OP: There are some serious misconceptions about Harkness. It can sound quite appealing imagining a table of students and a teacher discussing literature or science. The reality is that many teachers sit back and let students talk… That includes dominating class, wasting time, and using the time to promote agendas. This is more an issue in humanities classes. If your fellow students eat all the class time and you have not reviewed/discussed important material then that means you have to spend extra time on your own – teaching yourself. Math has no textbooks: there are problem sets that are faculty developed. So math can be very tricky for many students. Humanities classes generally have no tests: papers or an occasional project. If a teacher doesnt like you or your ideas or your one paper isnt great then your grade can be really subjective. Further, Exeter really dislikes the focus on grades that their students have as their main concern. So going to a teacher because you are worried about your grade can backfire. According to older alum and faculty Harkness used to be more moderated–i.e more functional. Now you can have a great teacher one term and a terrible teacher the next. Exeter lets in kids that need to be willing to teach themselves and do for themselves–it is not for everyone. More students leave after a year or two than you might expect.