It’s only our first year there, but you don’t see SMS on the forum much…we are happy to try and provide insight into this amazing school!!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
Thanks so much buuzn03. Son was accepted today and we are thrilled. Saw the fun acceptance video that your DD had a hand in. 
No questions right now, but I am sure they will emerge. On the video, they had admissions numbers, 13% acceptance this year. We are grateful.
Very cute admissions video!
Thanks @HMom16! DS was the assistant producer!!
Hi buuzn03. My DS just got accepted at St. Mark’s and Tabor Academy and is trying to decide between the two. He is definitely planning to go to revisit days. I have a couple questions. First, DS will be the first boarder in either side of the family. What kind of contact can we maintain with him and how much is too much? Second, we are really looking for a school that has kind kids. How is St. Mark’s in that regard? Third, what is the quality of the sports programs, particularly cross-country, crew and squash. Thanks!!
PS. We loved the video too!
My son is looking at SMS. He and we have liked it a lot. I can’t answer your first question but kids appear kind and supportive and the overall community has a reputation for being very caring.
Cross-county is strong and comes out tops in ISL many years. Hockey is competitive with a strong history of winning teams. Women’s crew is quite strong but men’s is not and has not been for some time. Men’s crew is not popular among athletes. Tabor has stronger rowing. Men’s squash is also relatively weak. Baseball has a good coach and has had decent season. Lacrosse is OK. The relative weakness of men’s sports has been a bit of concern as son is an excellent athlete. (hockey, baseball, lax, and wants to row).
A bigger concern for us, though it may not be for you, is SMS’ college matriculation. Against the schools my son has been accepted, SMS is notably weak This has been noted over the years on SMS and some have said it has improved of late, but it doesn’t show in the data.
@GreenIndian , if you can, talk to college counseling when you go to your revisit. There is often a lot more back story than appears in the numbers and lists…
@GreenIndian - What is your concern or question with the SMS matriculation list? Harvard (1) perhaps? Or, is it Brown ( 8 ) , Cornell ( 11 ), Dartmouth ( 6 ), Yale ( 3 ) or Princeton ( 3 ) in the last four years that gave you pause ? How is this “notably” weak? How does this list or any other matriculation list directly impact your incoming III Form kid?
I take it that your son is a rower. What’s his 2K?
@gardenstategal, What might that backstory be?
I get that at some schools there may be a number of athletes, for example, who go to more competitive colleges because of this hook. This is not my first rodeo, having gone through the college and graduate admission process with two older children at top schools. I kind of know the ins and out of how the game is played.
Matriculation is only a small part of our decision process, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. Given SMS’ relatively high average SSAT scores, its excellent faculty and the rigors of its curriculum, SMS should have better college matriculation than it does. I am concerned with not only where the top half of the class goes, but the bottom half as well. Neither group fares well comparatively.
Perhaps the top half of the class is just choosing to apply to schools you are less impressed by. Perhaps SMS attracts students who have different college preferences than others. It is incorrect to look at the SMS matriculation stats and assume that they are “weak” because the numbers to certain colleges do not match other schools. It is quite possible that most SMS students aren’t interested in those colleges. Not every student is, not all schools attract the same students. You would need to know where each student applied to really know if the mat stats reflect preferences or outcomes. Perhaps Naviance could give you more insight there, but the list alone tells you nothing but where students enrolled, nothing about the “why.” OTOH, it DOES tell you that some SMS students DO choose those colleges you care about, so an SMS education prepares students for acceptance at those schools. Your student could be one of them at SMS or some other school. It is not the school that “gets a student in;” it’s all about the student. Your child may have a better chance at one of those schools from SMS if that is his/her goal and the pool of SMS kids interested in those schools is fewer than at some others.
@PhotographerMom. SMS matriculation is weak compared to the others school we are looking at. Of course the schools you cite are fine school. That is not the point.
@PhotographerMom. My son is in the 8th grade. He does not have an erg time. FWIW, My older son rowed in a top 5 college program and had a 6:16 PB as an entering college freshman. He finished with a sub-six and stroked the 1V.
@ChoatieMom, I will ask about these issues on revisits. Thank you. Again the issue is comparative not absolute.
@GreenIndian- Your 8th grade son should have an erg time.
Since Kent has the largest graduated class under the microscope ( for GreenIndian’s prodigy ) … let’s start there!
