Exeter Thread [Exeter, NH]

<p>Following @classicalmama's advice I decided to create one thread for all of the Exeter questions someone may have. I am going to repost threads/discussions that I thought were beneficial from other threads in order to have everything Exeter associated in one central location. Everyone's help would be appreciated! Try not to post repeats of the same information.</p>

<p>I am sorry, but I cannot give credit to the original poster because it is difficult to copy and paste it in correct formatting.</p>

<p>I’ll be a prep this fall at Exeter, and I plan to be on the field hockey team. I was wondering if anyone had any information as far as pre-season for fall sports.</p>

<p>Any info would be great. Thanks!</p>

<p>Pre-season is, like, two days long. You pretty much show up a day before the other new students. You may have two practices a day while you move in. It’s not a big deal, but you should contact the coach and make sure you are on some sort of email list.</p>

<p>First classes are on Friday following Labor Day holiday (shortened schedule). New students arrive on the Wednesday after Labor Day, returning students on Thursday. I believe most atheletes are invited to campus on the Tuesday after Labor Day. However, I believe varsity football arrives the Friday or Saturday before Labor Day. I believe they are required to have a certain number of hours of conditioning before they are allowed contact practices. First scrimmages for most of the varsity teams is on the Saturday after Labor Day. As noted above, teams will do two practices a day, plus maybe an evening team meeting to go over plays, etc. prior to the first scrimmage.</p>

<p>I’m just now finally beginning to comprehend that Exeter’s 11 PM internet shut-off policy might be problematic for a procrastinator such as myself </p>

<p>Does anyone have any advice for how to deal with the Internet shut-off, and other things that might help/assist/inform me?</p>

<p>For my kid, the key was to find the “math geniuses” in the dorm–from what I can tell, the guys in the dorm help each other out a lot with their work. Probably not after 11 though! As far as I can tell, he has used the internet to access the library for research papers (mostly did that on week-ends) and occasionally for other assignments. Definitely not all the time, though–Exeter is a very print-based and person-to-person learning environment. </p>

<p>You would need some kind of word processing software on your computer though.</p>

<p>I’m almost done with my second year at Exeter, and I can tell you that the internet isn’t really needed after 11. There are websites that work after 11 anyway; such as: Blackboard, Lionlinks, and Webmail. Those are the main sites you’ll need for work anyway. Also, math has nothing to do the internet. At all. We just use our books and calculators.</p>

<p>Hello~ </p>

<p>My name is ----, I’m ----, and I’m currently looking at boarding school for high schools. I’ve started studying for the SSAT, a lot actually because I don’t really have a life.</p>

<p>Exeter caught my eye and I’m quite interested in it. But contrary to my prior belief, google does NOT have all the answers. So I have a few (or a tad more then a few) questions about the school. </p>

<p>How does the financial aid work? My family is a /bit/ poor, but I hope that won’t stop me from attending boarding school. </p>

<p>What does it take to accepted to Exeter?</p>

<p>What are the dorms like?</p>

<p>Are the students and teachers nice?</p>

<p>How strict is it?</p>

<p>Is the food…yummy?</p>

<p>What is the campus like? Is it pretty?</p>

<p>Is the library as wonderfully amazing as everyone says it is?</p>

<p>Uniform wise, what do you have to wear?</p>

<p>That’s all for now, I hope I don’t seem too crazy.</p>

<p>@StockingSword,
First off, welcome to CC. This place can help you learn a lot about the boarding school admission process. Also, this place can annoy you to the point of wanting to smash your computer screen in.</p>

<p>Before I actually answer your questions, I want to second @CTPeruivan97’s advice to not post your name and age to CC. Admission officers lurk on CC, so its not wise to post too much personal information.</p>

