<p>Is St. Paul's School or Exeter better? Do either one weight?</p>
<p>I don't think you can compare St. Paul's with Exeter as they are very different schools. The real question is which school fits you best and that you won't know until you visit both places. I don't know anything about Exeter but if Oxford is your idea of what education is about, St. Paul's is probably your spot. The best things about St. Paul's from this perspective are the sheer beauty of the place, the integrated humanities programme, the arts and music offerings, the teachers and your fellow students</p>
<p>St. paul's is half the size and less cut throat. Exeter is better known in a lot of circles. St. Paul's slightly harder to get into, 23% v. 26%, slightly higher SSAT, sends a slightly higher percentage to ivies. Aree that St. Paul's more beautiful. Exeter is probably more diverse, less WASPY. Both use Harkness tables. Hard to beat an education at either. Grades at St. Paul's are High honors, Honors, High Pass, Pass, ......Colleges must read through comments for every class. Don't know how Exeter grades.</p>
<p>does sps model their school after oxford or something??</p>
<p>Why do you need to know? Are you applying to those two schools this year? </p>
<p><the best="" things="" about="" st.="" paul's="" from="" this="" perspective="" are="" the="" sheer="" beauty="" of="" place,="" integrated="" humanities="" programme,="" arts="" and="" music="" offerings,="" teachers="" your="" fellow="" students=""></the></p>
<p>Besides integrated humanities, which the previous poster did not expound upon, all the items listed are not exclusive to St. Paul's. The OP wanted a comparison of the two schools, namely the differences as that would give him/her a better impression of which school suited him more.</p>
<p>Exeter does not weight. However I wonder, why would weighting grades affect your choice of school? Would you really choose one school over the other because of their weight policy?</p>
<p>I agree that the key question is not which is the better school but which school suits a particular applicant best. St. Paul's as an explicitly Episcopalian school (although welcoming to all faiths) is simply a different kind of place than Exeter. Like Groton it has one of the most magnificent neo-gothic chapels in the coutry, the lay out of the grounds remind one of the meadows at Christ Church, 100% of the students are boarders. Spiritually and educationally it is a 24/7 environment which forms bonds which I believe different in kind from those formed at Exeter. It is also only half the size of Exeter and not, to my understanding, as relentlessly Darwinian in ethos. Both Exeter and St. Paul's are on their own terms amongst the best schools in the world, they are not half way houses to somewhere else. Academically most universities would be a large step down, not up from either school.</p>
<p>Exeter is bigger, right?</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your input, FYI I am not making my choice on which school I prefer on the basis of weighting. Though I am a Christian I don't want to be constantly surrounded by relgion. What should I do?</p>
<p>You should visit both schools to get a feel for them.</p>
<p>I have visited both. St, Paul's to me in the most beautiful campus except for maybe Andover but they are really different. The SPS library is mindblowing. But the science building at Exeter was amazing. The physics lab especially. I can't think any college could have better. The dorms are great at SPS and all that land, ponds and trails. Exeter has a town right there which is good even though it's small. SPS is building a new gym and the pictures look awesome. They have personal trainers! Weird, but all the students at SPS seem really good looking and athletic. There are more nerds at Exeter. I like that everyone knows each other at SPS and there are no day students. So all in all SPS is my first choice and Exeter my second. Exeter is easier to get into though so I'm trying to like it alot.</p>
<p>Well, it seems like you've answered your own question. St. Paul's seems like the right school for you. If you don't get into SPS and end up at Exeter, I'm sure you'll still have a great time. I have friends who went to SPS, Exeter, Andover, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, Kent, St. Andrew's, and St. Alban's, and they all enjoyed their times at their respective schools. Also, I'm pretty sure that Exeter will be able to offer you a similar education, academically-speaking. Prep school is what you make of it.</p>
<p>Let's just hope I get into one of them. What do you hear about Kent and St. Alban's, I'm looking for some slightly easier to get into schools to apply to too.</p>
<p>Why not look at Peddie as well? If you really want to go to St. Paul's though, don't you think it would be a good idea to tell them why you want to go to St. Paul's specifically. Every school is looking for exceptional academic ability but St. Paul's is a little special in that it has a very pronounced idea what it means to be truly educated. You might want to find out why they have a classical honors program, an integrated humanities program, why there is such a stress on the good, the true and the beautiful and consider in your admissions essay(s) how that connects with you.</p>
<p>Thanks paleozoic, I went on the web site and read up. I will put this thinking into my essay. Did you go to SPS? What can you tell me about life there? Is it as special as my counselor keeps telling me? I am so intimidated. My Interview is after Thanksgiving. When I visited someone from my school who now goes there everyone was so smart. Everyone seemed special and powerful like a whole race of super kids or something. I really don't know if I stand a chance. What do you think it takes to get in?</p>
<p>Why not read Lorene Carey "Black Ice" which is about being young, somewhat intimidated and at St. Paul's as a first generation Afro-American. A great American Autobiography. Something else you might do is ask the admissions office for a copy of 'Mentors', a school video which captures to me anyway what St. Paul's is really about. Yes St. Paul's is every bit as special as your counselor is telling you. Given the kind of place it is and if you tell them you want to go there for the right reasons, I see no reason why you would not be as likely to get in as anyone else.</p>
<p>paleozoic, thanks, I looked up the book and ordered it just now. I have a boring one on Deerfield that I'm reading. What do you know about the other schools? Do any come close? Where do you go? I have a 91 SSAT which is only about average at SPS. Do you think I should take it again?</p>
<p>I know St. Paul's from the perspective of a parent. As should be obvious I think it is a very special place not only academically but spiritually. There are reasons why the place 'feels' right, why the ground to me at least seems warmer there than at Exeter. In the end I suppose, St. Paul's is about family, about growing up in love with ideas, beauty and a sense of place rather than about a frenetic pursuit of grades. If this notion of education (which hearkens back to 19th century Rugby) appeals to you, another school you might look at is Peddie which, like St. Paul's, has a very definite idea what education is or should be about. As far as redoing the SSAT, why bother? You are not at this point going to convert yourself into an academic all-star and a few point higher on the national scale is not going to put you into the 99 percentile on the SSAT scale. Don't worry about it. You are well within the ballpark academically and St. Paul's admissions, faced with lots of applicants exactly like you, will look primarily why YOU want to be at St. Paul's. Why don't you tell them that?</p>
<p>this is irrevelant.. sorry
there have been lots going on in St. Paul's this year. one swimmer died in the pool where the lifeguards were present. I think there have been reports of several hazing incidents in the dorms too.</p>
<p>Why irrelevant? The issue is how and why St. Paul's differs from Exeter not whether one is 'better' in some absolute sense than the other. It depends who you are, what your idea of education really is.</p>
<p>As to the incidents and the tragic accident to which you allude. Think about it for a second. As a parent I have a vested interest in how these affected the sense of security of my my child at St. Paul's. The tragic drowning accident, which by the way traumatised the entire school as it would a family, is exactly that, an accident, not a comment on the quality of care or caring at St. Paul's as you seem casually to suggest. The hazing incidents for what it is worth were experienced by my not particularly street smart child and to my certain knowledge by most students at the school as dumb, not as malicious or intentionally hurtful. They do not in any way affect my estimation of St. Paul's.</p>
<p>that was so sad about the drowning. Do you guys think applications may be down with the hazing incident and all? I really like this school.</p>