Course Numbers Change; Seniors, Students React
This school year, Exeter’s course catalog was published with updated course numbers, and many classes saw an uptick in their course number. According to Director of Studies Brooks Moriarty, the change was prompted because the inconsistency of the past course numbers across disciplines was creating confusion within and outside the Exeter community.
While many lamented the loss of infamous and well-known course numbers like History 333, the spring term U.S. history course, both the faculty and student body agreed, for the most part, that its change to History 430, along with a number of other changes, was necessary and helpful to the college admissions process.
The changes also help to match systems used by other secondary schools and to establish a better understanding of course levels across different disciplines. The changes help to better reflect the difficulty of class workload and rigor when presented in Exeter’s courses of instructions and college applications.
“I am sure people will get used to this new system and in a few years, nobody will be complaining.”
Some students had noticed that Exeter’s course numbers were lower compared to other boarding schools. Upper Brian Bae pointed out that the new system might cause some confusion among his peers, but he admitted that the update needed to come soon. “I still think this is a positive change,” Bae said, and that the “disorientation” at numbering changes would quickly fade.
For current, returning members of the class of 2019 and 2018, all courses taken and labeled with their old numbers will be retroactively altered on their transcripts. Members of the class of 2017, however, will not have their transcripts changed. Instead, the College Counseling Office (CCO) will send transcripts along with a note explaining that course numbers have recently changed.
Director of College Counselling Betsy Dolan explained, “There will be information on the back of the transcript explaining course numbering changes, and Exeter’s college profile will have verbiage as well.”
Senior Brian Choi was initially under the impression that course numbers on his transcript would be changed. “Personally, I think this helps students a lot. I don’t believe the number change is going to make a huge difference, but I still think that it was a good idea for Exeter to increase some of the course numbers. Compared to some other schools, our courses are definitely just as hard or even more rigorous in some cases. It wouldn’t make sense to have lower numbers.”
When Choi found his transcript wasn’t being updated, he expressed surprise. “You’re kidding me. Now I’m not really sure how I feel about this.”
Most seniors seemed to be unaware of the situation. Senior Hilary Aristotle only found out recently. She was confused to why the changes weren’t considered “relevant” to apply to seniors’ transcripts. “I’m guessing that the courses are being changed so colleges can see Exonian transcripts and understand the course difficulty. If impressing colleges is the purpose of this change, why aren’t they being applied to the students who need it now?”
Senior Kaitlyn Kang noticed that if course numbers don’t change on senior transcripts, her courses could be seen as “subpar” compared to equivalent courses in the future. Expressing her fears, Kang remarked, “This change can cause an inaccurate representation of students’ abilities.
However, while Kang found this change to be annoying, she felt quite differently on how it affected her class in particular. “Honestly, I personally don’t mind it,” Kang said. “A lot of other schools have boosted their course numbers, and Exeter has stayed up just until now. I don’t think it will affect the way my transcript is seen by college, compared to peers in my class.”
Senior Yannick Yao agreed with Kang. He said he supports the new numbering system, regardless of how it affects his college application. “I knew that the previous course numbers wouldn’t change for seniors. Personally, I’m fine with it,” Yao explained. “Honestly, I still need to take some basic courses this year to fulfill my graduation requirement, and the relatively higher course numbering makes my transcript look [better]. And for more advanced courses, a higher numbering gives the impression that a student took on more intellectual challenge.”
Senior Geyang Qin felt similarly. He argued that while the course numbers change, the actual material and studying is not affected.
“No, I didn’t know the course number would be inconsistent,” Qin admitted. “I feel like they should keep the consistency, but it honestly doesn’t bother me too much. I am sure people will get used to this new system and in a few years, nobody will be complaining.”
Senior Jesus Rivera, for example was aware that administration was not changing course numbers in senior transcripts. However, he expressed a more neutral position at the changes. “It’s something that a lot of us have been talking about. They are worried that colleges are going to question the big gaps from last years courses to this years. The note from CCO will help, but I know people are worried not all colleges will take the effort to be super understanding.”
Rivera also made a connection between this change and new forms of standardized testing. “To me it seems like the same stress that revolved around the new SAT. In the end, we can’t really do anything about it, so I don’t think we should stress.”