Exeter, Andover, Deerfield or Milton. HELP?

<p>In my opinion, if I were in your shoes, I would personally go to Andover or Milton.
Well, I really never liked Exeter that much from the beginning. Blue over Red for me.
And milton because of the beautiful campus (the best looking campus of the four) and the proximity to Boston, which is a great help.
maybe cuz im a red sox fan, but besides that, you can also have great opportunities in boston/cambridge area. </p>

<p>hope you make the right decision that you won't regret</p>

<p>and just wondering, did you apply for entry into the 11th grade?</p>

<p>thanks for the input guys!</p>

<p>xoxohersheykiss, why do you think i should go to exeter? </p>

<p>juhztinleeeeeee , andover is pretty close to boston too, if you think about it .compared to the other two, of course. and for what reason didnt you like exeter from the beginning?
yep, applied for my junior year :)</p>

<p>hey, what schools did you guys apply to?</p>

<p>Haha amazingjasmyn!</p>

<p>No, no.</p>

<p>Go to Milton because I'm going to milton!</p>

<p>hahaha hey, guys, come onnn .</p>

<p>as much as id loove to milton AND exeter, i cant like .. split myself in two. :P</p>

<p>so like .. real reasons to why you guys like each?
thanks :)</p>

<p>Well, I was accepted to both... I will try to make a list of pros and cons for both...</p>

<p>Milton
Pros
[ul]
[<em>]Campus
[</em>]Courses seemed better. Especially in the non-math departments. Math was pretty normal, I mean the courses were great but how much can Math stand out!
[<em>]Outdoor program
[</em>]Mountain program, seems so AMAZING
[<em>]Best college matriculation out of ALL boarding schools, competitive with Roxbury Latin
[</em>]Location
[li]"Dare to be True"[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Cons
[ul]
[<em>]50/50 boarding
[</em>]Food
[<em>]Computer science department
[</em>]Vocational skills courses, they are useful
[/ul]</p>

<p>Exeter
Pros
[ul]
[<em>]Summer program
[</em>]Slightly more comprehensive boarding environment
[<em>]Endowment
[</em>]Class of '45 Library>Cox Library by a few
[li]Senior Studies[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Cons
[ul]
[<em>]Location not as good as Milton's
[</em>]Athletics
[<em>]History department
[</em>]English department
[<em>]Campus not as good
[</em>]Arts
[/ul]</p>

<p>Take it as you will</p>

<p>ohh, thats SO good.
OMG, thank you soooooo much principalviola! :)</p>

<p>but im such a math person, i was just telling a friend like, 2 seconds ago,
how much i love trig hahaha
but dont exeter have good college matriculations as well? </p>

<p>thanks agaain for the list!</p>

<p>Since you will be entering in the 11th grade you should carefully query each school about its practices for integrating such students into a class that has been together for 1-2 years. 11th grade is generally the hardest year academically so the last thing you want is to have a difficult social transition, particularly as there generally aren't many fellow new entrants at that level. </p>

<p>My daughter entered Andover in '07 as an new upper and they placed all of her fellow new 11th graders in a few of the larger dorms in the center of campus. Thus they had 4 or 5 kids going through the same thing in each building while also being integrated into a dorm with approximately 30 returnees so they could develop relationships with classmates. The new uppers also take English together as that is the course that represents the greatest transition from the way most were taught prior to entering PA.</p>

<p>My daughter absolutely loves Andover and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. It is a very diverse and welcoming community (not exactly the terms I would have used for a prep school in my day) where she was able to integrate easily while also getting the academic challenges that motivated her move in the first place.</p>

<p>BTW: Note that I referred to her as a new upper. While you stated that you would be a junior, that would not be the case at Andover. A junior is what we would generally refer to as a freshman (9th grade). The progression there is junior, lower (short for lower middle), upper and senior.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision. You are in an enviable position and I suspect you would find any of your options to be a solid choice.</p>

<p>Padre13,
That's actually a really good point I hadn't thought about before. How each school integrates a student who's entering into a grade which is already formed, I mean. 11th grade is indeed known as the most difficult year in high school, and I am afraid I will be running through a rough transition at the beginning of such an important year. I will definitely ask, during revisits, what are the plans for students entering grades other than the 9th grade.</p>

<p>That's really a plus to Andover, then, since you said your daughter found it easy to fit in, and also, at the same time, was able to usufruct from the academic challenges she was after. As i said before, my dad thinks i'll end up choosing between Exeter and Andover. I know both are great schools, and so is Deerfield and Milton. I'll just try to pick the school who best addresses this important issue you pointed out, and also, the school in which i most feel at home, the one that best suits me, and as amazingjasmyn! said, it really depends on my personality. </p>

<p>Andover sounds truly amazing and like an awesome school to join. It just got a few more points in my list. :) Thanks for the advices!</p>

<p>I know that each school calls their grade differently, like Milton for example, goes Class IV, Class III and so on. It's just I decided to use the general one, in every american school, freshman, sophomore, junior and senior, just to avoid misunderstandings. :)</p>

<p>Thanks once again!</p>

<p>amazingjasmyn!, you've got a point there too!
I come from a relatively small high school, but I don't think I'd find it hard to transition into a larger one. That's not one of my main concerns. And meeting loads of new people do sound appealing! :)</p>

<p>Exeter has great college matriculation but not near as good as SPS, Milton, and a few others. Obviously that's HYPSM/IVY matriculations... Obviously that is a small fraction.</p>

<p>Nah. Not really, my interviewer said most people enter as 9. More than 70% of the people.</p>

<p>principalviola,
funny, cause i read through all the brochures, and all of them have their previous year's college matriculations. Exeter seems to get much more students into Ivy's than Milton does. :S Are you sure about your stats? haha just to make sure ! :P</p>

<p>amazingjasmyn!,
yeahh, i've been thinking about that. I go to a school which is k-12. and i can see how hard it is for the new students, since i'm one of those students who have been studying in the school since kindergarden. My inteviewer said that wasnt a problem, but i highly doubt it. That's another thing that discourages me.</p>

<p>Yeah, I am sure. At least in the HYPSMB (especially H and B) world Milton is better.</p>

<p>Also look at %, Exeter has a larger graduating class.</p>

<p>why forget you said anything?
it was a helpful comment!</p>

<p>that's true..milton has a smaller class.
well, i dont know. its not like my chances of ivy's decrease if i go to exeter or andover. hahaha :P</p>

<p>ohh, okay. as you wish :)</p>

<p>and i was just re-reading some stuff .. there's the harkness table at exeter too, which i find amazing! do the other schools have any different way of teaching, or is it just, teacher up on the board and students in desks..? anyone knows?</p>

<p>Milton does to, to my knowledge. As does Groton (if I am right).</p>

<p>Yp, yep. Milton is all harknessy.</p>

<p>Milton also doesn't have finals. only midterms</p>

<p>Which, imo, is worse than having only finals.</p>