<p>I have a question for you, "collegekid". Why are you on the prep school forum trying to pick fights with kids half your age? On a subject you are, to be completely honest, obviously lacking knowledge in?</p>
<p>collegekid100 -- have another beer.</p>
<p>Blairt, that was Wikipedia. :)</p>
<p>tom, here's the trailer made for the past year for our crew, ITXC</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd2xjq71PBU%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd2xjq71PBU</a></p>
<p>we do like 4-5 performances a year, and a couple events along the way</p>
<p>collegekid- the 'darkness' at exeter can be pretty evident at times, but the happy at exeter can be the happiest of anyone. mind you, with all due respect, that viewing exeter in such a negative manner is just the example of this 'darkness', and the negative mindset spreads like a virus among the students... which may be why there are those who leave the school unhappy. what i mean to say is, many people are plenty happy with their school until they are surrounded by people who are complaining about it, and then it doesn't seem so great, no matter the circumstances.</p>
<p>Yes, but they all have references. You can look on the links. Even if you go back in history, like 50 years ago (check NYT archives), Exeter has always had more. It's not the $200 mil that matters to me, its the giving behind that. The huge parent/alumni participation rate, and even people who never, ever attended, who give huge gifts. Exeter has amazing system of finances and management.. every charity review site gives it a much higher score than most schools (I think Thacher was one more that got the highest score).. they just have their management in check. I would like a school with a well organized management that's highly competent.. there are many schools at which management is a problem.. a big problem. I just loved how Exeter was super organized (notes/packages arrived like clockwork.. unlike ALL other schools I was in correspondence with), friendly, not overbearing, and again, just great at what they did. If I needed them, they were there are prepared, but they left me alone and didn't do the guilt trip crap. Everyone was so knowledgeable, I just felt very.. comforted by that. They SHOULD be knowledgeable and efficient. They're running the place. It was this on top of a thousand other factors, though.</p>
<p>Blee, I think that theres a simple explanation..</p>
<p>Exeter is intense. The Harkness system is unlike 99.999999999999999999999999% of all other schools' systems. On top of that, the kids AT the Harkness table are unlike 99.99999999999999999999999% of other kids their age. It's intellectual, to say the least... I think many simply signed up for something they weren't prepared for... maybe they thought it was just like any other top school.. I disagree. I think the Harkness system changes everything. Kids aren't used to discussing Nietzsche and the deep yet simple logic of a pythagorean triple. I think that true intellectual exploration is a scary thing to most 13 year olds. The experience of sitting at a table with 10 highly intelligent and knowledgeable students and choking up on what to say.. on a topic you know nothing about.. must be daunting and ego-munching. I can't wait to experience it, personally.. I'm thirsty for that. But there are many kids, who have been told they're #1 forever, who you know, may actually be suicidal after repeated experiences like that... that would be hell.</p>
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I would like a school with a well organized management that's highly competent..
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<p>How exactly does this management of finances affect you, as a student? ;)</p>
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On top of that, the kids AT the Harkness table are unlike 99.99999999999999999999999% of other kids their age.
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<p>If the 1000 students at Exeter are all within the top .00000000000000000000001% of the student population, then you are suggesting that there are at least 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 students in the world. There are approximately 6,602,224,175 on Earth, with the population growing at a rate of approximately 3.786602717 x 10^(-12)% per second. Earth's land surface area is 148,300,000 square kilometers. Assuming proportional population density, the land area of a planet with just students must be 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 x (6,602,224,175/148,300,000) = 4,451,938,081,591,368,846,931,894,807,822 square kilometers. This, in turn, tells us the diameter of the planet (assuming this is a fairly spherical celestial object): 37,644,334,288,822.694040656057996481 kilometers - that is: </p>
<p>thirty-seven trillion six hundred and forty-four billion three hundred and thirty-four million two hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-two miles and then some. </p>
<p>This dwarfs the diameter of the measly sun, a mere 870,000 miles. In fact, it dwarfs even the diameter of the largest star known to humans: VY Canis Majoris, with a diameter of about 1,827,000,000 miles. In fact, something this size should have collapsed into a black hole billions of years ago. Maybe it is a black hole? That means students don't exist... ? Our souls must have dwindled into nothing due to public schooling. </p>
<p>Soooo ... how you doin'? :D</p>
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thirty-seven trillion six hundred and forty-four billion three hundred and thirty-four million two hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-two miles
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<p><em>kilometers /</em>comment*/</p>
<p>Okay, wow. So I'm thinking "Darkness at the Harkness" would be a great title for a "Prep"-esque expos</p>
<p>how's school chaos? :)</p>
<p>Oops. I forgot to respond to that thread. :D</p>
<p>Thank you, Chaos. :)</p>
<p>"It's not the $200 mil that matters to me, its the giving behind that. The huge parent/alumni participation rate, and even people who never, ever attended, who give huge gifts."-myself</p>
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"It's not the $200 mil that matters to me, its the giving behind that. The huge parent/alumni participation rate, and even people who never, ever attended, who give huge gifts."
