<p>This thread is a place for people to post questions, impressions, and experiences about Phillips Exeter Academy. Any alums are kindly asked to share their "Exeter reviews," applicants their opinions on touring.</p>
<p>I'm a decided Exeter '09, by the way, who fell in love with the school when touring. The town was a little small, but the people all seemed passionate, exciting, and the Harkness was, in a word, amazing.</p>
<p>Let the threading begin!</p>
<p>Fellow class of '09! Where else did you apply?</p>
<p>Greatest academic+social experience of my life. Learned more, had the greatest teachers and Harkness is the tops. I spent 4 years and each year was better than the last. College counseling is great.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Exeter and Baylor ( in Tennessee), but I haven't toured the campus because I live 15 hours away ( Long trip) . Anyone have any thoughts on the campus or campus life. I was exteremely impressed with Baylor but I know it doesn't even begin to compete with what Exeter has to offer. Anyone else thinking about going from the South?</p>
<p>Exeter has the most beautiful facilities that I've ever seen... even better than some colleges!!! I fell in love as soon as I saw the school/campus. The campus is nice enough. The only draw back is that it has roads running through it as a result of being integrated with the town.</p>
<p>How boring is the town ? do you know???</p>
<p>hazmat, did you apply to any other schools before you chose Exeter? Any others you wished you had attended? Did you have much contact with kids at St. Paul's?</p>
<p>Just as a question out of curiosity, what is "Harkness" and what makes it so great?</p>
<p>Hello! I'm a current exonian - this is my first year here, so I'm not as seasoned as most of my other classmates - but I'll pitch in with my two cents too.</p>
<p>The Harkness method is an interesting style of pedagogy at Exeter. Basically, we have an oval table in the classroom that seats an average of 12 students and the teacher, and we hold much of our class there discussing, reading, writing, etc. In the beginning of the year, I was really quiet by nature, but I soon discovered that the classroom setting really encourages you to speak up your thoughts, opinions, ideas, anything, even if it may differ from what others think (mutual respect is an important thing they teach at the table too). I particularly like how they teach math at Exeter with the table, because we may be sitting around as a class looking at a problem a classmate has just introduced, and some of us will toss out ideas on how to approach it and push us all forward in the process. No one is left hiding; everyone can see and hear everyone. It's really awesome =D definitely contributes to a great academic experience.</p>
<p>As for town/weekend life, they have trips to walmart and the mall every week (I believe to Shaws as well?). There is also a train station nearby that runs to Boston, and there's a quaint variety of little shops and restaurants downtown. =)</p>
<p>I'm another Exie alum.
Southmeetsnorth- "how boring is the town" it really depends on what you're looking for. Exeter is a quiet town to say the least- but keep in mind you won't be seeking too much of a "nightlife"' with curfew anyhow. There is a movie theater, lots of cute little shops and restaurants, a couple of spas and that's about it.
During the week, you will be so busy with all of your activities and things to do on campus you won't even notice the town. On weekends, the activities folks work very hard to provide lots to do. There are hypnotists and bands and dances and things going on every weekend-some more popular than others.
The bus to the mall and movies(about 1/2 hr away) is very convenient on weekends as well.
So yes, the town is "boring" but it provides exonians with what they need. Most people take the 5 minute walk into town a feww times a week just to go out to eat, etc. & look for their entertainment on campus, or in going home with friends for the weekend.
I will say that there were plenty of times when kids complained about there being "nothing to do," which was never the case, however, there were times when nothing appealed to us/them. However, one thing I learned at Exeter is that it's who you're with, rather than what you're doing, that counts. Most of my best memories center on the incredible people I met there.
I'm happy to answer any other Exeter questions. Congrats and get ready for an invaluable experience!</p>
<p>missariella, thanks for the insight. I have one question though, how exactly are mathematics taught at Exeter and does this method deter anyone and discourage them?</p>
<p>Do any of you get homesick at Exeter because I live 15 hours away ( two day trip) and even though I have family in Amesbury, Danvers, Cape Cod its still a long way away from home.Are the dorm parents nice and all. I would not want to go anywhere where the boarding life is not fun or enjoyable. Also, are grades hard to keep up at Exeter? Anything else yall can put up would be great. :)!</p>
<p>Southmeetsnorth09, I'm from the South (North Carolina) so its 13 hours away for me, but only 2 by plane (which I'll be using). I have family in Scarsdale, New York, everyone else is in NC, VA, or SC. I don't think I'll be that home sick. :)! What state are you from southmeetsnorth09?</p>
<p>I hear the dorm life is great and the supervisors are fantastic. I think if you look through and read all of the pages of the handbook that came with the admissions information you'll find a lot of information.</p>
<p>I was recently talking to this guy who was from New England and he says "I heard you got into boarding school in New England." I say "Yeah, Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul's." He says "Great!!! Andover!!! I've never heard of the other two." I was shocked!!! I would have thought if you knew about Andover you'd know about Exeter, the rival thing.</p>
<p>Lol. Most people up here haven't heard of any of them, unless they've done research or know someone who goes to any of them. The guy you were talking to was blind to Exeter/SPS which are both top 3 US highschools because he only knew of Andover's alumni. The most influential of whom is the current president of the United States.</p>
<p>Yeah, I geuss so. I wonder if Westminster School in England is better/comparable to Andover/Exeter?</p>
<p>Not really comparable; it's a different system.
