@heartburner, because of block scheduling, in order to visit ALL classes, classes are held Friday and Saturday. Family members are welcome to sit in on classes both Friday and Saturday to experience the Harkness method, and to see, and perhaps briefly speak with, the teacher. It gives a window into the student experience, as well as how the student interacts in a classroom and who his friends are. Family may “shadow” the student and attend some, or all, of the classes and eat meals with the student. After all appointments sometime Saturday, the students are free to spend time with their family until dorm check-in on Monday evening.
You may wish to plan an outing (to Boston, for example) for Saturday night/Sunday morning through Monday to reconnect with your student. There are some mixers to allow parents from the same class to mingle with each other, as well as showcases from some of the performing groups around campus, and some varsity games. Religious services are available and time made available with counselors.
One strategy is to arrive Thursday, meet with your son’s advisor Thursday afternoon, and arrive back on campus bright and early Friday morning to shadow him through his classes. Attend classes Saturday morning as well, and attend the football game Saturday evening.
All activities for visiting family are, of course, optional. Classes for the students are not optional, but are a bit “Lite” since the room is stuffed with family members.
There are also a couple of off-campus tours on Academy transportation that are available. Generally, it is an orienting “good time” for those who rarely are able to visit the campus.
Thanks @theidoit and @ItsJustSchool – I think i have a better idea of the program and can plan. Weekend outing will definitely happen as we will be missing him a lot. We might need to figure out what to do with our 12-year old daughter since I am sure she won’t be that interested in classes.
I highly recommend trying to sit in on classes to get a sense of what Exeter is all about, particularly if this is your first year as a parent of a student. We are heading for parents weekend 4 this year and i still recall how completely blown away we were as parents the first few classes the first year. Seeing the give and take and mutual respect and using of the Harkness table made me realize how right the decision was and how different PEA was from my concept of school and what we saw in out LPS. Seeing the classroom dynamic will give you insight into the world of these kids, and also will help you better understand and relate to them when they come home.
We try and arrive thursday and have dinner with DS. Classes friday and Sat, maybe a dinner with other friends parents friday, and after classes on Saturday we take off for a weekend in Boston for some R&R and sightseeing. Our son really appreciates(ed) the break.
There are other parents who bring younger siblings, and you may be in for a surprise if the 12 y/o D sees another way of schooling.
If you attend family weekend, ask your child if they want to take friends out to dinner with you - not all families make it and some of the most fun memories we have is taking our child’s friends out to a dinner in Portsmouth. Lots of great restaurants and permission not needed because it is so close to campus. Kids very much appreciate going out.
@AMS0203 It’s quite chill, actually. You can arrive anytime in the morning at the Science Center, where you wait in line for a while with other parents and students for your picture to get taken. There, you get your key and Lioncard, and can head off to your dorm for the first time. Generally, proctors for your dorm will be right outside, and they’ll introduce themselves and help you unpack, if needed. They may arrange occasional tours around campus.
You’ll have a dorm meeting later that evening, and a couple (1-2) meetings during the day, but in general it’s pretty relaxing.
The rest of campus (students who do not do a varsity fall sport/do not attend preseason) arrives the next day.
Google “Phillips Exeter Academy Orientation Schedule”, and you’ll find how the first few days are, in a PDF format. Check it out, and let me know if you have any questions. I typed this up quite quickly, as I have to leave the house in a second, but I’ll be on College Confidential later tonight.
@8thgradekid
You bet. Perhaps some of the bigger clubs on campus are: Mock Trial, the Exonian (newspaper), Debate, Math Club, Model UN. It meets every Monday for short, 20 minute meetings, but for those going to conferences there is a lot of time required to prepare/write position papers/etc.
@AMS0203
I wouldn’t worry about the first week too much. I believe you arrive on a Wednesday (being a new student), and I arrive on Thursday, a day before class starts. The first “week” will be Friday class and Saturday class (half-day), which is not taxing at all. By Sunday, you’ll be completely unpacked, and will have begun to form close bonds with the people in your dorm (hopefully!). The second week, however, progresses normally and you will start with a decent amount of work. It might feel stressful, if you’re dealing with sports tryouts and music tryouts, but I think by the end of the second week you’ll be fully integrated into the Exeter experience.
@isadorakron I remember I got an email on August 14(?), telling who my adviser was, what dorm and room I was in, PO box number and roommate (if it applies to you).
@AMS0203 Long hallways with rooms on either sides. Best male dorm is Cilley and female dorm is Amen because they have elevators and are both pretty nice. Every dorm has something that makes it special. For example, Soule for guys is two twin staircases with rooms every few steps (which sounds coolbut the wood floors suck and the dorm has a bunch of League of Legends addicts). Weelwright for girls has a giant first floor common room. Every dorm (except Peabody and Abbot and maybe Lamont) is proud of their dorm, but you can move out if you want after a year to a better dorm.
@mjeff55 100% guarantee you’ll either join too many or none at all. Since prep fall is pass/fail, just join a bunch, find about 3-5 that you really like, and drop the rest. Or, if you think you’re the next big thing (or just abandon grades completely) then you can try to maintain 6+, but really, you’ll end up half-assing some. It’s so much better to have a club you’re passionate about and aren’t just a club leech, because you’ll get a lot more out of it.
@AMS0203 Just a little more insight into the dorms-- it really depends on what you’re looking for. Cilley is a large dorm, and has a lot of good people with very diverse talents, but because of the sheer numbers, the dorm as a whole isn’t as well bonded as a dorm like Abbot, or Ewald (lower than 40 students live in those two). It’s true that there are a lot of jokes about Peabody, as the rooms and hallways are tiny, but an upside is that the students living there almost always have a single. Soule has huge rooms, but they’re doubles and usually look empty and plain if you don’t put much stuff it in (white walls, scratched-up wood floor).
Main Street and Ewald are geographically the outliers, as they are separated from the rest of campus by a street (use Google Maps, and you’ll see). They’re very close to the academic buildings, which is a huge upside, but it takes 10 minutes to walk to the gym – and even longer in the winter because of all the snow. Abbot is arguably the best placed, because it’s right next to the Academy building and right in the center of campus.
Very few people switch out of their dorm, because they grow into them and find upperclassmen to look up to and follow. Only if they find it clear that their dormmates dislike them, or have all of their friends in a different one, they move.
Let us know if you have any more questions about dorms!