Phillips Exeter Academy - Experiences & Questions

exonian14
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:33:05 +0000

Okay, I thought I’d take a stab at this since the OP hasn’t yet.

To clear up any confusion…


How rigorous is the grading? If you fall behind, due to inexperience with the Exeter workload, are you dead in the water and doomed to failure? How quickly can you get help from teachers or peers?


First off, you seem to view Exeter as a horror show, “doomed to failure?” !!! There’s a lot more to it, and a lot of support. You have an advisor, and most people befriend a few faculty, and they can all help you if you have any sort of issue. If you fall behind due to workload, don’t worry! At midterms my grades were subpar, (in my view, terrible) but then I made an effort to make appointments with teachers, and with the two subjects I had the most trouble with, I met with them around once a week. Also, there’s peer tutoring everyday before a school day, I think…, but I don’t really go to that because I like going directly to my teachers better. Even more, I’ve heard of some dorms that’ve set up “dorm peer tutoring” where the meet too. I don’t really know the details though. There’s definitely support if you make the conscious effort to look for it. You won’t be “doomed to failure” as long as you try.


What is the college counseling like? Are you mostly on your own if you aren’t in the top 10% destined for the ivies?


I’m a lower so I don’t know much about it. But I am here to squash the rumors, JUST BECAUSE YOU GO TO EXETER, and POSSIBLY GET GOOD GRADES, DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOUR ADMISSION TO insert ivy league school/stanford/mit. There’s a lot more to it; extra curriculars, sports, teacher recs, etc. From what I know of the college counseling is generally quite good, but I have heard of cases of better counselors than others and whatnot. However, those types of situations happen everywhere. As long as you work hard and do what you love, you’ll be happy at any college you go to, just like you’d be happy about Exeter.


What has been your greatest disappointment vs. expectations?


Greatest disappointment: my lack of sleep, not because of workload, but because of procrastinating with friends in the dorm

Otherwise, I can’t really describe what it’s like. I went into Exeter with few expectations, and I have now quite a fulfilling experience. At times it’s a love-hate relationship, but I know in my heart that it’s the place for me. Even now, as I’m on vacation, I still miss school, not only my friends, but also just the classes and the academic opportunity Exeter provides.


Do the internationals pull their weight in class or in small group projects? I have heard horror stories of scholarshipped internationals in other prestigious schools basically just floating through on some diversity mandate and never actually doing the work.


I’m not going to argue about whether this question is discrimination/offense/racist or anything. But short answer, yes, they do. Long answer: Firstly, you can’t quantify “pulling their weight” anyways, because you might be thinking you’re doing a ton, but your partners may think otherwise. Also, most internationals are, might I say, possibly harder working than the majority of the school, just because many of them come from families where work ethic is very high. To apply and go to a boarding school halfway around the world takes a lot, and I really respect them for being able to and also willing to do that. I’m doing some international traveling this break, and to go through the airport, customs, filling out entrance papers and etc., that’s tough to do alone, and possibly as a 13 year old student.

In any school you look at, there’s always going to be the high achievers and the slackers. I know American students who are the slack-i-est students ever, like you wouldn’t believe. But I also know American students who work so hard, like the “I don’t sleep at night to get the A” (okay those people are a little overboard though- sleep is very important!). But likewise, I know internationals who slack a bit, but I also know a great deal of them who work very hard.

(side-note, I think, don’t quote me on this, that a great deal of internationals aren’t “scholarshipped”)

In the end, I don’t really think it matters at all, because if they don’t work hard in class, they’ll get bad grades, how does this effect you? And if they don’t work hard in groups, suck it up, there’s a lot of people who don’t work well or pull their weight in group environments, but you just learn to deal with it. What extra effort and work you need to do can only make you stronger!!!

Okay, moving on.


After reading the course selections, I realized that the mathematics at Exeter is integrated, rather than your standard Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calc, Calculus. Does this mean you learn a little bit of each each year? Or how does that work?


Kinda. You can actually access the books online for free, just google it or something. We do math in levels, 110-130 (algebra), 210-230 (geo/intro trig/some algebra2 concepts), 310-340, etc. I actually love this system though. You learn so much by doing so much problem solving! Also, it’s a lot more fun than regular math work from a textbook setting, you use so many concepts in one problem! Each year it kinda builds on what you learned before, and you kinda prove things with previous knowledge (that sounds a bit circular, but get it?).


Also, how competitive are the sports teams? I love playing soccer, but I wouldn’t say I’m a star athlete. If I do not make the JV/V teams, are there club teams? Or will I only be able to play during PE?.


Would you be a prep? If so, there’s SPAZ!!! It’s kinda like a “taste” of every sport during fall and winter, and in spring you pick a specific sport to play. Also, you can get out of spaz by making a JV/Varsity team, and I would say their relatively competitive as a whole, but it really depends on the sport. I know a someone who had never played a sport before, but make JV here, but I also know people who get cut their second year playing at Exeter. I’m not really sure about soccer, but I do know that Boys varsity is very good, and I’m assuming that JV is decent, but probably also something you shouldn’t be afraid of trying out for!

So much rambling! Sorry this was such a long post. Feel free to ask any more questions if needed!