<p>Apparently 21 people were sent offers on Thursday or Friday. (My dad gave a call to Admissions). Major congrats to those who received letters!
PS I’m not one of them :’(</p>
<p>if you’re on the waitlist, do they inform you if all the spots are full and they are no longer taking anymore students?</p>
<h2>Congratulations nliolios24, and good luck to everyone still on the waitlist! :D</h2>
<p>Does anyone have any knowledge about the extra international new student orientation week? Yeah, it’s good for people who are recovering from jet lag, but will there be any activities held? Or will it be more like a ‘here’s someplace for you to stay, so have fun’ type thing? I’ll be spending most of my summer break in the US with my family anyway, so I’m not too sure if I should attend this orientation.</p>
<p>Wow! 21 offers off the WL. I wonder if that is a record for them, it stated on the WL letter that they usually take from 0-15 each year.</p>
<p>Good luck everyone, I would say there is still a chance for those still on the WL because some of those 21 may have already committed to another school and may not be willing to forfeit their deposits.</p>
<p>Hang in there. We were in the admissions office yesterday and they told us they went right to their WL this year, they didn’t wait until July like last year. So I think they are trying to fill the spots quickly. Maybe they didn’t over enroll this year like in previous years so there is more room for movement.</p>
<p>Exeter seems to have a bad yield this year.</p>
<p>Exeter took the fewest number of accepted students ever last year, but as a result of unexpectedly high yield, was over-enrolled. This year they accepted even fewer students, rather than risk being over-enrolled again, because there was simply no space. So that’s great news for the wait list. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Or 21 calls boils down to the usual fewer than 15 taken off the waitlist? </p>
<p>In a recent Exonian, the Admissions Office explained that they were purposefully more conservative in their admit. offers than they had been in past years–probably, as dadofexeter points out, to avoid overenrollment–so I suspect going to the waitlist early was more intentional strategy than a result of bad yield. </p>
<p>Back to course selection, specifically music/fine arts: 2prepmom points this out, but I think it bears repeating as I found it really confusing two years ago. Both music lessons and music ensembles can be taken simultaneously for credit. Students earn 1/3 credit for each term, but they must take three consecutive terms to earn the full credit. So, for example, a kid could take trumpet lessons for an hour once a week (half hour lessons are also available but don’t earn credit) and play in stage band. If he did those two things all three terms his prep year (or–I think–winter spring of prep and fall of lower year), he’d earn 2 of his three core fine arts credits, fulfill the performing arts piece of the requirement, and still be able to take a full load of other classes. </p>
<p>Ensembles meet one or two times a week, some in the evening and some during the day. Ensembles don’t cost extra; lessons do, though they are pro-rated for students on FA. </p>
<p>The third credit would need to be taken in something other than music.</p>
<p>@2prepMom</p>
<p>I could see that being the case. I have also heard from some on the campus that there were a very high number of children of faculty members who were, of course, accepted. That in turn decreased the number of day spots tremendously.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all those who made it off the WL this year! Well Done!!</p>
<p>May I ask classicalmama or anyone who may know. There is an art requirement as well and in the course book is says 3 term credits. So, for instance, if a student wanted to take photography or something similar in the fall, that would count as one term credit? I am not sure I fully understand the 1/3 credit thing.</p>
<p>It is quite confusing.</p>
<p>Yes–it’s only the music ensembles/lessons that are 1/3 credit (because they don’t meet as often and are pass/fail I assume). The other fine arts courses in the course book–like photography–are full credit. Photography, by the way, is a popular course and one that is typically more difficult to add into during the add/drop process, so best to preregister. Ceramics is great too. </p>
<p>I was confused by this too! To clarify a bit:</p>
<p>3 terms of ensemble=3 terms of private lessons=one term of photography or ceramics or drawing. Art classes cannot, however, count toward the performing arts credit.</p>
<p>That’s what I know; drama and dance classes are completely out of our realm, and I really have know idea how they count. :)</p>
<p>@NHMomof3
A term of photography is 1 art credit, as are most of the art courses. </p>
<p>The music lessons and some ensembles are the ones that get complicated with 1/3 credit a term and require 3 terms. There are also more complicated dance and music courses that give 2/3 credit a term, and some that give 1 full credit a term. It depends on how often they meet. They can also be combined all sorts of ways. This is described in the course catalogue but may be worth a call to the music Dept. because it is pretty confusing with so many choices.</p>
<p>2prepmom and I are doing a lot of simultaneous responding today. :)</p>
<p>The other piece that I’m still a bit confused by, though it hasn’t ended up mattering for us as our kid has met the requirement other ways, is what 3 consecutive terms of lessons/ensemble means. I assumed it meant fall-winter-spring; my kid says he thinks winter-spring-fall also counts. </p>
<p>Ultimately, ensembles and lessons all get figured out during orientation–preregistering for most ensembles isn’t even useful since students often have to try out and get dropped and added accordingly. All preregistering does is get the student on the ensemble director’s email list for tryouts–but the same info. can be found by going to the music department early during orientation. My son ended up talking to people in the music department and his adviser during orientation and completely changed his music lessons and ensemble plans. Ever since, he’s just added/dropped at the beginning of each term without preregistering. Art classes, on the other hand, are best preregistered for, as they can fill up. All of this is much easier to figure out after first term!</p>
<p>There are so many different ways to meet the requirements, so many choices. That is one of the reasons my son loved Exeter so much. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any knowledge of the computer science requirement? Do most students take that in the prep year or wait and take it later? My son is a BIG computer kid and wants to take it right away, but we are not sure if it is better to take art, history, religion in the prep year.</p>
<p>Also, do most preps take biology or do they usually take physics first?</p>
<p>I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m thinking of taking physics and my computer science class in my prep year.
