackie’s classmates, so they are all around 15 or 16.

Academic pressure: Jackie is a sophomore with AP classes, already sweating over Ivy League goals (Princeton). You pick up on all that through her chats with her guidance counselor and all the tense conversations with friends.

Vulnerability and adaptability: She is not a junior or senior, which makes her feel extra exposed. Jackie is in the middle: definitely not a grown-up, but she’s forced to handle grown-up-level problems after everything blows up in her life.

Hence, Season 1 of My Life with the Walter Boys has a pattern. Jackie, a 15-year-old 10th-grade student, is trying to juggle her grief and figure out high school life in Colorado.

Season 2 of My Life with the Walter Boys shifts everything. Jackie is not a sophomore anymore. With a new school year, she is a junior (11th grade) at Silver Falls High. The show mentions all this in the dialogue and those “Previously on…” recaps. Turns out, only two and a half months have gone by since Season 1 ended, but Jackie has already jumped to junior year.

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What is My Life with the Walter Boys about

My Life with the Walter Boys is a Netflix original drama series that was initially released in December 2023 and is based on the 2014 novel of the same title by Ali Novak.

The main character of the show, Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez), has to move out of Manhattan when her immediate family is wiped out in an accident. She is adopted by her mother's best friend, Katherine Walter, and becomes part of an expansive, boisterous family in Silver Falls, Colorado, the exact opposite of her previous life on the Upper West Side.

The Walter family consists of 10 children: Will, Cole, Danny, Alex, Nathan, Jordan, Benny, Parker, and cousins Isaac and Lee. Cole (Noah LaLonde) is a multifaceted and gloomy former football star, while Alex (Ashby Gentry) is the bookish and amiable boyfriend of Jackie.

The story hinges on how Jackie struggles to fit in this new world, establish meaningful relationships, and work through her trauma as she navigates the challenges of a regular high school: negotiating relationships, coping with academic pressures, handling bullies, and attempting to hold onto her old academic goals.

This show nails all the authentic teen experiences, such as awkward crushes, family skeletons tumbling out of closets, and love triangles spinning out of control. People are already throwing it in the ring with other similar hits like The Summer I Turned Pretty and The Kissing Booth.

Netflix has introduced some fresh faces and sub-plots you won’t find in the book, which makes Jackie’s emotional rollercoaster feel way more intense.

Also, read: My Life With The Walter Boys Season 2 ending explained: Jackie finds herself at a crossroad (again) as a Walter's life hangs in the balance