Technically, if you're going for best, the girls' school Wycombe Abbey has the #1 A-level ranking in England. Just about half of Wycombe girls go to Oxbridge; a few go to the states. Westmin. is second this year. (insert girl power statement here).</p>
<p>For college results, yes, the US schools aren't quite at that level, but their "prestige" value is equal - however, the US schools don't have the same national curriculum; they value random electives, selection, and breadth over concentration, a national curriculum, and often discussion as opposed to lecture-based learning.</p>
<p>It's one of the reasons why I chose Exeter over Wycombe. Wycombe was very nice, IMO, but everything was "regulated" - drama, academics, sports - and had to adhere to national examinations standards. From what I saw, the classes consisted a lot of lecturing/talking and little debating. I was looking for more freedom to pursue my interests and really talk about them. Exeter's Harkness has got to be the most brilliant thing ever.</p>
<p>Make sure that you guys understand that teaching through discussion is not unique to Exeter though, just unique in its application in the maths/sciences.</p>
<p>Superior Child24- I think youll find that the Harkness system & everything it involve is pretty unique to Exeter.</p>
<p>Im going to try to explain the math system as you asked, but bear with me because its a tough thing to describe. Ill do my best.</p>
<p>Our math textbooks are written by our math faculty and consist almost entirely of word problems. A teacher will typically assign about 8 word problems a night. The next class, the problem #s will be up on the boards (in the Harkness setup, the table is in the middle of the room with black/white boards going all around). Students will put their solutions up as they come in. You are not assigned a specific problem to put up, its just done casually based on whatevers left when you get to class. Sometimes more than one student put up a particular problem. When no one could solve a particular problem, someone just puts up as far as they could get and the class works through it together. As there are usually fewer problems than students, not everyone will put up a problem everyday. After all problems are up, you go through them one by one, with the student who put it up explaining how they solved it. People then ask questions, which anyone answers and the teacher only pipes in if youre stuck or missing something important. </p>
<p>Tests are about once every other week. The teacher writes about 8 problems that you work through in your bluebook. Sometimes there are group or partner tests; in fact, some teachers use only group and partner tests. There are even a couple teachers who wont test at all- they base your grade on participation, etc. </p>
<p>Whats nice about the Harkness math system is that theres no pressure if you couldnt solve a particular problem. Teachers request that you spend 40 minutes on the homework and get as far as you can in that time. They almost never check it, but if they do, they just make sure that you at least attempted every problem-drew a picture etc.- not that you got them all correct. Asking questions of you fellow students instead of the teacher is nice as well, because they tend to think more like you so youll find that they explain things in way thats easier to understand. </p>
<p>The structure of the word problems is unique, because they are designed to introduce you to the logic <em>behind</em> a math concept before they teach you the concept itself. To use a basic math example, you may find a problem that leads you to use the Pythagorean Theorem before you know that thats what youre doing. I know that sounds strange (because Im doing a terrible job explaining it) but youll find it leads to a much deeper understanding of concepts. </p>
<p>That said, some students complain that this style of teaching works better for the lower maths. Once you get into pre calc & calc, things are more formulaic, more black and white and need to just be taught to you. However, I know plenty of students who found that they had a much easier time learning higher maths this way, too. </p>
<p>Because this system of teaching is so different, people tend to either love it or hate it. I loved it, and most people I knew loved it too. It takes away a lot of the pressure that usually surrounds learning math, and makes for a far less competitive classroom environment- you dont move on till everyone understands something, so the students are always helping each other. The kids who complain about it are usually the ones who get frustrated by always having to explain things that came easily to them. Frankly those kids are usually the ones being too lazy to move up to the class level that would be more of a challenge to them (Ive been guilty of that myself-you can pick your own math placement). </p>
<p>I hope that makes some sense, feel free to ask for specific points of clarification.</p>