<p>Alright so I arrived at Exeter this morning and am all unpacked so I'll do a first impression for those that would like it :)</p>
<p>Campus: Very pretty and looks like a college, the sun was shining right on the quad near the library and I felt this sense of accomplishment and....ahh I can't even think of the word. Prestige? </p>
<p>People: Extremely nice and friendly! and helpful! a very welcoming atmosphere even as a new lower (sophmore) And since there are 1000+ students, you are bound to find somebody you like ;)</p>
<p>Faculty: Very helpful. I haven't met many yet, but the ones at registration were friendly and welcoming</p>
<p>Not much else to say now since ive only been here for less than a day, but if anyone has questions about the school or admission feel free to ask!</p>
<p>Update: Dining hall food here is actually VERY GOOD! they have a new yogurt bar with fruit and granola and honey and thats wicked yummy, along with a salad bar with all these great toppings, and really good hot choices like mac and cheese, turkey wraps and such. I love the food so far, but maybe thats just me because at my house the food isn’t that great… haha</p>
<p>Everyone here is so friendly and nice. The proctors were there to help us move in and all the people at the bookstore and regristration desks guided us to where we were supposed to go and helped alot. Like Gabiwozz said the food was pretty good and they had many choices including a pasta bar, mac and cheese, and grilled shrimp. I wasn’t very hungry because I’m still nervous, but I guess I have all day tommorrow and the next couple of days to make friends! I imagine the next couple of days will be busy, but so far so good.</p>
<p>Promise to keep us updated as you progress through the next 6 months. You can provide amazing insight to those who are struggling with which school might be a good fit. You have to be honest though…</p>
<p>We are an extremely close, well functioning family. Launching our 14-year-old son into a new life, away from home at Exeter, was an emotionally difficult day for all of us. It was much more difficult than any of us expected. We all, my wife, our son, and I, had tears in our eyes at several points - all of us trying hard to hide that.</p>
<p>However, everyone at Exeter - from the Principal, the Deans, the Rector, the resident dorm faculty advisors, to the senior proctors - were open, warm, friendly, and extraordinarily helpful. Even more importantly, all were clearly very, VERY sensitive to the emotional difficulties that we and many other families were facing. Let me put it simply: saying that they were all great is a gigantic understatement.</p>
<p>It was mostly a beautifully sunny day, the campus looked gorgeous and beautifully maintained, the dormitory was bright and clean with lovely common spaces.</p>
<p>Despite still having tears in our eyes and now not feeling we have to hide that, we do feel awfully good about the space our son is now in and we feel deeply grateful for the many wonderful people now looking out for him, anxious to help him with whatever difficulties he is now and will be encountering.</p>
<p>Thank you, Exeter! We are proud to be a new part of your family!</p>
<p>Mariner…thanks for the sensitive post. It is T-9 hours before we leave the house to go east, we are in Chicago. Is my daughter packed…nope…but I am giving up the stress–lol.</p>
<p>Though my d didnt choose Exeter, I loved every bit of it and totally believe all the wonderful things that you mentioned in your post. I have to admit, I didnt think a school like Exeter, would be any less that what you described.</p>
<p>Thank you for your words of kindness, you are getting me ready for Saturday’s move in and drop off at DA.</p>
<p>All business. In the best possible sense. Which is consistent with PEA admissions process - they sold, but never oversold. No red carpet, no one drools over you, and yet to say that the adviser, the dorm head and the proctors have been helpful would be an understatement.</p>
<p>I don’t know. I wasn’t wowed like you Mainer. It was like dropping my son off at a nice, little New England college. Some nice speeches, smiles here and there. We’ll see how it actually unfolds. I’m not ready yet to rhapsodize about the greatness that is Exeter. I hope that it’s great and so does my son. Time will tell whether “it’s all that.”</p>
<p>I think it is better to wait and see how things pan out as suds4ever said. It’s too early to celebrate and I hope the honeymoon won’t get faded away quickly. We need to wait and see the student experiences over the next few months.</p>
<p>I am starting a new thread in the parents section for this because after I typed my response, it was obvious how different parents’ and students’ impressions are.</p>
<p>I can understand why some might liken Exeter to a small college experience. However, I guess we are more attuned to the differences than to the similarities. I have already put my two daughters through a wonderful small college, Bowdoin College, so I have no need to liken Exeter to a small college. </p>
<p>Indeed, launching a 14-year-old on a life away from home is enormously different - and, at least to us, far more emotionally difficult - than launching two 18-year-olds. Along with that, we’d hoped that the Exeter staff would be more sensitive to their in loco parentis support roles than even an excellent small college staff needs to be - and we were not disappointed in the slightest. </p>
<p>Finally, and partly because of the Bowdoin experiences, we are not so naive as to get caught up in a “honeymoon” phase without being acutely aware that there will also be some difficult times ahead. Despite some difficult times, all of us are still very much in love with Bowdoin College and we expect our love for Exeter to survive similarly.</p>
<p>@Mainer: I hope that Exeter proves to be as great as its billing. My son was torn between its benefits - so many academic and extracurricular options (much like a small college) plus all those smart kids - vs the benefits of a warmer, closer whole-community feel of a smaller boarding school. </p>
<p>I appreciate the differences between sending a 14 year old off to boarding school versus two older daughters to college (Penn and Univ of Colorado in my case), but I’m not ready to be in love with Exeter on the strength of its marketing or college statistics. I enjoyed the speechifying and smaller interactions too, but like any other relationship, my “love” for the school will be earned over time. I’m definitely not going to love Exeter merely because it accepted my kid.</p>
<p>I’m going to try and keep my first impressions of Exeter as impartial as I can, or at least as un-gushy as I can, so they may appeal to parents that are a bit skeptical or wary. </p>
<p>I’m a new lower like Gabii, and my first, first impression of Exeter was that it was very lush. The campus has an old, extremely traditional feel to it- vines crawling around windows, grooved marble steps- but the people were far from stuffy. Everyone carried themselves with confidence and were friendly not in a personal, I’ll-make-you-cookies kind of way, but in an accepting, easy way. I personally really like this place because no one is invasive and it really depends on how outgoing you can be. (Don’t be afraid to talk. Loudly. :)) One thing I was a bit surprised about was all the handshakes while greeting each other.</p>
<p>Fact: This place is muy intimidating so far. But I think this is true for all schools in the beginning. Don’t worry about not making fast friends, sit with new people each time you go and eat, and above all, SAY HELLO! Just go to the floor above you or something and knock on a door; the worst that can happen is awkward conversation, and that’ll happen quite a bit anyway. On that note, some people may ignore you, but don’t feel slighted or take it personally.</p>
<p>Also, like Gabii said, the food is pretty good. And there are lots of cute guys ;)</p>
<p>Alright, one of my other impressions is that sports take up A LOT of time here, but the people who play are some of the nicest and funniest people here :)</p>