Editing Phillips Exeter Academy (section)

==History==
{{See also|List of Phillips Exeter Academy principals}}

=== Origins ===
Phillips Exeter Academy was established in 1781 by [[John Phillips (educator)|John and Elizabeth Phillips]], prominent citizens of Exeter, New Hampshire. It is the nation's sixth-oldest boarding school.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Fabrikant |first=Geraldine |date=2008-01-26 |title=At Elite Prep Schools, College-Size Endowments |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/business/26prep.html |access-date=2024-03-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

John Phillips had earned degrees from Harvard College and came to Exeter as a young man in 1741, initially as a teacher. He made his fortune as a merchant and banker, and gained influence over time as an advisor to the colonial governor, circuit court judge, elected representative, and senior militia officer in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. In 1778, he supported his nephew, [[Samuel Phillips Jr.]], financially when the latter founded [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Myron R. |title=The Story of Phillips Exeter |publisher=Phillips Exeter Academy |year=1957 |location=Exeter, NH |pages=13–16}}</ref> about 40 miles away. As result of this original family relationship, the two schools share [[Andover–Exeter rivalry|a friendly and historic rivalry]].<ref name="Echols">{{Cite journal | last=Echols | first=Edward | title=The Phillips Exeter Academy, A Pictorial History | publisher=Exeter Press | year=1970| page=49 }}</ref> John Phillips stipulated in Exeter's founding charter that it would "ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter."<ref name="Crosbie-1923">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywHhswEACAAJ |title=The Phillips Exeter Academy; A History by Laurence M. Crosbie |date=1923 |publisher=The Academy |language=en |access-date=April 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418135628/https://books.google.com/books?id=ywHhswEACAAJ |archive-date=April 18, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The new academy benefited from donors besides John Phillips. Phillips had previously been married to Sarah Gilman, the wealthy widow of Phillips' cousin, Nathaniel Gilman,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Exeter_Bulletin/summer_05/BehindEverySuccessfulMan.pdf| title=Behind Every Successful Man| last=Brown| first=Connie| publisher=The Exeter Bulletin| date=Summer 2005| access-date=August 27, 2012| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405142954/http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Exeter_Bulletin/summer_05/BehindEverySuccessfulMan.pdf| archive-date=April 5, 2012| df=mdy-all}}</ref> whose large fortune, bequeathed to Phillips, enabled him to endow the academy.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/phillipsexeterac00bell|title=Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Charles Henry Bell, William B. Morrill, Exeter, N.H., 1883|publisher=W. B. Morrill, printer|year=1883|last1=Bell |first1=Charles Henry }}</ref> The Gilman family also donated to the academy much of the land on which it stands, including the initial 1793 grant by [[Governor of New Hampshire|New Hampshire Governor]] [[John Taylor Gilman]] of the Yard, the oldest part of campus; the academy's first class in 1783 included seven Gilmans.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVNm_97RrcwC&pg=PA163|title=New Hampshire: A Guide to the Granite State, Federal Writers Project, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1938|isbn=9781603540285|year=1938|publisher=Federal Writers' Project|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418104100/https://books.google.com/books?id=NVNm_97RrcwC&pg=PA163|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UZAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5|title=General Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1783–1903, The Phillips Exeter Academy, News-Letter Press, Exeter, 1903|year=1903|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222065106/https://books.google.com/books?id=6UZAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5|url-status=live|last1=Academy |first1=Phillips Exeter }}</ref> In 1814, [[Nicholas Gilman]], signer of the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]], left $1,000 to Exeter to teach [[sacred music]].<ref name="Trustees">{{cite web |last=The trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy |title=Phillips Exeter Academy {{!}} Academy Chronology |url=https://www.exeter.edu/about-us/academy-chronology |access-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-date=April 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418135417/https://www.exeter.edu/about-us/academy-chronology |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Original Phillips Exeter Academy Building.jpg|thumb|First Academy Building c. 1910, where the school opened in 1783|left]]The academy's first schoolhouse, the First Academy Building, was built on a site on Tan Lane in 1783,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Tolles|first1=Bryant Franklin|title=New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide|last2=Tolles|first2=Carolyn K.|publisher=[[University Press of New England]]|year=1979|isbn=978-0-87451-167-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6QQsklqqKwC&pg=PA49 49]|language=en}}</ref> and today stands not far from its original location. The building was dedicated on February 20, 1783, the same day that the school's first Preceptor, [[William Woodbridge (educator)|William Woodbridge]], was chosen by John Phillips.<ref name=Crosbie-1923 />

