Editing Phillips Exeter Academy (section)

=== 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>