Phillips Exeter Academy - Review #20

Exeter offers an incredible level of academic rigor coupled with amazing and diverse students. With small classes held around a Harkness Table, the wonderful students Exeter aggregates create a fantastic learning environment.

Thinking back to my time at Exeter, all of the most memorable moments were ones I spent with friends. Exeter helped me grow significantly as a person and as a citizen of the world. Academically, I also made immense progress and developed substantial critical thinking skills.

Looking back, I don't think I would do anything differently. I would suggest that kids going to boarding school make the most of relationships they form with their friends and sometimes let homework go unfinished for another hour to spend time with their friends.

Exeter offered a great deal of freedom in a guided fashion that helped me find who i want to be in life.

Living on North Side of campus will make your trips to class in the New Hampshire Winter easier but will make the daily slog to the gym more difficult. It's a tradeoff.

Exeter is hard. It pushes you to your literal breaking points but through that it fosters incredible growth. The difficulty coupled with the Harkness Method creates a very collaborative environment where students lean on each other and form incredible friendships with their classmates. In terms of course offerings, Exeter is unmatched. The school offers over 400 classes and if you reach the end of a subject's track, you can file a petition to start an exploratory class that may just be you and the teacher working on cutting edge research.

Exeter's athletics nearly match its academics. The school is very strong across nearly all sports and consistently wins in its divisions and performs well nationally. Exeter's training facilities are unmatched among other boarding schools and the school is continually making new investments to stay on top. For example, construction of a new world class field house and tennis courts has just commenced. Students are required to take a sport all but two terms while at Exeter but these can range from Varsity Crew (an immense commitment), to "Yoga as Meditation" (very little commitment).

The visual arts program at Exeter is diverse in its offerings. The music program is equally impressive with private lessons available in nearly any instrument (I had a friend who became quite good at playing the Sitar). The theatre program has historically lagged behind Exeter's other offerings, but the school is taking a focused push to improve these programs with a massive new performing arts center.

Exeter offers a broad assortment of clubs that vary dramatically in time commitment. From discussion clubs that meet over dinner, to debate and other competitive clubs that compete and win at the national level, Exeter offers a club for all interests, and if you think it should have something else, it's easy to start something new.

I was a day student at Exeter but I always felt welcome in the dorm. It is easy to spend the night on the weekends or if there is bad weather. People at Exeter are the kindest I have ever known and often proactively offered me a spot on their floor when a snowstorm appeared in the forecast.

Exeter offered a solid dining selection. Two dining halls, both with good hours served food buffet style and an on campus convince store offered a good selection.

The town of Exeter is very quaint. There are many nice restaurants and small shops within a short walk. The school offers buses to shopping plazas, the mall, and movie theaters.

Exonians are incredibly smart and hardworking people. I also found Exonians as a group to be some of the kindest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. The community is relatively small and while you may not know everyone's name, it is easy to make friends and find a group that shares your interests.