<p>Hello, Can someone share their experience/knowledge about day student life at Exeter? What is the advantage/disadvantage to be a day student at Exeter?</p>
<p>Thanks so much.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the day student life at Exeter, but I can share my insight into day student life in general. There are some schools where day students are very well integrated and some where they are not. Exeter has a fair number of day students, so I would guess they are pretty integrated. Day students will either be assigned a dorm/dorm room where they can change for sports and store their things or they will have a day student lounge with lockers. Most times they are also welcome to stay over a night if needed. The advantage to being a day student is that you have friends outside of school and have a place to stay (more of a homebase) as well as having your familial support. The disadvantage is that you may become more isolated or group around the other day students more than experiencing the full class. It’s important to ask about this during revisits or to find a parent/student who can explain it more fully. Additionally, the way you solve that problem is to be on campus as much as possible. Obviously, you will stay for sports and ECs, but I would recommend attending breakfast or eating dinner on campus, as well as possibly participating in after-school study hours and dorm feeds. Make as many friends as possible, and you shouldn’t feel that different. Another huge perk to being a day student is being able to drive or host your close friends, so that should be fun.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your input. I have heard that boarding students tend to sleep very late and some would spend a good amount of time playing video games. This is a big concern for me.</p>
<p>Could you explain why those things are a concern to you? I don’t think boarding students sleep later than the average teen–which is to say that most would probably like to be able to sleep later than they can. And since Exeter’s a big school, there are lots of different kinds of students with different interests there. Some like to play video games and some do completely different things for fun. If it helps, my kid was a pretty intense gamer before he left for school and did/does some gaming at Exeter but in general found that he didn’t have a lot of time for it–so it became a way to unwind on breaks–and now he just seems to spend most of his time on line chatting friends. I think gaming tends to be something that lots of guys outgrow as they get older and move out of their mid-teen awkwardness. </p>
<p>Well, from CC and other information I obtained, Exeter is known for their heavy work load. If the student can not be efficiently and adjust on the amount of time spent on games, the natural outcome is that he will end up spend more time at night on catching up homework stuff. Way back a couple years ago, a friend’s son went to PA and had self control problem on games, then the parent had to work with the school to limit his computer time (or take him back to local school). </p>
<p>@Classicalmama, in your own experience, were you so confident that your kid would be discipline and reduce his game time before you send him to Exeter? I am just not sure. >:P </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If you feel like your student will have an issue with that, I would recommend discussing it with him before he attends or even makes a decision. Stress the value of the education he will be receiving, at no small sacrifice of yours. Maybe you should make an agreement that he will be involved with at least one club and one sport, or something along those lines so he has good things to fill his time. Additionally, you can keep in contact with his advisor during the year (be on the lookout for grade slips) and him; try to see what he is spending time on. I would think Thanksgiving break would be an ideal check-in time to see what he is doing, how he fills free time, whether he enjoys the school or not, etc.</p>
<p>@new2exeter: I knew that he did a lot of gaming at home because there wasn’t much else to do–socially, he didn’t really have a niche; I figured that once he was around kids he had more in common with, he’d prefer doing something more social. However, the main thing that reassured me was that when he bought his laptop, he made a point of buying one that wouldn’t be good for games…and persuaded us to upgrade our desktop to a better graphics card, which told me he was already putting temptation away for school breaks. </p>
<p>He told me that he did play games sometimes at school, but mostly on week-ends with the guys in dorm when there was nothing to do. He took his studies very seriously–the intimidation factor is pretty huge at Exeter that first term, when you’re face with all those super smart kids and classes where you can’t hide. </p>
<p>That said, there were definitely kids in the dorm who screwed around more than they should–I remember him having to complain to his proctor about the lowers next door who were making too much noise playing games. If it makes you feel better, the proctor promptly confiscated the gaming system. </p>
<p>In general, my sense from him is that a lot of the gamers are also very good students–gaming is just what they choose to do in their downtime. </p>
<p>I confiscated many gaming systems when I was a dorm parent. And iPods, and cell phones… At one point, if you opened our front closet, you’d have thought we had a little electronics shop on the side! Some kids really do struggle with an unhealthy dependence on electronics, especially games. We occasionally had kids who isolated in their rooms and spent way too many hours on this. It was usually the international students, who didn’t feel comfortable being social in their new surroundings… It’s very helpful for the dorm parents and advisor to have a heads up if you think your kid might need extra support in limiting games and being more social. They can then keep a closer eye on it.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your valuable input. I have talked to him about this, but I doubt he realize it completely. We plan to go to the revisit and hopefully experience it on his own will help. We will revisit this topic after that. </p>
<p>A very appreciable number of parents move to Exeter so their kids can attend as day students and still have home cooked meals, a quiet night’s sleep, some support with time management and the availability of shopping as needed. My D, a boarder, has mentioned this and inquired whether I would quit my job and move to Exeter so she can have this life of convenience and advantage. She notes that day students often have higher GPAs. </p>
<p>Fat chance. </p>
<p>Day students do spend a great deal of time on campus with the Academy Center lounge open to them, sports, study groups etc. going at least till 6 and often through dinner and into the evening. I would say they are very well integrated into campus life. Day students also can spend occasional nights, and sometimes terms, in the dorms, so it’s not a permanent choice. . </p>
<p>Thanks to all for for the information provided. I have also heard that on average the day students have higher GPA. I felt time management is the key to that difference. There are many matured students who are very disciplined. They can quickly adjust to the heavy work load and boarding life. For the others who are not so ready (especially the younger ones), they may have to learn to adjust over time (hopefully not too long)and not paying a big price.</p>
<p>First term grades are hidden (and not included in GPA), so the adjustment period has a lot of stress removed. </p>
<p>@new2exeter, we attended revisit this week and went to a day student info session that was incredibly informative (both about logistics issues and big picture differences in the two types of student experiences). Feel free to ask me specific questions and I will share if they answered them. </p>
<p>@booklady123, thanks so much and please check your Inbox. I just sent you an Message.</p>
<p>Not all students/families are comfortable w boarding. But based on my S’s observations as a boarder in a school w a large boarding percentage, while the boarding & day students mix well, the day students miss out a lot in the bonding experience. </p>
<p>I think there’s a bond to be had for sure when you’re sitting around in the dark, talking and eating and relaxing. However, I also think that a lot of day student integration is based on the school. There are certainly schools where day students arrive at 7am and remain on campus until 9pm and stay over every weekend. That’s simply something to ask about.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7, what is the boarding % at your S’s school? </p>
<p>@new2exeter, just sent you a lengthy PM. :)</p>