<p>Student at PEA willing to answer questions..</p>
<p>Honestly, how is the food there?
How many essays did you have to write in your different classes?
Did you ease into the workload or were you thrown into it?
How often do you eat off campus?
Are there weekend trips to Boston or other big cities?
When does the supply list come out for the classes?</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions. I guess I just want to hear as much information as I can from somebody who already goes there. Thanks, for making the thread though. :D</p>
<p>When do you hear about dorm assignments?
How much free time do you have?</p>
<p>Are the classes really difficult? Do you get used to them?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it, that’s what I am here for!</p>
<p>Honestly? The food is not amazing, but it is pretty good (and I may or may not have been spoiled because I went to an international school before Exeter). There are a lot of options, the main course will include a type of meat, fish, vegetable, rice, vegetarian alternative and a soup. We also have a salad bar, a sandwich bar, a dessert table w/fruit, a soft-serve ice cream machine and a table for butter, toast, jam, cereal and stuff. Ice cream is served everyday spring term but only on weekends in the winter and fall. There are also a variety of drinks available to students.</p>
<p>Essays… hahahaha. Well, it really depends on your teachers and courses! The only classes you will really get essays for are english, history and religion. Most of the other stuff will be one lab from your science course or a minor essay from your language course. Most of the time, you will NOT be overwhelmed (especially during your first year). Even then, for some english/history/religion courses your teacher may prefer your class have in-class essays, presentations and such. In my fall term I wrote two essays (three to four pages) for my history course, three small (one to two page essays) for my english course and a lab for bio. In my winter course I wrote two short essays (one-two) and a presentation for my religion course, three (three page) essays for english and a lab for bio. Spring term I took ceramics, so NO ESSAYS!!! 2 (one-two) essays for m english course and a bio lab.</p>
<p>I know you guys hear a lot about being “thrown into the work” but that is false. Exeter has courses like Junior Studies to help kids get eased into the workload, and to be honest if you manage your time well you should not have a problem with it. At every school, high school is a transition and it may seem tough at first, but after the first week it will be a breeze. If you do have trouble though, exeter offers many courses and extra help programs to help you cope. Not to mention, the older girls/boys and faculty in your dorm! Plus exeter teachers are very understanding, if you ever have too many large assignments due, which is rare, you can always go talk to a teacher about an extension.The only period of time where you will have a higher workload is really upper year, during your 331, 332, and 333 courses in history.</p>
<p>I actually eat off campus pretty often for lunch and such. My friends and I also like to go out for birthday dinners, not to mention ordering food for study sessions! Its easy because the town ind of just melds into exeter, there are not gates/fences between the two. Just be careful not to spend too much money…</p>
<p>Yes there are trips to Boston on the weekends, mostly for clubs or certain events though and they usually happen on “long weekends”. Most of the trips on the weekends are to he mall, movies, outlets and walmart.</p>
<p>I am not sure when the supply list comes out, but I am pretty sure I never got one during my “going to exeter” process. A lot of your academic supplies will be bought while you are there at their bookstore (they offer binders, notebook, pencils, paper, folders, rulers, etc) and I know a big mistake I made was buying before I got there because they had a lot of discounts and special school supplies I missed out on. As for your room, get bedding, a rug (if you want), towels, YOUR OWN PILLOWS (their one pillow SUCKS!), blankets, a lamp, a fan -preferably a tower fan (no a/c), a mirror (full body) - also if your a girl and require one like i do :), toiletries and clothes, some easy storage bins (shoe rack if you need one) from the container store or something, a bike (if you want one, I dont have one and I function just fine), and a mini vacuum or something. People always ask me about mini refrigerators. I brought one, and I hide it under my bed during safety checks but dorm faculty are pretty lenient on those. Also! bring some stuff for having fun on the quad, like sports balls, waterguns, a large blanket/towel that can be laid out. Be prepared for school, but also for the good parts of exeter too!</p>
<p>I hope this answers enough for you (:</p>
<p>You don’t hear about dorm assignments until two weeks before school starts, so be prepared for the long wait…</p>
<p>Free time… As a prep you have to take health so you dont a free format, but health only happens twice a week so whenever you dont have health you have a free (three times a week). After that you get at least one free format. Also it depends on your classes, the higher your classes are the less you guys will meet per week. Not to mention, free time depends on the clubs and sports you do. I know people in PE dont have class at least once a week so they get two formats free once a week, but people in sports meet everyday. There are so many things that affect your free time its hard to say, but honestly the school will give you time to socialize and have fun but still be able to do your hw. Its up to you to manage it well.</p>
<p>The classes can be difficult, but what I find the most challenging is getting used to the harkness style. Learning how to be an active member in the classroom, but also learning how to make good points is important. There is really no way to prepare for this but to go to your classes and participate, and yes they do get easier. As for hw, yes hw is more challenging but only because exeter stresses QUALITY. The amount of hw doesnt differ as much as the energy put into it does. This all gets easier to grasp and do as you spend more and more time at exeter so it does get better.</p>
<p>cmao, all this is really very helpful.
So you are saying that there is a major lab report in every science course ( physics or bio, for preps ) in every term, and that the effort involved in roughly equivalent to a major essay in history ?
If so, how much experimental work ( e.g. days, weeks ) is a major report based on, and how difficult is it to connect the empirical to the theoretical, at a level expected at PEA?
