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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 life at Phillips Exeter Academy is challenging but wholly fulfilling. People don't take classes for an easy "A" (of which there are few), but to actually learn. The teachers are there to moderate discussions, and in doing so, students get out what they put into the classes. You'll find caring teachers, who always have time to talk to students, both in and out of class. The average work load can sometimes be overwhelming, though doable. Time management is one of the key lessons you take out of the Exeter experience, as well as how to think independently and with others. Classes are never taught to AP curriculum, though most are more than sufficient to do well on those exams.

College Counseling

Though Exeter did not try to emphasize the high school curriculum as preparation for college,....

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

Exeter requires the SSAT and a few essays. They say an on-campus interview is not....

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

Though schoolwork takes up a lot of time, as well as the variety of activities and extracurricular, there is the typical high school social scene. Most boarding students stay in the same dorm all four years, and thus grow very close to their dorm mates, and have a certain amount of pride in that. There are two dining halls, both of which are very nice and have a variety of foods for any diet. Exeter is a small town and very safe. Faculty are on-duty in the dorm every night and very accessible....

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