<p>This is the mostr inspiring thread EVER!!!</p>
<p>Bumpity, Bumpity, Bump!</p>
<p>bump… I want to hear more answers!!!</p>
<p>bump 
</p>
<p>ten characters.</p>
<p>I’ll be responsible and bump my own thread. ^^</p>
<p>I’ll bite. For me, it’s three years later (wow! Really?). I’m a three-year senior at Exeter, graduating so very soon (two weeks until prom, the Sunday after that is graduation!)</p>
<p>I was in a different situation than most. I’d grown up in Paris, Rome, and New York, and attended an all girls’ private school in NYC before switching to Hunter (like Stuy, but starts in seventh grade), seeking a greater academic challenge, although I loved Chapin. Half-way through my seventh-grade year we moved to Paris again, where I was homeschooled for the rest of the year, then Rome, where I briefly attended international school, having skipped two grades, before deciding that being fourteen and a sophomore was socially inadvisable and returning to homeschooling. Finally, I chose to apply to Andover, Exeter, and Hotchkiss, wanting an academic rigor I thought was lacking in Rome, despite loving the city.</p>
<p>I hated Exeter when I visited (I loved Andover and Hotchkiss), but Exeter’s prestige convinced me it would be my first choice. I applied as a ninth-grader, going back to my original grade.</p>
<p>Three years later.
I love it - or at least, parts of it. I also hate it - at least, parts of it. For a long-skirt-wearing home-schooled, artsy, endearingly pretentious, intellectual international girl, it was absolutely the wrong fit. I came from a culture of extreme warmth, openness, conversation, and emotion; Exeter is very much the opposite: a boys’ school at heart, with a philosophy of Stoicism and harshness.</p>
<p>And yet - I can’t say I’m unhappy here. I was never very challenged academically (I ended up skipping my tenth grade year), but I loved many of my classes, particularly history, theatre and some English, and many of my teachers, and did well academically, gaining admission to my top-choice university (Oxford - crossing the Atlantic again) back in December. I pursued my interest in theatre to the extreme - this term alone, I directed two full-length productions (Much Ado About Nothing and Les Liaisons Dangereuses), and was supported in doing so. After bouncing about several social groups (from hippies to preppies and everything in between) in my time here, I’ve finally found a close group of Classics-scholar/Shakespeare-loving/“intellectual” friends, and we’re having a ball preparing for prom together.</p>
<p>I wasn’t happy for a long time. But, in the end, I’m glad I had the experience. Not because Exeter necessarily taught me to be happy with unhappiness. But rather because the fact that Exeter wasn’t the right fit for me forced me to actively go out and seek my own happiness - to walk two miles beyond the edge of town to get proper fresh fruit at a farmer’s market when I missed Italy, to host a surprise party for a friend, to start directing period piece plays and thus get together a host of like-minded thesp-friends, to audit an intermediate acting course, to spend time writing the Great Italo-Franco-American novel. It wasn’t always easy. I made lots of silly mistakes. And, up until senior year, I wasn’t always happy. But I’m stronger because of it. I’ve learned to stand up for artsy, kooky, homeschooled idealists everywhere, to do what I love, to find people who love what I love, to survive New England winters and Puritanical snows. Without the skills of Harkness - love it or hate it - I would never have survived the grueling Oxford interview process. I’ve had great teachers here: Ms. Ream, Mrs. Merrill, Mr. Hertig, Ms. Schwartz, and Mr. Hearon come to mind, for thos Exonians among you. And I have great friends. And - while, in the end, not as challenging as the IB I did in Italy - I got a great education.</p>
<p>So yes, as hard as it was, sometimes, it was worth it. I’d do it all over again. I came out okay. And I like the person - stronger, better, faster - that I am today.</p>
<p>awwwwwww I love this thread !</p>
<p>bump… :)</p>
<p>This thread rocks!</p>
<p>Bump!!! These posts are really helpful…</p>
<p>I think it’s noteworthy that many of the posts talk about feeling miserable or comment on classmates feeling miserable.
Is that an inevitable part of adolescence? Is it different or worse at boarding school? Is there anything you would advise younger students to do to manage it?</p>
<p>I have a question for aja: </p>
<p>Do you regret choosing Exeter over Andover and Hotchkiss despite the fact they seemed better fits for you?</p>
<p>No, I don’t, Padfoot. Hotchkiss and Andover did both seem like warmer, more nurturing environments (H. especially), but I wouldn’t have been as strong today had it not been for learning to adapt to Exeter.</p>
<p>I’ll tell a one year later story even though it is a student I work with and not me myself. It is my favorite success story of the year, so here goes:</p>
<p>A 9th grade boy from a top suburban public school was considering boarding school for various reasons: 1). He is shy and awkward and his father reported one group of boys who picked on him, and another who simply ignored him. He was not doing much on weekends and is unhappy socially 2). The boy is an okay to good athlete, but in his large high school, knew he probably wouldn’t make the cut to varsity in his sports in later high school
3). While they were happy with their public school’s academics, parents were concerned that the boy never had any papers to write. In fact, we had to ask a teacher to assign one just for the purposes of the admission process.</p>
<p>Fast forward one year and he is at a CT boarding school and loving it! A fresh start was all he needed socially, since he formed a core group of guys that he is friends with, and also reports having a lot of aquaintances, people he sits with in various classes, and is enjoying the fact that everyone is friendly to him, which is so much better than it had been for him at his old school. When I saw him, I noticed immediately how much less awkward he was and how he smiled more often.</p>
<p>Other good news is that he is able to play 3 sports a year, which he loves. He is writing a lot and says that he finally “learned how to write a paper.”</p>
<p>That is a story of success on many fronts. I don’t want to say the school in case my description was too specific, but if anyone is dying to know you can PM me.</p>
<p>dancerx31293 wrote: "I am in the top 20% in the class.. "</p>
<p>How did you know that you are in the top 20% in the class?</p>
<p>bumping this up-these reflections are really interesting to read</p>
<p>They are extremely interesting to read!</p>
<p>really intriguing to see how everyone “turned out” … like a reunion special. lol</p>
<p>newyorker’s post was so heartwarming LOL
i love awkward guys, their inner natures are much more umm innocent i guess lol</p>
<p>I’m talking about a million years ago here… I went to a boarding school for only my senior year. I had been unhappy in public school for forever and there is not one better choice I have made in my life than the choice to go to bs. However, I only looked at one school because of location. Now, upon looking into schools for my daughter, I realize all the incredible options out there. If I had known about it then, would I have changed my mind? Maybe. But, now, so many years later, my friends from bs are still my very best friends. The information and skills I learned there, I still draw upon. It must have been a good fit. It must have been somehow fated that I didn’t look into any other schools and have to make that very difficult decision. I don’t know how these kids decide…What is the best path? Lewis Carroll said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any path will take you there.”</p>
<p>Bump. I’ve been looking for this thread. :)</p>