What it's like to attend Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the most elite boarding schools in America

Phillips Exeter Academy was founded by a Harvard graduate in 1781.

Founder Dr. John Phillips set out to teach young men “the great and real business of living.”

The 1,200-student-strong now co-ed high school in New Hampshire is still a boarding school unlike any other today.

It uses the Harkness Method, a unique teaching model that schools around the world strive to imitate.

Phillips Exeter Academy, a 1,200-student-strong high school located in the sleepy town of Exeter, New Hampshire, is one of the most elite boarding schools in America.

When Dr. John Phillips, a graduate of Harvard and resident of Exeter, opened the Academy in 1781, he set out to teach young men “the great and real business of living.” More than two centuries later, the now co-ed school prides itself on the strength of its network, its commitment to spreading kindness, and on its use of the Harkness Method, a unique teaching model that schools around the world strive to imitate.

Many millionaires and a handful of billionaires are products of the Exeter community and have helped grow the school's endowment to over a billion. The fund supports many students' tuition, which otherwise costs $55,402 a year for boarding students.

I spent the day as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy to see why it's so highly regarded.