<p>Now, to your questions.
Quote:
How does financial aid work?
Financial aid is when a school tries to fill the financial “gap” your family has so they can pay for school. However, applying for financial aid decreases your chances for admission to all boarding schools. This should not discourage you from applying because many kids do accepted with financial aid. However, this is a good reason to apply to a broad range of schools and not “fall in love” with one individual school. Financial aid makes the process really random.
Quote:
What does it take to be accepted to Exeter?
A lot. Exeter accepts a pretty incredible group of people. The average SSAT score is a 90%, and most kids got straight A’s before attending Exeter. Aside from academics, most kids have done amazing things within their communities. I’d say that it probably takes:
-Good grades/test scores.
-Strong commitment in extracurricular activities.
-Something that makes you “stand out” on your application.
-Money, money, money makes the world go 'round!
Quote:
What are the dorms like?
Delicious. They were the best dorms of any other school I looked at.
Quote:
Are the students and teachers nice?
I can’t answer this because I don’t go to Exeter. Sorry.
Quote:
How strict is it?
See above.
Quote:
Is the food yummy?
Exeter kids have complained about the D-Hall food in the past. But I don’t know if that’s them just being whiny for the sake of being whiny.
Quote:
What’s the campus like?
Even more delicious than the dorms. The campus is my second favorite campus I saw when I was touring boarding schools.
Quote:
Is the library as wonderfully amazing as everyone says?
Yes, it is quite wonderfully amazing. It was huge.
Quote:
Uniform wise, what do you have to wear?
For a guy, a shirt and tie and good pants. For a girl, I really have no clue. This info’s on Exeter’s website.</p>

<p>I hope this helped you. And btw, the best way to study for the SSAT is by reading. Don’t spend hours going over vocabulary words, or doing their Reading Comprehension exercises. Just get a book from the library. And you’re not crazy for wanting to go to Exeter. I used to be obsessed with Exeter too. Good luck when you apply to boarding schools! You’re going to need it.</p>

<p>Does anyone know how the financing for Exeter laptop program work? I’m on financial aid praticully full, and they say they’ll help with buying a comp, does anyone know how this works?</p>

<p>Last year the dollar amount we were given was $900. You could order directly from Dell and they would charge Exeter directly or buy a computer elsewhere and submit a receipt for reimbursement. We also shipped it directly to campus and saved state sales tax.</p>

<p>i believe that all exeter financial aid recipients receive a $1200 grant for purchase of a computer. exeter has an arrangement to buy a dell computer at a somewhat discounted price, but a grant recipient can purcahse any computer they choose and be reimbursed for up to $1200 towards such a purchase.</p>

<p>I will be a junior (9th grader) at Exeter this fall.</p>

<p>I would like to know how the six History credits are typically fulfilled for four year students. I understand that the US History courses are taken in the Upper (11th grade) year. How are the other three credits achieved? Are their any recommendations for what specific courses I should take?</p>

<p>Also, I would like to know about the three credits required for Art. In the Diploma requirements, it says “two terms must be in studio and/or performance courses. At least two areas must be studied from among art, music or theater.” Could you please explain what exactly this means?</p>

<p>Thank you very much. I appreciate the time you take to reply.</p>

<p>Re the art courses, you must study at least two different areas. You can’t fulfill the requirement by taking private music lessons for 3 years (1/3 credit per term) because they want you to take both music and something else. You don’t have to take music. That’s just an example. You can take 2 credits of studio art like ceramics and one of theatre. Basically, they want to make sure that you actually create in 2 of your arts courses and not just study theory or art history.</p>

<p>As for history, take what interests you. The courses available to preps is limited to the 100 level courses, but they are very interesting and challenging. The only requirement for the 3 non-US courses is that one be nonWestern history and the courses that are so considered are marked in the catalog. The history courses will require a lot of reading and writing (as pretty much all classes at Exeter do!). I imagine that there are some preps who don’t even take history. You have a number of requirements for that elective spot. Some preps might take Computer Science, a religion course, and an art course and not take any history until later. I don’t think it really matters when you fulfill those requirements. Last year, they assigned a temporary advisor for new students to help them with registration.</p>

<p>If your adviser suggests physics, I’d go with that—partly because the advisers give good advice and partly because it sets you up to take a higher level biology your second year, if you want–one that will prepare you for the biology SAT2 exam (or the AP?–can’t remember which). The prereq. for physics is just a solid grasp of Algebra 1. </p>

