<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I was accepted to Exeter as a new lower. I have a few questions that I hope can be answered.</p>
<p>I was placed in Intermediate Latin, but over the summer I am learning some Latin. I really wanted to take Advanced Latin ,but I heard that Latin is extremely tough at Exeter. So is it a wise move to switch out at the beginning of the year or to stay put?</p>
<p>About how many clubs can one manage? I don’t want the clubs to negatively affect my grades. Also, in order to be a part of Student Council, do you need to be elected?</p>
<p>This might be a really stupid question: What sort of laptop should I get? Friends of mine go to prep school and they told me that I should get a MacBook since most of the school’s computers are Macs. I wanted to know what most Exeter students use so that doing school projects and assignments can be convenient.</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>I’m an incoming prep and I am purchasing a macbook pro or the plain macbook. I am in a similar situation to you with your language, except for me it is my German placement. Personally, I am either going to see if my class is challenging enough in the first few days, and, if it isn’t, move into a more demanding level of the language.</p>
<p>My kid says stay put. Latin IS tough at Exeter, and it’s taught differently than it is in most other places. If you do well, you’ll be able to place into accelerated Latin spring term, which means you’ll end up only needing one more term of Latin than you would taking 300-level Latin to receive the classics diploma.</p>
<p>pulsar2014, welcome to Exeter! Latin is challenging indeed. Ask your teacher if you want to move up and follow his/her advice. Regarding clubs, don’t overdo it! Start with one or two and add more if you feel that you have time. You can attend StuCo meetings without being elected, but you can play a more significant role as an elected representative or in an appointed position. As for laptops, my sense is that more kids have Macs than PCs, but you’ll be perfectly fine with either one.</p>
<p>i’m a current student at exeter, and i was accepted as a new lower as well! i will be entering my upper year.</p>
<p>as far as i know of latin (and any other language really) - they are flexible in terms of placement. when i got to exeter, they realized that they had placed me too high, so they shuffled me around in the first couple of weeks, and i was finally placed at a comfortable level. don’t be afraid to tell the deans that you feel uncomfortable in your language placement, or any other class placement for that matter. they won’t bite.
i’m in a few clubs and organizations - and how much time they will take up in your schedule really depends on your commitment! i have two clubs that only meet once a week, but i’m also a part of PEAN and exonian, which has one mandatory meeting a week as well as coming in throughout the week when you are called in to help/receive assignments.
and i’d say that kids have both macs and pc’s - macs are more reliable though, from what i know</p>
<p>The Exonian (the newspaper) takes up more time than most clubs, and you’ll have to be pretty dedicated if you decide to join. My advice would be to sign up for a fair amount of clubs at the beginning of the year and try to go to at least one meeting of each early on to decide which ones you care about the most. Also remember that many clubs don’t meet very often, depending on how active the club head chooses to make it.</p>
<p>musisat, that depends on what section of the paper you work on, i guess, and what position you assume in the paper. i’m a photographer, and i was always running in and out of the office for assignments and taking on emergency photo calls, so it did take up a lot of my time. but i agree, it takes up a lot of time in contrast to other clubs.</p>
<p>Hahaha ohhh club sign-ups…
Well… on Club Night, when everyone signs up for clubs, I suggest signing up for everything you have remote interest in. That’s what happens to all new students anyway. (Oh, also a lot of clubs bribe you with candy or cupcakes…)
I used to get emails from clubs that I have never been to. It doesn’t really matter too much, really. They don’t take attendance. But in the first couple weeks, go to various club meetings, and then you can nicely email the heads to take you off the list if you think the club isn’t for you. I mean… now I consistently attend to about six clubs.
Of course, focus on your academics first…</p>
<p>Oh, and about Latin, one of my friends who also was admitted as a new lower was placed in 2nd year latin, but tested into third year latin. So… talk to a teacher about testing in. If you want, you can PM me and I’ll give you his contact info about what he did…</p>
<p>Also, it doesn’t really matter too much about Mac vs. PC. It’s personal preference… Oh, but I do suggest you have SOME form of Microsoft Office… I used OpenOffice and one of my history teachers yelled at me, SO I managed to get my hands on a copy of Office…</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the excellent advice! I think that I am going to stay put in 2nd year Latin for now, but if its too easy then I will talk to the teacher about switching out! Oh and one more question, is it true that upper year, you can’t take an elective if you are taking a science becuase of the history requirement?</p>
<p>yup - as far as i know, upper year is kind of set in stone for most people who haven’t already finished academic requirements. personally, i’m not taking a science sequence next year (physics, chem or bio) in order to make room for art requirements to do a senior year art portfolio, so i have some electives, though i am taking biology electives. but yes, upper year for most people is english, math, a science, a second language, and US history.</p>
<p>Yup. However, if you’re finished with your language requirements, then you can put in electives instead of that. (That’s what I did my spring term. I took an ethics course after dropping Spanish)</p>