<p>I'm home for Thanksgiving break and ready to answer any questions prospective students may have. I know after my first fall term lot of the misconceptions I had (from CC, haha) before coming to Exeter were readily cleared up, so I am able to give more accurate insight into what life here really is about. I know I've grown a lot in many ways even though it's been such a short time -- not everything has been easy, but I'm so, so glad I came here. :)</p>
<p>Ask me anything! Academics, school environment, social life, etc. I'll try to answer as honestly as possible. And that includes aspects of the school that aren't as often discussed, so don't be afraid -- whatever's on your mind.</p>
<h2>How competitive are students with each other? Which are the hardest freshman classes? </h2>
<p>From what I’ve seen students don’t seem to be too outwardly competitive with one another, which surprised me. When people are competitive it’s always in a very subtle manner. The classroom atmosphere is very collaborative by nature and we all learn to solve problems together–it’s not intimidating at all. Obviously with athletics there is a sense of competition since the JV/V teams can only take a certain number of people, especially underclassmen. I assume the atmosphere will get more competitive after this term as people have settled in their niches, and in later years as students pursue leadership positions, but I’ve found Exeter to be a place that fosters personal growth on the part of the individual rather than continuous competition.</p>
<p>As for hardest freshman classes…we only have placement in math and foreign language. For math, incoming students take transition classes to ease into the way of doing mathematics at Exeter, which typically acts like a bit of a review on familiar material .The highest for that would be 31T which is taught by Zuming Feng. For foreign languages, preps can place into 300- or 400-level courses with placement tests or with department permission. As for electives it’s hard to objectively say which ones are the most difficult, but many of my friends have found the history courses here (i.e., 20th century, Greek history) to be challenging, perhaps due to the essays required or the distinct method of learning history around the Harkness table.</p>
<h2>How much homework is there? My interviewer told me that she had to do homework after lunch in order to finish it all… </h2>
<p>The homework load is rather substantial but still manageable, as long as you make good use of your free periods throughout the day. (typically a day will end at 6 pm). Some days will be harder than others depending on your schedule, but with good time management it’s possible to be done by 11 pm with participation in clubs and athletics. Lunch break is an hour–or up to an hour and a half if you have p.e. beforehand (which lets out early)-- so many people do tend to use part of that to finish up homework or study for their next class.</p>
<p>I’m still not too clear on this, but from what I’ve seen there shouldn’t be many, if at all. Yes, there are distinct groups involving people who participate in the same athletics/clubs, or those in the same dorm, but people are definitely starting to branch out as well. Groups are for the most part very inclusive and open.</p>
<h2>How big is theatre at Exeter? </h2>
<p>Surprisingly theatre has a bigger presence on campus than I initially thought it would, but this might be magnified for me because half my dorm seems to do theatre…haha. But it definitely does have a part in the campus atmosphere–I have many friends who are very devoted to theatre, and many students seem to attend the main productions. There are also a variety of acting courses that are able to be taken as electives. However, the facilities in this area aren’t the best–they made a proposal for a new building, but there wasn’t enough funding.</p>
<p>Intrinsically:
Your information is misleading re: new Performing Arts Center. The planning is in the very early stages - the center is very much going to be built. These things take patience on everyone’s part.</p>
<p>According to the last Exonian, the performing arts center vision was downsized in a preliminary meeting–specifically, they were taking out the music performance hall, not the theater space.</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction, sorry about the ambiguity…The theatre and dance building will be built, but a new music hall won’t be included in the facility. It’s still a very major priority for the administration.</p>
<p>@823491:
I haven’t been here very long so it’s hard for me to be fully aware of the areas the school needs improvement. An issue that has been pointed out frequently in the past are the stress levels and workload (particularly with the higher grades) as they pertain to student wellness. It’s something the administration has been working to address without reducing rigor too much through drastically cutting Saturday classes and devising new schedules.</p>
<p>@823491
It seems like all everyone wants from Exeter is change. People complain about Saturday classes, too much homework, not enough sleep, etc. Therefore I wish that</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They would keep some things consistent! Lately there have been many experiments with equalizing terms, shortening classes to try to give us more sleep, and starting this winter, cutting almost all saturday classes and using this confusing 5-day schedule that changes every other week. I think the era of experimentation will be over soon, but I feel that all these changes are hard on students.</p></li>
<li><p>A review of the discipline committee system would be useful. There needs to be a way for students or faculty to appeal discipline decisions like requirement to withdraw.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Those are the main ones I can think of right now.</p>