Is Phillips Exeter more presitigious than Phillips Andover?

Answer:

That's a complicated question. They are both extremely prestigious. And they are arch, arch rivals- think Yankees/Red Sox. They have both produced presidents (the two Bushes for Andover and Franklin Pierce for Exeter) and educated the children of presidents, princes, and billionaires. I would say their alumni are roughly comparable in terms of prestige and impressiveness.

Andover is traditionally a Yale feed; Exeter, a Harvard feed (that's far less of a factor these days). Andover is, of course, older by three whole years. Exeter has a larger campus, but fewer students. Andover has an excellent art museum, which Exeter doesn't, and Andover is slightly more selective. Exeter has a larger endowment, though.

I guess my best answer would be to say that they are pretty much equal in prestige. As for John Dowd's answer, any alum, from either school, would be equally scathing. It's just what they do- Andover says Exeter is a pale, pathetic copy of PA's excellence, Exeter says Andover is merely a wretched shadow of PEA's glory. Those old school ties, you know.

Bottom line, they are both super, super prestigious, perhaps more so than any other boarding schools in the country, though there are others that could be considered equal or nearly equal in prestige (see: St. Paul's, Choate, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, maybe Groton).

They have two of the four highest endowments for American secondary schools (the biggest endowment is a school in Hawaii that only accepts ethnic Hawaiins and is not prestigious, and the second largest is the not-especially-impressive Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania). Both Andover and Exeter have bigger endowments than many universities (something like a billion for Exeter and 800 million for Andover).

BTW, I work at one but attended neither, so I have a more objective insight into the debate.

Answer

Ummm...that's WICKED funny...not you sound like a jealous loser of exeter

<3

Answer

No Andover has produces Presidents of these United States. Exeter produces fisherman.

John Dowd

Andover '42

First answer by ID3237618337. Last edit by Sam25. Contributor trust: 4 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 26 [recommend question]