<p>I have seen students divide some schools into two classes formal vs. preppy. I am not understanding the differences. They said Exeter was formal while Deerfield was preppy. Both schools have a dress code. Do these terms soley apply to dress?</p>
<p>Care to eloborate on formal vs preppy?</p>
<p>Wikipedia’s definition of preppy
[Preppy</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preppy]Preppy”>Preppy - Wikipedia)</p>
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<p>Both schools have a “formal” dress code, but the Exeter code is more casual (does not require jackets for boys and jackets/cardigans for girls). Have a glance at the photos of the students on both schools’ website.</p>
<p>I read an old post describing the look of the Deerfield student body as “preppiness to infinity”. When you visit the campus, you will probably agree :-)</p>
<p>I think you should visit campuses to get a feel for the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Exeter’s boys wear ties, but we found the campus atmosphere intellectually welcoming and not stuffy. Deerfield felt more “formal” to me–at least in atmosphere. YMMV</p>
<p>At one school with a shirt and tie dress code, I saw a boy wearing a striped tie, striped shirt, (different stripes) madras pants and flip-flops.</p>
<p>Deerfield dress code for the boys seems to be formal from the waist-up: coat & tie. From the waist-down, we saw a lot of boys wearing shorts & flip-flops to class. Quite funny.</p>
<p>@Periwinkle - I agree, when we visited one such Formal school, it was clear that it was only Formal in dress code.
We got the sense of a " Party school" from the student body!</p>
<p>So then Everybody, what would be your top 5 " Preppie Schools " ?
Not Formal, but " Preppie ".</p>
<p>Periwinkle! That must have been quite a sight of all those colors and patterns. I like bold fabric, but not everything at once.</p>