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Phillips Exeter Academy

School rating 4 / 5 by

20 Main Street Exeter NH 03833 United States
Boarding
9th to PG
Day
9th to PG
Gender
Coed

Academic

Phillips Exeter Academy review by .

The academic program at Phillips Exeter Academy is very rigorous, however, it is becomes manageable because of the openness and accessibility of the teachers. Every single faculty member desires for its students to succeed and offers special sessions after classes or in their homes to review any problems or questions you might have about the coursework. Exeter's is strong in every single area, but during my time, I believe that the humanities had an edge. Exeter is well-known for the Harkness Table, which emphasizes the participation of students leading discussions and solving problems together. The teacher is more of a guide in the learning process and ensures that the class is working in the right direction. During my senior year, Dan Brown, the author of "The Da Vinci Code" taught an English class that received very positive reviews from my classmates. The teacher to student ratio during my time was around 11 to 1 which made the learning experience that much more stronger. The average work load is such that you receive very few hours of sleep, but the key behind homework assignments and projects is to help us become critical thinkers that are able to effectively solve problems.

College Counseling

At the end of the day, the success or failure of the college process is....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

The main parts of the admissions process include: examinations (SATs and SAT IIs), the hard....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

The quality of life at Exeter was excellent because the community was so open and supportive. The dorms were beautiful and the rooms became better and better after freshman year. The common room in the dormitories was a fantastic hang out place to interact with other members of the dorm and take a break from intense studying. Also, the dorm heads often had BBQs or sporting events to bring the entire community together for some fun and relaxation. These were the moments that tightened the bonds amongst students and the memories that many graduates carry from the institution -- the....

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