<p>I believe PSAT (or SAT) is fine. Double-check on the Admission webpage.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about applying to Exeter for the eleventh grade. Would it be a hard transition academically, especially in my junior year (I already go to a pretty tough prep school.) How about socially?</p>
<p>It’s a hard question to answer, because it really depends on the individual. The eleventh-grade year is definitely a challenging one, what with the college process starting, AP exams, the U.S. history sequence with the big research paper at the end, and all that. But if your background is solid, you’ll do fine. Coming to the school when you’re a bit older always has the advantage that you’re more mature and better able to handle the challenges of boarding school. Socially, I don’t think it’s an issue. There are a lot of new students in each class every year and Exonians are very welcoming of new students, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to break into established groups or anything like that. Bottom line, if you’re well prepared, ready to work hard, and excited to come, you can expect to do just as well as a new upper as you would as a new lower or prep.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply yet, but I was just wondering, is sports required? How often? I’m not a sports person, so I wasn’t sure how that would affect my admission–or just how Exeter would be for me if I got in without sport-interests.</p>
<p>I have a question:</p>
<p>My daughter is applying to prep schools for next year. We have her first interviews tomorrow. </p>
<p>I have been struggling with mental illness my whole life and have attempted suicide two times including one time this past spring. I’m on disability as a result. This, needless to say, has affected my daughter a great deal. Is this okay to talk about with admissions or in an essay? Or, is this subject not a good one to discuss? I don’t want to hurt her chances at all because of my mental illness.</p>
<p>cottoncndy, here’s a thread about being a new junior at boarding school that might help. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/973664-new-juniors-boarding-school.html?highlight=junior+year[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/973664-new-juniors-boarding-school.html?highlight=junior+year</a></p>
<p>doomed, Exeter students must do some form of sport every trimester. That could be a V/JV sport, a club sport, or a sports class. Some classes (like yoga and intro to fitness) are fairly easy for students who aren’t particularly athletic. In their junior and senior years, students can choose not to take a sport for one trimester. I think dance and maybe theater will satisfy the sports requirement. All of the details of sports courses and requirements are in this document. <a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/documents/COI/COI_2011_2012_web.pdf#page=55[/url]”>http://www.exeter.edu/documents/COI/COI_2011_2012_web.pdf#page=55</a></p>
<p>Oh thanks a lot! That was extremely helpful! :)</p>
<p>Thanks musisat, and, doomed, the bottom line is that you do NOT need to be an “athlete” to be admitted or thrive at Exeter (many Exonians are remarkably unathletic).</p>
<p>Aec081, it is entirely up to you to decide whether you want to discuss your health situation with admission. There’s clearly no requirement or expectation that you will, nor, by itself, is that relevant to your daughter’s application, in the sense that applications are evaluated based on clearly established criteria that don’t include parental health. Of course, as you say, what parents go through affects kids, and your daughter may certainly want to discuss some of these issues in her essays or interview if she feels that they’re relevant. Similarly, you may want to bring it up if YOU think that it’s relevant to your daughter being at Exeter. But I don’t think you should think of what you do or don’t say as “hurting” your daughter’s chances. At the end of the day what we’re interested in is whether there’s a good fit between your daughter and the school, and if you think that your health has some bearing on that, feel free to share it and help us make a good decision.</p>
<p>Thanks that’s really helpful.</p>
<p>PEATeacher, I did not so well in my last trimester (ended up with a C in math). Should I explain to my interviewer about my off year? Im usually good In math. I’m considering Exeter. My brother goes to college with some of them - he’s friends with them - and he says that they’re some of the nicest people he’s met.</p>
<p>PEAteacher,
What are the mathematics, science, foreign language, and music programs like in EXeter?</p>
<p>rizzledrizzle, if something happened that caused you get lower grades than usual, it’s fine to address that in your interview and/or application. However, if there’s nothing in particular to explain (you just happened to do poorly in one term), there’s no point in talking about it. Admission will review your entire transcript, and it’s everything put together that counts.</p>
<p>SJHK00, the programs are… very good 
Seriously, it’s a very broad question. Is there anything in particular that you would like to know?</p>
<p>Haha, that WAS a broad question.
Thank you for the reply!</p>
<p>Can you please illuminate me on what the lives of PGs are like at Exeter? For example, as a teacher, have you found that they take longer to integrate or get with the program (as they have been hidebound by their prior time in high school elsewhere?). Do you feel that the PGs contribute much, or do they just sort of slide by with a certain level of indifference as though “doing time.” In the old days, PGs were kids who had already been accepted to good colleges, but the colleges knew that they needed more rigor in preparation and so they had to endure a year at prep school to be deemed ready for college. Is that sort of kid the kid who is a PG at Exeter now? In your view, what motivates kids to spend that extra year at Exeter – it’s not a particularly inspiring “gap year” on the kids’ applications, or compelling to college admit officers, is it?</p>
<p>Like all new students PGs need some time to adjust. But as far as their motivation for being at Exeter, there are as many as there are PGs. You really can’t generalize. For some it’s indeed a way to improve their background before college. For others it’s just a way to expand their horizons or take on a new challenge. Also, there are PGs who are already into college and PGs who are not. Some work really hard, others don’t. It really depends on the kid.</p>
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<p>Let approach the point from a different angle. What do you think motivates Exeter to admit PGs at all? St. Paul’s, for example, doesn’t have them. What is Exeter looking for when it admits these kids? What is missing a Senior class that would compel Exeter to want to add to it with PGs?</p>
<p>I don’t know why this must be about feeling “compelled” to accept PGs; you could ask the same question about accepting new seniors or uppers. A better way to think about it is that the school is trying to put together a group of 1,000 great kids, and drawing from a broader pool makes that easier. Now, I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t noticed the athletic talents of many of our PGs. Being older than the other kids, they are more likely to be bigger/faster/etc. than other kids and help any teams they are on, and athletic ability/achievement is something admission takes into account. But not all PGs are athletes, which brings us back to my point that, ultimately, they’re just another group of applicants that we have no reason to ignore or exclude.</p>
<p>PEAteacher</p>
<p>Does Wheelright have an elevator or are we carrying everything up four flights of stairs?</p>
<p>What is the policy for non students spending a weekend night in the dorm? D’s best friend was asking me whether she would be able to spend a Saturday night if she went to visit in the spring.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Wheelwright; not one of the dorms I’m familiar with (there are 29!). To my knowledge, however, only a couple of dorms have elevators (Peabody and Amen–I think that’s it?). So, yeah, there’s a lot of sweating that takes place on move-in day… :)</p>
<p>Students can have guests (of the same sex) in their room for one night with prior permission from the dorm head, who will generally grant such permission (except on E/A weekend, when no guests are allowed). If it’s for more than one night, then Deans have to sign off on it.</p>
<p>@PEAteacher, I’m currently a ninth grader and will be applying to Exter for tenth grade. Will the administration only look at my grades from this current year? Or will they also look at my grades from middle school? My grades all throughout middle school were very poor, and I was hoping to be able to improve my grades this year before I started applying to different schools.</p>