<p>I am just wondering, what schools have a drug reputation?</p>
<p>My daughter is in her 3rd year at Andover. While there are no doubt some drugs on campus, she reports that she personally doesn’t know of anyone who uses drugs. If it’s not something that interests you, and you don’t go seeking it out, you probably will never have any exposure to drugs on campus. Also, there was indeed a drug bust either last year or the year before which resulted in several students being expelled. As a parent, I was pleased with the school’s aggressive response, and I don’t think they could have handled it any better than they did. Because of the risk of suspension, I don’t think that there are many kids at Andover taking drugs. Those who do, do so at their peril.</p>
<p>There are kids who are separated from Exeter for smoking cigarettes. Do drugs exist?-- hey, where there are kids there are drugs but the penalties at Exeter as with Andover are not pretty. </p>
<p>There is a story of a student caught smoking pot the morning of graduation several years ago who was expelled and didn’t graduate. Is it true? I dunno. But that it is a story told around Exeter means that the students believe that it COULD be true–and that influences behavior.</p>
<p>The dictum is if a student turns him or herself in and asks for help there will be no disciplinary issues–but if he or she gets caught-- or even worse, lies about it-- then the DC becomes involved. That may not end well…</p>
<p>All of these things happen at private day schools too. At one NYC private school this year, kids were expelled for smoking pot before a soccer match. At another school, they had to shut down one of the bathrooms where kids were buying drugs. As someone said, if there are teenagers, there will be drugs but there are certainly as many if not more opportunities for day school students.</p>
<p>Having had direct experience with only one of them, I can’t provide a convincing analysis, but I have an impression that academically Exeter is more or less tougher than Andover. I wonder if there are parents out there who have kids going to both schools currently or recently can share their exprience and thoughts on the impact of this difference, if perceptible, to kids in both schools.</p>
<p>Thanks to all that have weighed in. I’ve managed to convince my parents to let me skip Mexico, and go to revisits based on what has been said here. This decision is very important to me, and I hold it more important than my class trip. When I was visiting the schools, I didn’t think I had any chance of getting in. The schools are just to competitive, and I believe it’s 99% luck. I didn’t even pay much attention to Andover and Exeter, so I’d like to visit campus again. I’m also going to revisit the Hill School, because it felt like a good fit, and I really liked the size of the Hill. Thanks for all of your insight.</p>