[quote=@TheHangedMan]
Personally I prefer 5th and 6th years, though as [@unicorgi] said, that takes the fun out of the "getting to know you" phase of a HP RP. With that being said, making it with 1st years wouldn't be very exciting unless the OP is willing to make a very active plot as opposed to a sandbox.

I'd think a compromise would work; 3rd/4th years would be [i]just[/i] unfamiliar enough with people outside their circle of friends/houses to have first meetings, while being old and experienced enough to add some variety to player choices. We could work with that if people are undecided.
[/quote]

I feel Hogwarts is a big enough school that you could go to school with people for years and just never really encounter them or get to know them well. Maybe I’ve just become jaded with a few things, but I’ve never been particularly fond of spending an entire RP having to do full introductions and such. While I’m not against 4th years, I mentioned 5th years because of the OWLs and that adds a school pressure on top of everything else that can be fun to work with (and can sort of force people to study/work together more).

I guess I’m also just not a fan of playing an 11 year old kid as opposed to a more high school aged teen personally. Just never been good at writing young characters.