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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 .

Phillips Exeter's academic program is one of, if not the best in the country. It is difficult to describe the Exeter academic experience to those who have not attended because the Harkness teaching method is so unique. It inspires students to learn from one another through extensive classroom discussion. Teachers do not dominate the class with their own opinions, rather, they facilitate learning by guiding students in the right direction when necessary. This is most apparent in humanities classes but the Harkness method applies to science and math courses as well. In fact, the math classes might be the most unique of all Exeter classes. The math teachers write their own textbook, which serves mostly as a large problem set. Students are not taught formulas, rather, through the problem sets they discover the origin and proof of concepts and such formulas. In this way, a deeper understanding of mathematical principles is attained. The class size at Exeter never exceeds 14 and in my time, I had class sizes ranging from 5 to 14 and averaging out at about 10. Because of the intimacy of the classes, I developed many strong relationships with teachers that last until this day. The work load of each class is quite rigorous, but there is certainly time for students to participate in extracurriculars as well. The school academics does not place a heavy emphasis on exams. This is realized by the final exam schedule where the finals are worth the same amount as a normal test.

College Counseling

The College Counseling Office consists of several college counselors that students begin to meet with....

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 test that should be taken in order to gain admittance is the PSAT, and....

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 is very good. Students live in single sex housing with a certain number of faculty and their families. Students will either live in a single or a double with a roommate. In the dorms there are senior proctors who bridge the gap between dorm faculty and students. The relationships with dorm faculty and their families is one of the most rewarding in your time at Exeter. The school's dining facilities are very good as well. There are two dining halls that are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00....

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