I’m doing physics first because I feel I’m stronger in maths, and I do not have that strong of an interest for biology, so physics may be slightly easier for me.
I’m taking my computer science first term of prep year, just so I can get it over with.
However, I think someone previously commented that computer science classes in Exeter were difficult? Not sure though. (:</p>
<p>Lots of kids take it first year. Are you clear which of the three courses is the one that kids who love computer science want to take (as opposed to kids like mine who take it because they have to?!)?</p>
<p>Preps take both bio. and physics, but they have to be at a certain level of math before they can take physics. Basically, I’d say if your kid is math/science oriented and may want to take more accelerated biology and physics down the road, then physics first year is a good choice. That said, all work at Exeter is “advanced” in the usual sense of that word, so no student should be deterred from taking biology prep year simply out of the typical achieving kid’s desire to take the most advanced courses. Hope that makes sense!</p>
<p>Comp. sci., physics, and math prep year would be a lot of math-oriented coursework first year, which isn’t a bad thing if your son is oriented that way. The comp. sci. courses also tend to be harder to add into later, by the way, so if he’s uncertain, he could always pre-register for it for winter or spring, then drop it later if he wants once he’s figured out the lay of the land.</p>
<p>These would, by the way, be great questions for the PEA teacher thread–if I’m remembering correctly, he/she tries to respond to posts spring term as much as the busy Exeter schedule allows.</p>
<p>There is a student Exeter Facebook page that answers a lot of questions about courses, for new students, from other students. Try Exeter 2016 or something close?</p>
<p>Intro Physics is supposed to be “very difficult” for preps, according to those discussions, but my daughter took it and liked it, and did not think it was very difficult. However, biology is a graduation requirement, and if you do not take Bio 100 (intro) level prep year, there is a 200 level (intermediate) biology course required, which is more difficult. So typically those interested in science take physics first, if they meet the math requirements, because it means a more difficult science sequence down the road.</p>
<p>Computer science (300 level classes) were not recommended fall of prep year by the computer science faculty member who spoke to parents last year. He advised waiting to adjust to the work load and expectations at Exeter before taking on a comp sci course, because many students have initial difficulty with the CS grade, and that can be very discouraging first term of prep year. My daughter says the 3 term computer science AP track has a reputation of being time consuming and difficult. I don’t personally know of any preps who took it first year.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the info, I appreciate it!</p>
<p>Right–I wasn’t thinking of the 3-term comp sci track, but the introductory level classes. I thought there were only three classes that satisfied the comp. sci. requirement, but I could be wrong (as usual, too lazy to go check the catalog!). </p>
<p>I was thinking of one of those three “basic” comp. sci as a winter or spring elective. The one my kid will take doesn’t have a reputation for being difficult.</p>
<p>Hi. Congratulations to all who will be attending PEA. My son was one of the students who got a call from WL on April 11th, and accepted right away, as PEA was his first choice. Very exciting. My son will be attending as a Junior (9th grade) and is thinking through his course selection. He will do English, Math, Biology, Language. He would like to do a non-U.S. history sequence for his 5th course. Two questions: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is 5 academic courses too heavy, or normal?, e.g. is it recommended that he take 4 academic courses plus an art/music/theater course for a 5th course to have some balance?</p></li>
<li><p>For history, he is interested in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome as his history sequence. He has had some exposure to this in middle school, but thinks that these are his interests and the classes would be really interesting versus something more contemporary. Any thoughts on the Ancient Greece and Rome courses?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for any advice. This is a really helpful thread!</p>
<p>And @2PrepMom: thanks for tip on Facebook page. We looked but could not find it. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>how many histories do preps usually take in a year? and what do they usually take other than histories? Thanks!</p>