Every summer, Phillips Exeter Academy welcomes to campus some 700 students for five weeks of academic study, athletics, and exploration that carry participants far beyond the classrooms and the playing fields. Typically, students come to us from more than 40 states, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and several foreign nations. They are public school students and private school students. Most reside in campus dormitories; others travel daily from their homes in the New Hampshire seacoast area. Together they embody a rich diversity of language, culture, religion, and race. They come to Exeter with that particular mix of intellectual curiosity and adventurous spirit that holds the promise of glimpsing new horizons and making new discoveries.

The UPPER SCHOOL offers more than 100 courses of study for high school students who have completed grades 9, 10, 11, or 12. As an UPPER SCHOOL student, you have the freedom to design your own program of study: simply select any three courses you find appealing. In designing your academic program, you might immerse yourself in several disciplines.  You might, for instance, choose courses in Math, Art, and English: Advanced Problem-Solving, Drawing, and Great Books/Great Reading. Or you might sample offerings from Science, History, and Languages: Introduction to Biology, Great Issues in American History, and Introduction to Arabic. Your choices are many. 

ACCESS EXETER, our program for students who have completed grades 7 or 8, offers accelerated study in the arts and sciences. The ACCESS EXETER curriculum consists of six academic clusters. Each cluster consists of three courses organized around a central theme. The academic clusters are Project Exeter: A Greener Earth; The Land and the Sea; Problem-Solving: An Odyssey of the Mind; A Global Community; The Creative Arts: Let Your Spirit Soar; Exeter C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation.

The Summer School grants students great freedom in defining their own programs of study. They will work with highly experienced, dedicated teachers and have full access to the Academy campus, including Phelps Science Center, the Fisher Theater, the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center, Love Gymnasium (a complex of hockey rinks, swimming pools, fitness centers, and basketball and squash courts) and The Class of 1945 Library (the largest secondary school library in the world).

If you are interested in five weeks of challenging study, five weeks of music, theater, art, and athletics, five weeks of fun and friendships, then consider Exeter’s Summer School. We look forward to welcoming you to the Academy this summer.