Thank you!</p>
<p>Yep. The effort is about a 3.5-4.5 page essay because a lot of what goes into a lab are data tables and procedures. A major lab will require at least a class or two of experimental work, sometimes individual and sometimes in groups. Not every experiment or dissection will end in a lab (only one). Usually teachers will use one class for the procedure, but depending on the lab it can last two days to a week. If it is a week, you will not be spending all of class time on the experiment, rather a short amount of time. Most labs are pretty uniform in the beginning, but as the year goes on the teacher will ask you to be more and more creative with what you are testing and a lot of the experiments in class will be different!
Haha, that is a tough question. At the harkness table, teachers would prefer for you to bring great comments to class, but also to support them with reading material from the class and from real life experiences but they also look for questions and ideas that promote conversation. It also varies between classes. In classes like english or history, teachers and other students expect your comments to be supported by the reading. In classes like religion and such its okay to ask questions and propose theories. It is okay to be theoretical at the table, but don’'t cross the line between wild and random and relative and plausible.</p>
<p>You said that you won’t be thrown into the work load if you come in as a junior and take junior studies and such. What about soph year? I would come in as a repeat soph. How is the workload for lowers? Will they go a little slower because I am new or continue the pace from the end of junior year?</p>
<p>What about if you come in as a lower? Is there anything to help lowers assimilate or anything?</p>
<p>2010 hopeful and rad-in-plair96,</p>
<p>Congrats on getting in as new lowers!
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be able to answer this with my own experience but judging from the experience from my best friend, a new lower, and from other friends who are new students that are not preps it is not as hard as it would seem. Academically, lower year is not as hard but you do have to take health so you lose two free formats per week. You may also lose the experience that the four years will have which can suck but believe me, you can always shove the “at least ive had one year of real high school” in their faces 
As a new lower it can also be daunting to enter a grade that already knows each other but dont worry, all of us are looking forward to meet new people ( as a result of one school year cooped up together) so you will make friends fast! Junior studies is not the only program offered to new students, peer tutoring and ms. parrish are all great people/programs to go to. Honestly, dont worry about it, once you get there you’ll see that fitting in as a lower is not as hard as it is put out to be.</p>
<p>I will be a new upper, but I’m not taking US History. (I took it this year.) I’m thinking, then, that my workload shouldn’t be too overwhelming?</p>
<p>psh, no we didn’t get in haha. we’re thinking of re-aplying next year. 
thanks though.</p>
<p>btw, my sister (a '10 senior) says that the people she’s talked to wish they would’ve come later but some really enjoy the whole 4 years, to each their own I guess.</p>
<p>lol rad…</p>
<p>not all sciences require labs, at Exeter, teaching depends on teacher to teacher; certain teachers grade by tests, others by participation, etc, even in science. My physics teacher for this spring term graded by 60% participation, which is pretty unusual in the science department, and we did not have a single formal lab write-up the entire term. </p>
<p>on the topic of 4 years or not:
personally I’m much happier being a new lower than an incoming prep. I have nothing against the compsci requirement (which a lot of 4 year students do), but I probably would have had difficulty (unwilling to) fulfill both music and art credits, and I personally feel like I matured a lot in my 9th grade year at home. If I had gone to Exeter as a prep, perhaps I would not have been able to handle the pressure and adapt as well as I did. I don’t mind having less opportunities to go on terms abroad (not that I really want to since I’m international), and wearing skirts at E/A is not really that important.</p>
<p>for the transition for new lowers: math class is your friend (transition class, so all new students), health/english are lower only courses, and generally they put at least a few new lowers into 1 dorm/house as to not alienate anyone. my dorm had ~10 new lowers this year.</p>
<p>@musisat
uppers who don’t take US history will find upper year to be much easier than the uppers who do. Generally, the combination of US history / 11th grade english / start of APs (language, science, etc if you reach a high enough level) is what most uppers struggle to deal with. If you end up taking electives, you might find yourself somewhat lonely though, since the majority of people take US history their upper year, and so your electives will be full of preps/lowers/seniors.</p>
<p>er. hey seikuu?
id appreciate if you would let me answer questions for me?
thanks.</p>
<p>What are any current clothing trends among girls?
In another thread you mentioned prep posse; what is that?
Do many people have electric coolers/ mini-fridges?
How often are room checks?</p>
<p>Once again thanks for answering all my questions. :D</p>
<p>there really isnt as much of a “trend” as there is a certain type of style i personally like the white t-shirt tucked into a skirt with a cool belt or something or even a cardigan over a tanktop and skinny jeans. just try to look classy. its not about the brands as much as how the outfit is as a whole, the effect it gives off. Just get a lot of basics, and then cardigans (in a lot of colors!), skirts (cute, ethnic skirts would be nice), cute summer dresses for the spring and fall, and some nice jeans. also get some nice brown leather boots for the winter, a pair of rainboots and ballet flats. be creative! everyone on campus is looking for outifts that are classy but are also cool-looking including ethnic pieces.</p>
<p>prep posse… ahhaha. okay well prep posse is a large group of preps that stick together and are considered loud and obnoxious. dont worry bout it though. its just upperclassman teasing preps, usually these preps have the most socializing.</p>
<p>yes to the electric coolers and mini fridges, not everyone has them but they are a good buy.</p>
<p>room checks dont really have a scheduled time, they just happen when teachers check you in and stuff, if your room looks messy (any day) a techer will prolly tell you to clean up.</p>
<p>@ seikuu or cmao: What grades have lights out and at what times?
Is it strictly enforced or can you stay up later if you want?</p>
<p>Do you guys actually try when we compete, or do you just let us beat you? >:)</p>
<p>for preps:11:00 lights out
for lowers: 11:00 lights out
for uppers and seniors: a little more lenient, most dorms have the “your old enough to make your own decisions” type of attitude towards them but you are required to be quiet after 11</p>