<p>Students who take Biology first can still take the SAT2 exam–there are other, more compressed classes that prepare them for it as uppers/seniors–so those who don’t want to take physics first shouldn’t feel they have to to make the most of their time at Exeter. Most kids take bio. More mathematically inclined kids tend to take physics. </p>

<p>To echo what Neato said about the arts: lots of kids will complete their arts elective by taking lessons or joining a musical ensemble (3 terms in a row of one or the other equals one arts credit) and then one art class. My kid this year took lessons, joined an ensembe, and is now taking an art class that is making him want to take even more art classes down the road.</p>

<p>My son got lots of good advice about classes from current students at the school through pm’s on Facebook.</p>

<p>Exeter holds to course prerequisites pretty tightly, at least for the sciences. If you want to take AP Bio eventually (Bio 410/420/430), you need intro bio and chemistry first. Doesn’t matter what bio you’ve had in prior schools, they require the intro bio course at Exeter. Same for Chemistry. If you’ve had prior chemistry, better chance you’ll get into AP Chem if you get good grades in intro bio or physics, however, they won’t wave the Exeter Chem requirement for AP Bio. Difficult to pursue both AP Bio and AP Physics. AP Physics requires intro physics plus part of the calc math sequence (420 or 430). One possible heavily science weighted course load would be intro Bio 110/120/130 in Junior year, Chemistry 210/220/230 and Intro Physics 210/220/230 Lower year, AP Bio (410/420/430) in Upper year, and AP Physics Senior year (410/420/430). With the US History in Upper year, you really wouldn’t want to double up on science courses. Definitely wouldn’t want to double up on two AP science courses the same year (advisor probably wouldn’t let you). If you start with Intro Physics, really pushes your time frame for advanced Bio out to senior year, and makes it near impossible to also fit in AP Physics. Hope this helps a bit.</p>

<p>Dormrooms at Exeter
I’ll be heading to Exeter in the fall and was wondering about the dormrooms. I’ve heard there is no sort of “placement survey” and was wondering -</p>

<ol>
<li>Should I go for a single or a double?</li>
<li>Can I ask for a certain dorm?</li>
<li>In the past, have the matchings with roommates been good?</li>
</ol>

<p>1) Both have their advantages; hard to say.
2) You can, though you won’t absolutely get it. My kid says that some of the kids he knows who asked for a particular dorm wished they hadn’t–wasn’t the best fit, at least at first. He says, in hindsight, he’s glad he didn’t request a dorm and though some things about his dorm aren’t a perfect fit, he can definitely see why he was placed there.
3) Seems like it most of the time–and if it isn’t, the dorm can usually switch things up.</p>

<p>i’m a current exeter student.

  1. it depends on what kind of person you are - if you feel like you need someone to help pull you out of shyness/you want someone to go around with for the first year, it would be pretty nice to have a roommate. plus, doubles can get pretty big. some people like to go straight into singles if they want privacy. it really does depend on the person.
  2. you can, but people are placed into dorms for a reason. i requested the current dorm i am in now because i had friends in the dorm and it was a great choice! if you don’t like the dorm you’re in and have a serious issue with it, moving out is an option.
  3. matchings with roommates have been decent - it’s typically based on common interests.</p>

<p>Okay, one question for any Exeter people reading this;
Can you change classes at the beginning of the year?</p>

<p>I decided recently that i would rather take physics than biology prep year, and so yeah, can I switch that in the fall?</p>

<p>They are very flexible with course changes. For example, many students shift around to different levels of math based on whether or not they are struggling with the material. Only issue for switching to Physics from Bio might be required math background course needed for the Physics. There should be plenty of sections of Intro Physics so they won’t have to rework your entire schedule to swap from Bio. If you plan to make the change, suggest you notify them sooner rather than later. Can only make the administrative side of the change easier for everyone. My son took Phy201, and then Phy208/209. Very challenging. Some great teachers. Best of success.</p>

<p>Thanks Blair. Here’s a link to the Exeter ask a student thread that had some good info. on it too. I like the idea of keep everything centralized here.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1100492-exeter-ask-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1100492-exeter-ask-student.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;