Exeter's ''Deed of Gift,'' written by John Phillips at the founding of the school, states that Exeter's mission is to instill in its students both goodness and knowledge:
{{blockquote|"Above all, it is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind."<ref name=Echols/>}}

=== 19th Century ===
In the early 1800s, a deep religious divide opened up between [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] Harvard and [[Reformed Christianity|Calvinist]] Yale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allis Jr. |first=Frederick S. |title=Youth from Every Quarter: A Bicentennial History of Phillips Academy, Andover |publisher=University Press of New England |year=1979 |location=Hanover, NH |pages=120–28}}</ref> As a result, Unitarian-friendly Exeter developed a closer relationship with Harvard and Calvinist-friendly Andover with Yale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLachlan |first=James |title=American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1970 |location=New York |pages=228}}</ref><ref>Allis, p. 148 (outlining that due to its closer ties to Harvard, Exeter was "less positively religious in its influence," and "concentrate[d] ... upon its special work of preparing boys for admission to college").</ref> Although originally, most Exeter graduates did not go on to further formal education (as with most 18th and 19th Century secondary schools), the ones that did placed at Harvard in substantial numbers.<ref>McLachlan, p. 223.</ref> From 1846 to 1870, Exeter supplanted [[Boston Latin School]] as Harvard's largest feeder school, supplying 16% of all Harvard students during that period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Story |first=Ronald |date=1975 |title=Harvard Students, the Boston Elite, and the New England Preparatory System, 1800-1876 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/367846 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=291–92 |doi=10.2307/367846 |jstor=367846 |issn=0018-2680|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the latter half of the 19th century, graduates of Exeter and the now-defunct [[Adams Academy]] of Quincy, Massachusetts were "dominant socially" on Harvard Yard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harvard 1900 – Student Life – The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation |url=https://fdrfoundation.org/the-fdr-suite/harvard-1900-student-life/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=fdrfoundation.org}}</ref>

Exeter's first recorded minority student was Moses Uriah Hall, a young Black man, who entered the Academy in 1858, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was known for many years as a skilled stonemason and businessman in nearby [[Epping, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-03 |title=Who was Moses Uriah Hall? |url=https://exeter.edu/who-was-moses-uriah-hall/ |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |language=en-US}}</ref> Exeter's official records indicate that six years later, five White students from a border state, Kentucky, threatened to leave the Academy because another young Black man had enrolled as a member of their class. Exeter's Principal at the time, [[Gideon Lane Soule]], is said to have told them "You may do as you please — your classmate will stay."{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

