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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 value of Phillips Exeter's Harkness Method cannot be overemphasized. Continuous immersion in well-directed, stimulating conversation is an indispensable part of any level of a top-notch education. There is more to learn from candid conversation with your fellow Exeter students than from any combination of teachers in the world. Having enjoyed three years at Exeter and four years at an Ivy League college, I am certain that my time at Exeter was the most valuable of my life to this point. I urge those pre-high school students whose secondary school enrollment decisions are based on college preparation to seriously reconsider: While Exeter prepared me in every imaginable way for college, the lessons I learned in class discussions there far more important to the real world. While, like most preparatory school students, I have had little difficulty in college, I absolutely gained more readiness to enter the world of business at Exeter than in the last four years at Dartmouth.

College Counseling

Exeter is the best secondary school choice for anyone who seeks access to the top....

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 seems to favor well-rounded students who have scored reasonably well on the SSAT. While....

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

Exeter offers, put very simply, the highest quality of campus life. The athletic facilities, dining facilities, dormitories, library, and overall campus were better than any of the Ivy League colleges I have visited. All "behind-the-scenes" departments (safety, dining, social planning) were also, in my experience, superior to those at Dartmouth College....

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