Is Boarding School fun?

<p>Alright. So when I went to Exeter for summer school I stayed in Abbott Hall and it seemed unlivable for a school year. Are all dorms like that</p>

<p>My kid loves his dorm room this year, and he’s in what’s considered one of the more run-down dorms at the school. What seemed unlivable to you? And he’s never pulled an all-nighter yet–usually in bed by 11. But he uses his free time during the day to study and works ahead on the week-ends. That said, he seems to have plenty of time for socializing.</p>

<p>Thank you and the dorm I stayed in was small and was a triple but seemed at least a double and it was unwelcoming and not that homey but that may be just the situation or something</p>

<p>Speaking from experience, the dorm situation at Exeter in the regular session is quite different than that of Summer School. Since you stated that you were in Abbot, you must have attended as an Access student. All Access students are on one side of campus (Abbot, Soule, Merrill, Browning, etc) and the Upper School is housed across Front street in the other dorms (Webster, Wentworth, Dunbar, etc). Add to the fact that Facilities has the herculean task of maintaining, renovating, and upgrading multiple buildings (including dorms) in a very short time frame each summer - you will get double rooms that end up being triples for the short 5-week stay that you have on campus in Summer Session - not ideal, but it happens. But, you have far less ‘stuff’ in the summer. Most kids don’t decorate their dorm space for that short a time to the degree that the kids do during the regular session when they will be on campus 9 months or so. I can see how a bare-walled dorm space would seem institutional, but I assure you that every dorm space seems more ‘homey’ when you have brought along your personal mementoes from - well, home.</p>

<p>Ohh thanks so much. But since you went to the summer program are the rules the same?</p>

<p>I am a parent. But my oldest son attended Access (and lived in Abbot) and now is a regular session student. By rules, what specifically do you mean?</p>

<p>For example, some things may have changed since he was in Access in 2007 - he had to go to study hall every night in Grainger (I don’t think they did that this year) until the last week of the Summer Session, but obviously regular session students do not have a study hall they physically go to. There are check in times during the school year at the dorms that progressively get later as you get older (Preps/lowers 8pm, uppers 9pm, Seniors 10pm). I really don’t remember what those check ins were in the summer in order to offer a comparison.</p>

<p>I think that you can view the E-Book online at the Exeter website - this document outlines pretty clearly the code of conduct that applies for students in the regular session.</p>