After a brief interlude in the 1880s when Exeter's focus partially shifted from college preparation to general education and only 18% of Exeter students went on to college,<ref>McLachlan, pp. 223, 229 (explaining that the percentage of Exeter students attending college fell from 40% (1873–83) to 18% (1884–89), and the percentage of Exeter students matriculating at Harvard declined from 20% to 10% during this timeframe).</ref> [[Charles Fish|Charles Everett Fish]] (p. 1890–95) restored academic standards by adopting a policy of expelling students who could not attain a C average.<ref>McLachlan, p. 233.</ref> A student in the Class of 1892 recalled that "[t]here was no real discipline ... the only measure of a boy's quality was his scholarship. If that was satisfactory, little else mattered."<ref>Williams, p. 71.</ref> The percentages of students going on to college recovered rapidly to 1870s levels, although the student body shrank significantly, dropping from 355 in 1890 to 123 in 1895.<ref>McLachlan, pp. 222-23.</ref>[[File:Philips Exeter Academy advertisement 1909.png|thumb|1909 advertisement for the school, proclaiming that "[s]tudents are dropped from any class, at any time, if they fail to do satisfactory work."|left]]Fish's successor [[Harlan Amen|Harlan Page Amen]] (p. 1895–1913) solidified Exeter's mission as a college-preparatory school. Amen cleaned up Exeter's social image, as the student body had acquired a reputation for unruly behavior.<ref>McLachlan, p. 224.</ref><ref>Williams, pp. 66-68.</ref> He doubled tuition from $75 to $150 between 1895 and 1899,<ref>McLachlan, pp. 237, 240.</ref><ref name=":5" /> and claimed in 1903 that he had expelled 400 boys in eight years.<ref>McLachlan, p. 238.</ref> He also improved the academy's residential facilities; by 1903 two-thirds of Exeter students were living on campus.<ref name=":6">McLachlan, pp. 237-38.</ref> Despite the expulsions, Exeter's new-look mission resonated with parents, and enrollment jumped to 390 in 1903 and 572 in 1913.<ref>McLachlan, p. 240.</ref> From 1890 to 1894, 67% of Exeter's college-bound students went on to Harvard, Yale or Princeton.<ref>McLachlan, p. 223.</ref> 60-odd years later, in 1953, the corresponding number was 67% for the entire academy.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Michael |date=1969 |title=Changing Patterns of Upper-Class Prep School College Placements |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1388210 |journal=The Pacific Sociological Review |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=24–25 |doi=10.2307/1388210 |jstor=1388210 |issn=0030-8919|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[File:Exeter Baseball.JPG|thumb|Exeter baseball team in 1881, including a student from the [[Chinese Educational Mission]].]]From 1879 to 1881, Exeter (and several other schools) participated in the [[Chinese Educational Mission]], hosting students from [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] who were sent to the United States to learn about Western technology. However, all students were recalled after just 2 years due to mounting tensions between the United States and China, as well as growing concern within the Chinese government that the students were becoming Americanized.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rimkunas|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMeACQAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|title=Hidden History of Exeter|date=2014|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-62585-264-9|page=81|access-date=September 6, 2018|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418135432/https://books.google.com/books?id=YMeACQAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Harkness Gift and financial independence===
[[Lewis Perry]] was appointed principal in 1914 and ran the academy until 1946. Although his early years were marked by grave financial difficulties, including a $200,000 bill to rebuild the Academy Building (destroyed by fire five months into Perry's administration) and the disruption of [[World War I]],<ref>Williams, pp. 100, 105-06.</ref> he had a "talent for getting wealthy men to part with their money."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitman |first=Alden |date=1970-01-28 |title=An Informal Innovator |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/28/archives/an-informal-innovator-by-alden-whitman.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> A professional fundraiser, he did not teach classes; instead, he "spen[t] much time away from school spreading Exeter's fame and obtaining endowments."<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1931-06-15 |title=Education: Exeter's 150th |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,846896-3,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Exeter's endowment increased ninefold during his tenure.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Price |first=Lucien |date=1946-06-01 |title=Perry of Exeter |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/06/perry-of-exeter/656887/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}</ref> In 1936, Exeter boasted an $8 million endowment for roughly 700 students, making it the richest boarding school in New England in both absolute and per capita terms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baltzell |first=E. Digby |title=Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |edition=Revised |location=New York, NY |pages=306}}</ref>

Perry used the money to improve student quality of life, expand access for the underrepresented, and build a more cohesive and higher-achieving student body. Under Perry's leadership, Exeter was able to provide housing for all its students for the first time.<ref name=":6" /> Perry also adopted a policy that scholarship students should comprise at least 20% of the student body.<ref>Williams, p. 140.</ref> He imposed greater restrictions on students' after-class activities, culminating in the abolition of fraternities in 1940.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1945-11-26 |title=Education: Goodbye, Mr. Perry |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,776449-2,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Perhaps counterintuitively, these restrictions limited the number of disciplinary cases and helped students improve their academics. From 1922 to 1931, the number of students expelled or asked to leave for academic reasons declined from 136 to 40.<ref>Williams, p. 111.</ref> When Perry retired, the school educated 725 boys.<ref>Williams, p. 209.</ref>

