<p>My D was fortunate to be accepted at both Andover and Exeter. Which would you choose and why?</p>
<p>I like andover, it is looser no dress code I haven’t actually seen the exeter campus but I think the andover campus is really nice.</p>
<p>@CACDParent</p>
<p>Wow, congratulations! You must be really proud of your daughter. They are both finest schools in the States. While my son did not apply to the schools in the East Coast, I know they are the best and most sought after. Which school does your daughter prefer? If she has one, it should be the one to choose. If she does not have one yet, why don’t you revisit the schools and help her decide. I believe that this kind of decision should be mainly made by those who actually attend the school, not parents or friends.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter. That is quite an accomplishment. As the parent of a student at Exeter my opinion would be biased. My advice. Revisit both. She and you will get a feeling from both schools as they really are different from each other. Go with your gut. They are both top notch schools academically so you really can’t go wrong there. Your feelings will tell you which to choose.</p>
<p>In addition to similarities in size, course/extracurricular offerings, reputation, financial strengths etc., the two schools are becoming even more similar after some recent changes. Andover has changed its academic calendar so the winter break starts at Thanksgiving like Exeter does. Exeter has gotten rid of most Saturday classes recently. And it’s more widely recoginized that both schools are strong in both humanities and sciences. The most obvious difference is probably dress code, which is minor anyway. Don’t know how much revisits will help but really there’s no wrong choice here. Great job. Congrats!</p>
<p>Whatever you do, please please please do not base your decision off of the spam posts from a CC user who only slanders Andover. The username changes very often so I can’t give you a name, but the post usually contains several links. The titles are things like ‘Drug bust’ ‘Vandalism’ ‘Child pornography’.</p>
<p>Read Andover school newspaper for incidents mentioned in Px’s post. All back issues are archived and available to the general public. Those are incidents that have happened over the years and covered by the student run school newspaper. To me, granted most elite BS’s are bubble like because they hand pick their students and faculty members and implement an “elite education”, but I feel Andover is one of the least bubble like ones partly because the coverage of these incidents (welcome to the real, messy teenagers’ world - yes even in elite boarding schools!). Look for clues and see if you are comfortable with the frequency and extent these things happen, how the school administration and students handle and react etc. It’s nice to have the luxury to compare and choose between these schools. You earned it so you could use it!</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>As many as 50% of Phillips accepted kids are accepted to both Andover and Exeter. We also had to choose. Attending both revisit days (they are scheduled to allow a family to easily attend both) will help. We met many other families making the choice.</p>
<p>They are both great schools and you can’t go wrong. They have very different “feels”, including the tone of revisit day, and my D and our family strongly preferred Exeter, and have been very happy with the choice. From our personal experience getting to know revisiting families accepted to both, about half chose E and half chose A. I have never heard remorse from either choice.</p>
<p>My D got accepted to Andover, Exeter and Deerfield as an international student. Chances are we won’t be able to make it to revisit days and will have to make a remote decision. Any suggestions will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Yeah, it really is where your daughter feels like she belongs. Honestly, even though I knew Andover, Exeter, and Deerfield were practically equal, I only applied to Andover just because certain things made me feel at home. Anyway, just try to find out what your daughter thought of each one and how it matched her personality. It’s a big choice, so it should be entirely up to her. Congratulations!!</p>
<p>Thanks jackpa. She has had more exposure to Andover but we hear good things about Exeter and Deerfield as well. Tough to do this remotely, but as many are saying you can’t go wrong with any of these schools.</p>
<p>Also, if you don’t mind my asking, what is your daughter like? Does she like independence and no dress code or structure and supervision? Does she like the “warm and fuzzy” or the very nice, but somewhat larger environment that won’t be quite as nurturing just because of sheer numbers? Anything like that, and I’ll try my best! I know I can’t make the decision, but I can tell you the kind of environment for each school. I really hope she finds the best school for her!!</p>
<p>And yes, you definitely can’t go wrong with any of the schools!! I’m going to Andover in the fall, maybe I will see you guys then!</p>
<p>Structured, hard working and self-motivated. Strong in academics and music. World travelled and lived in multiple countries.</p>
<p>So, you would say she thrives more under the structure she builds for herself, or does she thrive under a school’s structure? Those other traits are super beneficial for any boarding school, so that’s pretty awesome!</p>
<p>Builds her own structure even in unstructured environments and hence can thrive. Anyone knows how the music departments are at these schools? Balances academics and music pursuits very well.</p>
<p>@Spiritual, you will find students with those wonderful qualities at both schools. Here is a suggestion. Students normally pair up with another student during revisits, oftentimes a student with similar interests. Have your daughter contact the admission offices at each school. Have her explain that she will not be able to attend a revisit, but she would like to skype with a current student, if that is possible. They want you to attend, so they will accomodate you (if they don’t, well, that should tell you something also.) It’s not a perfect solution, but it will give her a far better “feel” for the school.</p>
<p>Choosing between these schools isn’t a situation where one can say, “She’s a ‘Math Person’ so she should go here!” or “She’s musically inclined, so she should go there.” Because despite what you read on these threads about the “strengths” of each school, and the other biased perceptions, usually by people who don’t have first hand knowledge, Andover and Exeter are great schools in pretty much all areas. Students with particular strengths will easily thrive in both environments. So it really comes down to “feel” or as Ad Coms like to say, the “best fit” for a student. And one way to figure out “feel,” since you can’t go there, is by reaching out to the respective schools and establishing more dialogue with current students. Best of luck!</p>
<p>^^ agree with Anjintrader. If you can try to go to revisit days- while the schools are both excellent, they have VERY different “feels” – often a kid will know in her or his gut where they belong. That feeling is worth 500 pro/con lists.</p>
<p>I know Exeter far better, but I haven’t met a kid there who, if they had a choice (my D did) had much angst over the choice (she was sad bc she loved the coach at A of the sport she plays and felt badly about “letting him down”). I am sure that the same is the case for Andies as well…</p>
<p>Anyway, enjoy the experience. There isn’t a bad choice–and I bet by April 10th the correct choice will become obvious to your child–and you.</p>
<p>Agreed with Anjintrader and etondad. Talking to students is always a good idea. I recently have been talking to a buncha current students on CC, so I’m sure you could do that as well. In addition, you could look on each school’s website, where students answer questions and what not. I would also like to add that the music programs at every boarding school are spectacular. The ones you’re looking at have buildings dedicated to music with private practice rooms and massive auditoriums. You can look on each school’s website for the facilities. I will admit this part is biased, but I will just say it anyway. Andover is very well-known for its independent environment with (supposedly) nice kids, where everyone leads their own schedules. You will find this at every other boarding school (responsibility, independence); however, Andover is recognized for not being structured and letting kids ‘do their thing’. That’s what brought me to it. However, judging by the fact I’ve never attending any boarding school, one could say that what I just said is completely ridiculous and that every school has that kind of independence. Sorry for not stating pure facts, just wanted my opinion to be known…Good luck!</p>
<p>I have looked at some statistics that may help you decide. The SSAT scores of incoming students are higher at Andover and the SAT scores of outgoing students are higher at Exeter. So Exeter is taking students of lower SSATs (input) and producing students with higher SATs (output). So Exeter is doing a better job of educating its students during the 4 years of high school. This data is averaged over a large class of 300 students, so the data are statistically significant.</p>