Students React to New Website
Exeter launched their new website, geared specifically towards prospective students and their families, on Nov. 28. Complete with redesigned interfaces, detailed student and faculty commentary and a revamped infrastructure, the new website aims to provide a more engaging, story-centered and informative experience for its visitors.
According to Director of Communications Robin Giampa, the update aimed to streamline the website for visiting applicants and their families. Part of that goal entailed reallocating internal community resources to more appropriate spaces that have been created since Exeter’s previous site was launched in 2006. “At that time there weren’t other places to put information geared to internal audiences so the website served a variety of purposes,” Giampa said.
Since then, Exeter has shifted several links to its multiple portals for current students and alumni respectively, allowing the new site to be significantly more centered around prospective applicants. Upper Menat Bahnasy agreed that the previous website was in need of an update. “We had seen other school websites and figured that ours could use a bit of work and a more modern aspect to it,” she said. The resulting redesign aimed to increase the “compatibility and accessibility” of the site, while also aimed specifically at prospective Exeter applicants.
“We had seen other school websites and figured that ours could use a bit of work and a more modern aspect to it.”
The new site now opens up to a series of photos depicting campus life at Exeter, accompanied by clickable links, each offering a different aspect of the student experience. With the new design, student and their stories act as the site’s main proponents and sources of information for visitors. To gather these stories, Exeter hired Windy Films last spring to follow a few Exonians throughout their day on campus, filming their classes, sports, clubs, dorm life and asking them interview questions on camera. The video footage, along with blog-style descriptions of their daily routines, were compiled and uploaded to the new website. These student profiles replaced the “what’s my day like?” features of the old website to provide prospective students a more up-to-date portrait of current Exonians and their lives at Exeter.
Upper Menat Bahnasy, a student featured on the new website, reflected on the student profiles. “I enjoyed my experience with [the filmmakers]—the filming was never a hindrance,” she said. “The profiles are not a ‘you have to be this to come to Exeter,’ but more of what ‘this is what you can do at Exeter.’”
Since its launch, students have expressed mixed opinions on the website’s design. Lower Wynter Tracey praised the videos and felt that they provided a greater dimension to the online experience. “I like the cool videos that they have of individual students—they will probably give a personal view of Exeter life to prospective students.”
Lower Elizabeth Madamidola agreed with Tracey, adding that the new site offers personal insight into Exeter from academics to dorm life. “My favorite part of the new website is being able to look directly at the students’ experience with the personal blogs and interactive videos on aspects of Exonian life,” she said. “For example, I saw upper Charlotte Polk’s video on Harkness education and an article on roommate life with lowers Tara Weil and Isadora Kron. I feel like if I were an applicant, I’d know much more about Exeter.”
Others have admired the smoother design of the new interface. Prep Jill Cloonan said, “I like the modern design and the menu tab, which makes all the links available at once.”
Tracey, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the new website’s color scheme. “I’m a little confused about the layout,” she said. “There are a bunch of colors, like orange and purple, that are not our school colors.”
Many students have expressed difficulty and frustration navigating the website, as many student and alumni resources are no longer displayed. The information and technology (IT) department explained, “Part of streamlining the public site included moving any pages that aren’t relevant to our primary audience to the appropriate portals.” With the primary audience being prospective applicants, the website is no longer focused on Exeter’s internal community.
Despite difficulties navigating the new website, many students acknowledged its compatibility with Exeter applicants, concluding its utility to prospective students ultimately outweighed the minor inconveniences now faced by current Exonians. “I think people are disappointed in the website because it’s a bit difficult to use, but it will be helpful to applicants and new students,” upper Matt Alburn said.
Upper Molly Canfield agreed. “I’ve had a hard time locating resources, like the math text, on the new website,” she said. “But I think for new students or people interested in applying to Exeter, the website is great. It’s very visual and easy to explore for new families.”
Giampa noted the especially positive feedback on how “exciting and engaging” the new site was. “Users love the video and storytelling, which are both essential building blocks to the new website,” she said.
As for any future additions to the site, “the storytelling will continue, as will the addition of video and photography,” Giampa said. She emphasized the website’s mission to connect with prospective students and allow them to imagine their life at Exeter.
Bahansay admitted that the website hadn’t been completely satisfactory to new students.“With new things, there are always things that could go wrong,” she said. However, she believes that the update had, on a larger scale, resolved all the issues it originally set out to fix. Giampa explained the updated website provides prospective applicants with a more modern, comprehensive and accurate image of Exeter. “The new site tells stories in a different way—more people-centric so prospective students can see themselves here,” she said.