Despite Perry's reforms, Exeter retained a certain informality, which was reflected in the school's "unwritten code that there were no rules at the academy until you broke one."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Lamb |first1=David |date=January 5, 1986 |title=Exeter Remembered: Prep School Gambler Who Finally Makes His Point |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-05-vw-24821-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411194732/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-05-vw-24821-story.html |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |access-date=August 26, 2019 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> Expelled alumni include the journalist [[David Lamb (journalist)|David Lamb]] and the writer and editor [[George Plimpton]].[[File:Edward S Harkness Met.jpg|thumb|[[Edward Harkness|Edward S. Harkness]], benefactor]]
Perry's largest financial windfall came on April 9, 1930, when philanthropist and oil magnate [[Edward Harkness]] wrote to Perry to propose a new way of teaching and learning, for which Harkness would donate funds to foot the bill:{{blockquote|What I have in mind is a classroom where students could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where each student would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bass|display-authors=etal|first=Jo Ann F.|title=A declaration of readers' rights: renewing our commitment to students|year=2007|publisher=A & B/Pearson|location=Boston|isbn=978-0205499793|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o2vuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418122403/https://books.google.com/books?id=o2vuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The result was "The Harkness Method," in which a teacher and a group of students work together, exchanging ideas and information in a seminar setting.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1930-12-01 |title=Education: House Plan in School |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,930713,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> In November 1930, Harkness gave Exeter $5.8 million (approximately $110 million in February 2024 dollars) to support this initiative.<ref name=":5" /> To support the more intensive teaching style, Exeter's faculty grew from 32 teachers in 1914 to 82 in 1946.<ref name=":8" /> In addition, through Harkness' largesse, the academy was able to avoid cutting faculty salaries during the [[Great Depression]], making it a rarity among boarding schools.<ref>Williams, p. 123.</ref>

Since 1930, Exeter's principal mode of instruction has been by discussion, "seminar style," around an oval table known as the [[Harkness Table]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/phillips-exeter-harkness-table-2014-11|title=Why the Classes at Phillips Exeter Are Different Than at Any Other Private School|work=Business Insider|access-date=April 10, 2018|archive-date=May 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501235138/https://www.businessinsider.com/phillips-exeter-harkness-table-2014-11|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Phillips Exeter Academy {{!}} Harkness |url=http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx |access-date=January 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220030626/http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx |archive-date=December 20, 2012 }}</ref> Today, all classes are taught using this method, with no more than 12 students per class.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1981-05-25 |title=Education: Brains Plus Something More |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,924774,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

=== More recent history ===
[[William Saltonstall]] '24 (p. 1946-63) succeeded Perry and continued Perry's successful fundraising record. He began his tenure by completing a $5.6 million ($72 million in February 2024 dollars) fundraising drive, ending in 1948.<ref name=":5" /> Later that year, [[J.P. Morgan & Co.|J. P. Morgan]] partner [[Thomas W. Lamont]] '88 (the former president of the board of trustees) left Exeter another $3.5 million in his will.<ref name=":5" /> 

Under Saltonstall, the academy maintained strong ties to elite universities, although like nearly all boarding schools, it lost ground to public schools during this period. Exeter served as one of the testing grounds for the [[Advanced Placement]] program,<ref>Allis, pp. 549-54.</ref> and in 1957, it produced 11 of the 30 incoming Harvard students with enough AP credit to enter as sophomores.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=The Exeter Man: Rebel Without a Cause {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1957/11/9/the-exeter-man-rebel-without-a/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> In addition, in 1963 Exeter produced 73 National Merit Scholarship finalists, the most in the nation.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1963-03-15 |title=Education: Something Says Yes |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,870199,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> However, elite universities relentlessly pushed Exeter to tighten academic standards even further, as Harvard's appetite for Exeter graduates meant that the top cut of Exeter students did not reflect the full breadth of the academy's contingent at Harvard. (In 1955, Harvard admitted 79% of applicants from Exeter and Andover;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karabel |first=Jerome |title=The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton |publisher=[[Mariner Books]] |year=2006 |edition=Revised |location=New York |pages=258}}</ref> by contrast, in 1957, 30% of recent Exeter graduates made the dean's list at Harvard, compared to 40% for the entire freshman class.<ref name=":9" />) Due to a surge of applicants from public schools, Exeter students no longer enjoyed near-automatic admission to the colleges of their choice. From 1953 to 1963, the percentage of Exeter graduates admitted to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton declined by a third, from 67% to 42%.<ref name=":7" />

