Phillips Exeter Academy - Review #1

The Harkness Method of teaching at Exeter definitely sets it aside from other boarding schools. In each classroom (even science labs) the students and teacher sit around a round/oval "Harkness" table. This makes the classes much less condusive to lecture and much more condusive to discussion. This discussion-based education where the teacher serves as a moderator makes you think a lot more and prepared me very well for my college seminars. One highlight of this system can be shown in math class (the math department writes its own textbooks and course material), where each student puts up one of the ten or so assigned homework problems, and then we all sit back and discuss his results. I could go on for all classes but suffice it to say that this method of teaching is different and useful and only one of the many things that makes Exeter a school worth considering.

The friends in my class in my dorm were some of the best friends I've ever had. Not only were we friends to begin with, we also lived through each other's hard times and troubled phases and are stronger for it. The best thing that happened to me in boarding school was living with and making friends in my dorm, with whom I am still friends today. I sometimes wonder whether this experience was even more educational than the academic side of boarding school.

No regrets

My dorm

One thing I'd like to see go is the half-day classes on Saturday-- they really get you down sometimes. No worries though, I hear they're on the way out. The school could be more liberal on its visitation policies but for the most part it works well within its limitations.

Live in Wentworth or possibly Webster. Make sure not to live in Cilley, Main Street or Abbott.

Aside from the discussion method i mentioned above (which really encompasses much of the spirit of Exeter academics) there are still many things that make Exeter's academics great. Of course the most obvious thing would be the enthusiastic and intersting teachers, but perhaps more important and less obvious are the enthusiastic and interested students which Exeter attracts. In terms of specifics, Exeter offers a variety of courses you probably wouldn't find anywhere else, like Robotics where you spend a semester learning how to build and program a robot before setting out to make it do whatever you want. Other great courses are Electronics, Ethics in the Marketplace, and many senior english electives like a creative writing workshop.

It is very true that some people at Exeter take the academics and themselves too seriously, and this sometimes gives the slight impression of an overly competitive cuthroat atmosphere, which no one likes. Other times people will feel very bogged down by the masses of work teachers pile on top of you, but everyone toughs it out and is happier in the end.

The school appreciated its sports teams, and students would regularly turn out to watch games and support. The greatest sports day of the year is Exeter/Andover in the fall where almost every student in both schools turns out to watch the football game. Also, the facilities and staff are really college level with a fully staffed and equipped training room, weight room, two pools, two ice rinks, etc. For people who take sports seriously, Exeter has a spot for you, or if you just want to fool around, Exeter's club sports are known for being fun, laid back, and even sometimes attracting an audience.

My only major issue with Exeter's athletics is that they haven't yet made rugby into a varsity sport, but that'll take some time.

We had a full orchestra, band and jazz band that performed regularly. This allowed you to pick and play any type of music you wanted. The school also let you take private lessons by bringing in teachers.

While we had music groups, we really didn't have enough enthusiasm for them and they were not always as good as I'd have liked. Unfortunately, as I can see now that I'm in college, the academic music department did not have the depth of classes like jazz history/improv etc. that I was looking for.

Tons of clubs and activities existed and it was very easy to start a new one if you thought you had to. I, for example, wrote for a student published magazine (paid for by the school) that reported on local and global issues with a liberal view.

The only thing I didn't appreciate about Extracurriculars at Exeter was them not letting me start a club my senior year. This made some sense, however, because they didn't want anyone starting a club for college apps and then leaving it to rot.

The unity and sense of dorm pride made my dorm a great place to come back to at the end of the day. While some rules and visiting policies were annoying, you could get around them. In my dorm everyone, even freshmen, had singles, and room picks were fairly done. Your curfew depended on your grade, but since there wasn't much to do outside of your dorm past a certain time, curfew was reasonable. As proctors, we did a lot to make dorm life fun and were constantly orgainizing activities like midnight bowling, the dorm dance, gym night and many others. Looking back at my Exeter experience, I have to say living in my dorm, Wentworth, was probably the best part.

Dorm life really wasn't bad at all. I must say that looking back on some of the rules and whatnot now that I'm in college I might question going back, but while I was there, I was very happy.

Food was semi-decent, the dining hall had good hours, and if you had the money you could order out. The good part of our dining hall was that our dorm always sat together at one big long table, insuring that you had friends nearby.

Sometimes, as always happens on a campus, the campus food gets you down.

Being in the dorm made it easy to fit in. Itwas a little hard to expand your social scene unless you were on a sports team or something. I would certainly recommend coming in as a freshman as opposed to anything higher because it is much harder to find your niche when everyone else already knows each other.

We had a diverse student body with students from all socio-economic backgrounds, and for the most part they blended well. While many student groups, like the Afro-Latino Exonian Society, tended to stick together, there were by no means set divisions to prevent integration.

There was the occasional dance and some of them were actually fun. Otherwise we usually did stuff as a dorm either officially or otherwise. At least once a month we had an official dorm function, like the last Saturday of spring term, when we all gathered in the basement for the chili dog competition. I will not elaborate further on this, but trust me, it was worth it.

The town of Exeter is small but has a movie theatre, a few quaint coffe shops and ice cream shops, and many people go in to relax or eat out. Also, the town surrounds the campus so it's easily accesible.