Phillips Academy

Based on the beauty of the campus and how open it is, Phillips Academy is a really well kept school. I don’t know how their academics fair, but I’m sure it’s of the highest importance to their high school scholars.
The dining commons is absolutely gorgeous — how do you have two levels of food and huge ceilings for your dining area? Definitely amazing.
I’m rating this 4 stars because I haven’t seen the school in its entirety so I can only judge based on a few aspects that I’ve encountered.
One word — privileged.

An Amazingly Good High School
Far be it from me to plug my alma mater on Unilocal… well actually, far be it not, because Andover deserves every single star it ever gets. Not to name drop, but I’ve studied at Stanford, Oxford, the Sorbonne, and Columbia… and the best critical thinking I ever encountered was at Andover. The quality of this education is unbelievable.
What makes Andover great is that the students and faculty constantly, constantly push you past your limits. It’s just the culture there. As soon as you think you’ve figured something out — how to analyze a work of philosophy, how to solve some set theory problem, how to improve your time in the 100 meter dash — you’ll be challenged to do it better. Andover never, ever, *ever* settles. I know that may seem rather abstract, and that many institutions may claim this, but in the case of Andover, it is tangibly and provably true.
The proof is in the graduates. Andover alumni are some of the most tenacious people I know, whether in their professional or personal life. They are not always kind, or right, or even good, but they never give up. They tend to be a little eccentric. Crazy poets, overworked lawyers, founders of strange companies that end up in the Fortune 500. It’s the norm for Andover grads not to be in the norm. I think that’s because during your three or four years there, your confidence is undermined in all the usual institutions that support us in life — religion, social relationships, economic systems. No one goes through Andover without some kind of personal identity crisis — at least no one I knew — and that’s when you’re forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find out who you really are. Andover is uniquely capable of doing this because a) you’re in your teenage years, when you are the most impressionable, b) you’re on a liberal campus — unlike Exeter, there’s no dress code or strict behavioral standards — so you have room to mess up, c) you’re with kids as smart as at any high school in the country, and d) your parents aren’t around to influence your choices.
I’ve been through some pretty tough stuff in life. Public humiliation, severe depression, abusive relationships, family illnesses, friends murdered. I pulled through all of it, however, and I do not believe that I would have, had I not gone to Andover. The place gives you the sense that no matter how powerless you feel, there’s a way for you to take control of any situation. It inculcates this into its students; it makes them believe that they absolutely, positively will win in the end.

So you think you’re the hot shit in school. Then you realize your classmate to the left is a billionaire trust-​fund baby who could buy you over 1,000,000 times. Did I omit a few zeros? Your other classmate will be a co-​founder of Facebook, and another is the son of the most decorated cellist evar (they didn’t teach us spelling; they demanded it). Who did you think you were again?
At Phillips Academy Andover, there is a storied history of Presidents, Billionaires sons, Poets (e.g. Oliver Wendell Holmes), Inventors (e.g. MORSE CODE dude). You kind of don’t need to speak on it. It speaks for itself. Not easy to get into; even harder to be at the top of the class. It’s a 6 point scale — not a 4 pt scale.
My classmates who went to Harvard and Yale said it was a breeze after Andover.
I’ll just end with: Andover aka Bendover is without a doubt one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. No pun intended :\

This is one of the top high schools in the nation. I must agree, they do work you to the bone and prepare you well for college. So many things to say about this place. Lets keep it simple and make a quick list:
1) Dorm life is awesome!
2) Gonga, the school mascot rocks!
3) The Bell Tower lets you know you are home (away from home)
4) Make lots of day student friends as they know the ins and out of the town
5) Rabbit Pond is #1
6) HeadMaster days will rock your world.
7) Stowe house is also #1
8) Soft serve does become a food group
9) Waist-​deep snow was never more real
GO BIG BLUE!!!

I went to Andover, so its probably not so fair for me to be reviewing it, but I came across Unilocal reviews for Exeter and I just thought it was unacceptable that Exeter had reviews and Andover didn’t. Anyhow, enough about trite snotty private boarding school rivalries.
I enjoyed Andover enough went I went there. But having moved back to the Boston area, I have enjoyed visiting. In particular, I love the Addison Gallery of American Art, there are a number of evening events and lunch series talks open to the public. Though unfortunately, it closes this July (2008) until 2010 for renovation.
The campus itself has also going through a number of renovations. From what I noticed when I was visiting. There is a wonderful new addition of two hockey rinks near the football field. And the old hockey rink will become a new dining hall to replace Commons.
The campus itself is also beautiful and rivals the Dartmouth campus. And of course, the rigor of the academics is what Andover is famous for. To be honest, I would say the real reason to go to Andover is its diverse student body. The students really come from all walks of life, all parts of the world, all social and economic statuses. Its a true melting pot.
The only sore spot I have is that the Andover pool is horrible, it does not compare to Exeter’s and needs to be replaced. But all in all, a great place to go to school, grow and learn.
GO ANDOVER!
*(Sorry, I couldn’t resist)