Life in a prep school is hard, but it is fun and progressive at the same time.
Three hours of homework is guaranteed at my school, and it could get worse in the Junior year. It really requires students to have good time management to do well at school, and this is also an important skill to learn in high schools.
At the same time, my school offers tons of activities for students to do. It ranges from dance or concerts at saturday nights to a trip on sunday to New York or Boston. There are also many clubs in the school that are run by students.
Particular to my school, there are several signature programs, including Science Research Program, Arabic and Middle East Studies, Arts Concentration or Capstone Program. Each of these goes in depth in a specific area, and students can indeed benefit from them.
Finally, a little introduction to my school, Choate Rosemary Hall. It's in Wallingford, CT. The school size is about 820 students. 39 states and 46 countries are represented at the school. The campus is gorgeous, and dorms are pretty nice as well.

Here is a link you can look at if you're interested, http://www.choate.edu/aboutchoate/quickfacts.aspx