Phillips Exeter Academy - Experiences & Questions

exonian14
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:56:25 +0000

cheddarcheeseyum- I wrote a couple points on yuplifeissweet’s thread- “greetings new exonians”. Try that out, and ask if you have more questions!

prowrest- I was a new lower. I think it’s okay. There’s definitely advantages and disadvantages to being one. It’s good because you don’t have to take compsci, don’t have the sometimes negative stigma of being a prep, and you’ve also experienced high school before so you kinda have an idea what to expect. It kinda sucks too though, because for me it was and still is difficult to get used to the academics, but that might also be because the school I went to before wasn’t very challenging. I do know of new lowers who get high GPAs though! But also as a new lower, a lot of times you feel like a prep in a lower’s body! You have to take health (even if you’ve taken years of it before), and a lot of times, you’re placed into lower level classes, not because you’re not smart or anything, but because Exeter kinda likes to teach it “their way” and place you down a bit. For example, I know a girl who’s taken Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 but not geometry, and she’s stuck in a low-ish math class relative to her ability.

I guess all in all, being a new lower is a bit of a struggle to fit in, because everyone already knows each other. Sometimes its nice because you’re a blank slate and you can just be yourself and do whatever, but other times you really wish you came as a prep. However, I have heard many returning lowers say they wish they came in as new lowers. It’s a mixed bag, but what can you do about it?