Faced with a decline in applicants,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prep School Blues {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1971/2/16/prep-school-blues-pfive-years-ago/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> the academy responded by broadening its student body. In 1969, Exeter stopped requiring students to attend a weekly religious service.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oppenheimer |first=Mark |date=2014-04-11 |title=At Phillips Exeter, a World of Religious Diversity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/us/at-phillips-exeter-a-world-of-religious-diversity.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> In 1970, it became coeducational;<ref name="Crimson-Coed">{{cite news |date=February 28, 1970 |title=Phillips Exeter to Go Coed |work=The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1970/2/28/phillips-exeter-to-go-coed-pthe/ |url-status=live |access-date=February 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909155207/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1970/2/28/phillips-exeter-to-go-coed-pthe/ |archive-date=September 9, 2013}}</ref> it later appointed its first female principal ([[Kendra Stearns O'Donnell]]) in 1987.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |url=http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4622.aspx |title=Phillips Exeter Academy – Academy Chronology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617040752/http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4622.aspx |archive-date=June 17, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1996, to reflect the academy's coeducational status, a new gender-inclusive [[Latin]] inscription ''Hic Quaerite Pueri Puellaeque Virtutem et Scientiam'' ("Here, boys and girls, seek goodness and knowledge") was added over the main entrance to the Academy Building. This new inscription augments the original one—''Huc Venite, Pueri, ut Viri Sitis'' ("Come hither boys so that ye may become men").<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhmfAAAAMAAJ|title=After the Harkness Gift: A History of Phillips Exeter Academy Since 1930|last=Heskel|first=Julia|author2=Dyer, Davis|publisher=Phillips Exeter Academy|year=2008|isbn=978-0-9769787-1-8|location=Exeter, N.H.|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418104102/https://books.google.com/books?id=FhmfAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1999, 55% of incoming Exeter students came from public schools.<ref name=":14">{{Cite news |last1=Goldman |first1=Victoria |last2=Hausman |first2=Catherine |date=2000-11-12 |title=Less Austerity, More Diversity at PREP SCHOOL Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/12/education/less-austerity-more-diversity-at-prep-school-today.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On January 25, 2019, William K. Rawson '71 was appointed by the academy's trustees as the 16th Principal Instructor.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://exeter.edu/news/bill-rawson-71-named-principal-phillips-exeter-academy| last1=Muldoon| first1=Brian| title=Bill Rawson '71 named principal at Phillips Exeter Academy| work=Phillips Exeter Academy| date=Jan 24, 2019| access-date=January 25, 2019| archive-date=April 18, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418114623/https://exeter.edu/news/bill-rawson-71-named-principal-phillips-exeter-academy| url-status=live}}</ref> He is the fourth alumnus of Exeter to serve as Principal, after [[Gideon Lane Soule]] (1838–1873), [[Harlan Amen]] (1895–1913), and [[William Saltonstall]] (1946–1963). In 2021, Rawson announced that Exeter would adopt a [[Need-blind admission|need-blind admissions]] policy, following a $90 million fundraising campaign to support financial aid.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=A momentous decision |url=https://www.exeter.edu/news/momentous-decision |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |language=en}}</ref> In 2025, Rawson announced that he would retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Retirement of Principal Rawson |url=https://exeter.edu/retirement-of-principal-rawson/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== College admissions ===

In the later half of the 20th century, criteria for U.S. college and university admissions evolved to include more meritocratic considerations and an emphasis on wider demographic factors. Exeter reports that while 10 or more students attended seven of the eight Ivy League colleges (ex. Dartmouth) and MIT between the years 2022-24, 10 or more students also attended [[Boston College]], [[Bowdoin College|Bowdoin]], [[George Washington University|GWU]], [[Georgetown University|Georgetown]], [[New York University|NYU]], [[Northeastern University|Northeastern]], [[Tufts University|Tufts]], [[the University of Chicago|UChicago]], [[University of Southern California|USC]], and [[Wesleyan University|Wesleyan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=College Matriculation |url=https://exeter.edu/academics/college-counseling/college-matriculation/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |language=en-US}}</ref>