<p>I go to neither but have a sibling at each. I'm going to apply for a PG year at each school, and am deciding which is more desirable. I go to the games, that's usually when our whole family sees each other. Andover has some good athletes and some pretty wild fans (I sat on the Andover side yesterday), but Exeter just doesn't stop winning. I think there were a few questionable calls, but nothing to cause a 6-goal deficit. The football game was wild as always, televised and such, very successful alumni all around. Exeter seemed to hit harder, and they had a lot of younger athletes who played out of their minds as opposed to Andover's PG running backs. Exeter had also been plagued with injuries - so it was interesting to see how they played without their top recruits. Much to my sister's dismay, I stormed Andover's field at football when Exeter won. Then I got my picture taken with a 7 foot tall, 360 lb. offensive lineman for Exeter, which was frightening.</p>
<p>It's really hard to choose between these schools, they're pretty much the same exact thing, to be honest. After visiting Deerfield, Loomis, Choate, Hotchkiss, NMH, and Cushing though, it's clear (at least to me) that these are the two strongest prep schools in the nation. I wear my E/A shirts on airplanes and people never stop asking me if I go to either school. It's a wonderful tradition.</p>
<p>i think it depends on what sport you go for. both a/e have unparalleled academics, as do many others like choate, loomis, deerfield, h-kiss, & SPS. i personally prefer andover, but i am a soccer player so it fits. both schools are excellent. </p>
<p>ultima88: i wore my andover shirt on vacation in arizona and got stopped by three people telling me they attended there. it just goes to show the recognition these institutions hold.</p>
<p>yeah. i mean i was at a meditation class in the middle of the desert in arizona, and some one was like "oohh! andover, i went there. great school. whats your name? " it really is the fact that no matter where you are, these big schools like a/e tie all the alumni and students together. i would love to be apart of that tradition!</p>
<p>I was in California and I saw somebody with an Andover Track and Field shirt... I asked them about it. Turns out that they went to Andover's public HS. He told me that he absolutely hated anyone that attended the school...</p>
<p>yeah, to andover. now that i look at exeter though it makes me really want to apply, the campus is gorgeous. but i have a friend at andover who told me all about how "exeter sucks!" because of the rivalry, so i never even thought about it.</p>
<p>well, i am pretty split between the schools. having a sibling at each, my heart lies equally with both programs. my perception from everyone i know from prep schools, and others who are familiar was this: exeter has a slight slight edge on the academics, andover has a slight slight edge on the athletics. both programs, i understood however, were very strong at each school. i believe the academic theory of exeter being slightly superior holds water because of the Harkness method (which although used a bit at andover, was started at exeter and is in every classroom there). i wear shirts from both schools and i've found exeter to be more often recognized. the athletics seem to be more balanced than I had thought, with exeter being dominant in football and hockey, andover with soccer and swimming (this year). exeter's larger endowment and science center (along with largest high school library in the world) gives the campus an edge. (it also has a much nicer football stadium, i find.)</p>
<p>then I think about andover. it is much closer to Boston, and has a cool town around it. i also like that clock tower that they have.</p>
<p>so, I encourage you to apply to both, if there's time.</p>
<p>Hockey's actually even on the season...Andover beat Exeter 4-1 in January. Exeter (23-4-1) and Andover (16-4-4) are both heading to the New England playoffs. Exeter's victory in football this fall was their first rivalry game win in my four years at Andover. </p>
<p>Andover and Exeter are two of the most dominant co-ed athletic programs in New England. (Hotchkiss is probably also up there). Exeter's had the leg up in head-to-head matchups this year, but this bounces back and forth annually. I agree with Ultima's suggestion to apply to both; post-acceptance re-visit days should push one school ahead of the other.</p>
<p>exeter and andover are two OF the most dominant athletic programs, but are both inferior, annually, to hotchkiss, and often to deerfield. i have found through friends applying to each school however, that these successes come from looser admission policies. hotchkiss has a much higher acceptance rate for athletes - as does deerfield. i have seen athletes that would lead E/A teams to NE championships be rejected from both schools because of the tight admissions.</p>
<p>also, the Exeter/Andover hockey series has been a split for almost the last 15 years. last year, andover was considered the victor after beating exeter on E/A weekend, even though exeter beat them earlier in the season. exeter currently holds the number one seed in new england for hockey (andover holds the #1 spot for swimming & diving - boys).</p>
<p>for the winter E/A, hockey is "even" every single year. the E/A weekend (i say it in that order by the way because it goes in line with harvard-yale, and its on wikipedia that way, i am not necessarily an exeter fan) is what matters there. also the playoff seed.</p>
<p>i went to the Andover Exeter varsity boys hockey game when it was at Andover... i believe andover won 5-2 or 4-2... something around their... how did Exeter end up beating Andover 6-1!?!?... bad goaltending?.. im suprised that superstar on Andover (kryter i think his name is) didnt put a few up on finks</p>
<p>School rivalries make high school so much fun, especially the old ones. My school's rivalry isn't near as old as the Exeter-Andover, but it is 100+, making it one of the oldest public high school rivalries in the United States. </p>
<p>Although the Exeter-Andover rivalry is far more exciting because at my school, it's all about the football game, and after that, it's not such a big deal. I also think it's great for a school to have stellar academics AND athletics, which we all know is true of both schools.</p>
<p>Big Blue, no doubt Exeter and Andover have decent teams but they are no where near being the best in NE. There are many lesser known schools such as Avon that time and time again beat Exeter and Andover. </p>
<p>Hotchkiss is far superior to Exeter and Andover in sports in general (not in all of them but in most of them). To back up my claim this season Hotchkiss won 4 NE titles - more than any school in history. This winter Hotchkiss' basketball team played on national television for the "Prime Time Shootout 2009" and were broadcast live and nationally on Comcast they were playing some of the top talent in the country these are the guys that go ]onto the NBA! They are coached by a former NBA player Fred Benjamin and play the BEST schools in the country such as Saint Anthonys. They also travel all over the country to play top teams and still manage to hold their own against them. Now that is achievement. As far as sports are concerned Hotchkiss is in a class of its own. Deerfield as noted also has a very strong sporting record. Here at Hotchkiss we respect Deerfield more than any other HADES school for their sporting and academic prowess. Personally I would like Deerfield to be Hotchkiss' rivals the two schools are very very similar. Deerfield could legitimately claim to be one of the dominant forces in NE prep school sport - but certainly not A/E, particularly E. </p>
<p>And as for your statement about Hotchkiss and Deerfield having more liberal admissions practice that is unsubstantiated, and as far as I know untrue. If Hotchkiss wanted we would just go to St Anthony's for instance and pick off the best players from that team - but we screen them to ensure they are a good fit for Hotchkiss academically. Most of the sports people I know at Hotchkiss are intelligent, and talented people. Just because we are better than Andover and exeter at sports because we are better than them, have better coaches, and take the philosophy of "a sound mind, and a sound body" to heart. Our admissions are just as selective as all of the other schools. To attribute our success to anything other than hard work is rather demeaning. We WORKED for these titles and deserved everyone of them. I know many athletes who also happen to be the top academicians in the school. Kids here are just very well rounded. If A/E were doing well in sports i doubt you would attribute it to "lax admissions policies" which is certainly not the case with Hotchkiss.</p>
<p>P.S</p>
<p>I would like to see the statistics about acceptance rates for athletes because as far as I know none exist .... at least not publicly ...</p>