<p>I have family who are exonians and their experience is that very little time is spent in the dorms at Exeter. The conventional wisdom amongst the kids is that you can only do two out of three things and thrive at exeter. Roughly translated they are sleep, EC's (sports,art,clubs etc.) and maintain your grades. They don't sleep much. Many kids study at the library and hang at the new Academy Center so "dorm life" is overrated according to them. When you factor in sports and arts the dorms are glorified beds. </p>
<p>St. Pauls is the most beautiful New England campus my kids visited (TSAO schools plus two others) and had by far the nicest dorms. Both my kids felt Andover and Exeter out of all the schools were the most down to earth as well as offering opportunities and challenges that no other secondary school in the world can match. St. Paul's is felt by some to be a bit stuffy for many tastes. That was the impression gotten by my kids, fair or not. I loved St. Paul's. None of the top preps have the socio-economic diversity that Andover and Exeter seem to have. In the end for my children they liked the fit at Exeter (math and science kids) best.They will tell you that nothing beats being an Exonian! Good luck to all at your chosen schools and future endeavors. Good times.</p>