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</p>
<p>Ah, yes, the notion of giving such money to a school, especially non-alumni, will reinforce your perception of the school's prestige and grandeur, but besides that, how does it affect you? You will, of course, reap the benefits of such an endowment, being a student, but you wouldn't need to be concerned with the intricacies of the donations. :D Are you saying that because people give to the school in such copious amounts, the school is excellent? In that case, I may perhaps see your point, but still, it reflects more upon the donor than the school. A bazillion-dollar alumnus of school X doesn't donate to the school, even though the school is incredible. Then what?</p>
<p>My original purpose for noting that (a few posts above) was, "it shows it's not just me who feel this way about the school's future".. when someone gives a $50 million dollar building, they think that through. management is important simply because i don't want to attend a school with poor management...affects everything about the school/experience.</p>
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when someone gives a $50 million dollar building, they think that through.
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<p>I don't quite understand. </p>
<p>Management in the sense organization? Punctuality in dealing with on-campus issues? </p>
<p>It would seem to me that it would be quite difficult to evaluate such a criterion having stayed on the campus for a short period of time (?) [if I am correct; if not, please excuse me]. Based on your above posts, you seem to have made that judgement based on the way they handled application materials during the process, correct [amongst other observations, I would assume, that you made during the tour]? Note that the schools act very differently during the admissions process in order to attract more people. Basing your judgement off of such a time period, is, in a sense, inherently biased. To judge a school's managerial skills, you would need to have attended for long enough so that you have witnessed their management skills on several occasions [for example, when an on-campus issue arises]. You cannot create a chart with two data points. You just have a line. ;) </p>
<p>Sorry, just trying to get you to elaborate your point. Of course, if I have made an incorrect assumption in my first two sentences, then you can ignore the paragraph below it. :D This could be helpful for students who will be going through the process this year and are in the process of selecting schools .</p>
<p>I based my judgment on hours of research spanning more than a year. I read Times articles from the 50's, tax forms from 2006... this is where i got my info. Not a cheery tour guide.</p>
<p>This was, you know, after i had mad up my mind based on Harkness in every classroom.. and after the electives which catered to my specific interests.. and after i realized it was 10 mi. from beach (sailing/surfing club), and consistently formidable girls' sports teams in the 2 i was most interested in (xcountry, crew), with a bunch of medals and highly acclaimed coaches for each. And on top of the traditional style of the school, and the particularly rich and interesting history... and on top of a bunch of other things which i have noted before... little details which sealed the deal for me 100 times over.</p>
<p>Where else were you accepted, Blair?</p>
<p>Exeter to me...</p>
<p>A depressing, limited campus filled with unhappy students, where the insightful dialogue and passionate debate promised in Harkness end up little more than coldly logical desires to be proved "right" in the classroom, and a miserable and overanalytical way of looking at the world outside of it. A place where the arts, English, and History faculties, though great, are often overlooked in favor of maths and sciences. Horribly cliquey - kids who were the "geeks" in their old schools enacting how they imagine a stereotypical high school would function, to extremes. Students are obsessed with college, sex, or both.</p>
<p>I chose Exeter, despite preferring many other schools at interviews/visiting, because I believed in its "superior academics." An unfortunate turn of events.</p>