Kent- C 2017: Harvard (2), Brown (3), Dartmouth (3) , Cornell (2) Princeton (1), Yale (zip ) Stanford (1) … but it was a big year for Syracuse with (7) Woot. Kent rowers love Syracuse- and what’s not to love?
Brooks! C- 2017- I actually like Brooks very much: Harvard (zip), Brown (3) Princeton (zip ) , Cornell (zip) Yale ( zip ) , Stanford (1) but Syracuse for the win again! ( 6 ) I’m sensing a trend developing … I like Syracuse, too! Nice! They keep Groton on their toes out on the water, too.
Up next: Westminster C- 2017 ( which is a little larger than Brooks so obviously I’m not doing this in any kind of order based on size ) C- 2017: Harvard (1) , Brown (2), Cornell (2), Dartmouth (1 ), Princeton (zip ) Yale (zip) , Stanford ( zip ) but Wesleyan brings it home with (6).
That’s gotta suck… but not for the kids who went to Wesleyan!
Holderness. I actually like their ML approach because it’s so vague with an air of : I don’t care what you think of our graduates… so we’re framing it as "Recent College Destinations ". I like it! It feels exotic- doesn’t it? : Harvard, Dartmouth, Stanford are mentioned along with UVM, BU and GW. No numbers… and I sincerely doubt they care but if you do - you should definitely ask them what’s up with that . 
How is SMS notably weak again?
My son graduated in '17 from Kent. Don’t forget Columbia at five (two oarsmen recruits, I believe). My recollection is a bit fuzzy but I think that two will attend Penn as well.
Indeed @Temperantia! SMS ( again- last 4 years but hey… ) sent (7) to Columbia , (7) tor Penn and (2) to Stanford . Nice job all around!
MODERATOR’S NOTE
This thread is a classic “Ask Me Anything” thread that is especially popular around this time of year. So in that spirit, let’s stick to topic, and answer questions that are asked, not anticipate questions that are unasked. Nobody asked about college matriculations, which has been covered ad nauseum in other threads.
@runningmom3 I will PM you. @PhotographerMom & @ChoatieMom thanks for stepping in as I was traveling from San Antonio to Austin with my extra long SUV loaded down with healthy foods for the apparently weak rowing team. (No…I don’t live in either of these places, but happened to be in San Antonio the past few days). The seniors that have already committed for crew to Harvard and BU were kind enough to help myself and DS unload crates of bananas, oranges, yogurt and the like…I didn’t realize they had underachieved. I’ll be sure to let them know when I meet them for dinner tonight.
When making these statements, I think people should keep in mind that we are talking about a school of 360 kids. One that specifically does not market or recruit because they want to stay small and attract a certain type of child. Sometimes they miss the mark on admissions, but those kids have been sent home. Schools of 360 kids have a harder time getting people from all over the world and US with a rowing background. Or a baseball background…or XC…you get where I’m going with this? They make their teams with their few hook kids and the rest who had a hook elsewhere, but were average or just interested in the sport. This goes for all of their sports.
As far as colleges go…they have several kids who go to the Ivies…just as several kids on CC are only concerned with GLADCHEMMS…but this is a student body who loves small, intimate environments and thus, many of them choose smaller private colleges (whom Forbes has listed as best colleges for the $$, etc) because it suits their personality better. Go figure. That being said…I think anyone considering St Mark’s should ask themselves if they really want to be in a school that small, where EVERYONE there knows not only who you are but almost everything about you. Because it is a very close-knit, intimate community of people. Those looking for anonymity or a prestige badge probably won’t feel comfortable in this environment. When you mess up…people know. When you do well…people know. It is a family.
Do you know anybody on the robotics team? If yes, do they enjoy it, and what is the time commitment like?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
In addition to my previous comment, might I remind people that this is not a debate society. You can state your position, and if necessary, defend once, but then you should move back. I have deleted a few posts, which may have had kernels that relate to SMS, but really, I’m not here to separate the wheat from the chaff within a post. Feel free to repost the parts that relate to SMS. Additionally, posts that have a statement like “I don’t know what your issue is” just have no place on this site at all. Surely you can make a point without snark.
@gonsalves16 I actually just drove a few of the crew kids who did robotics to the store…and we talked about some of their projects. I’ll definitely get more feedback from them in the next few days (DS did not choose robotics) but I’ll tell you what I do know now. There are several robotics classes as part of the STEM program, they are upper level science/engineering classes. But there are also several robotics classes that can be chosen as a Saturday elective by any grade, freshmen-seniors. (All Saturday classes are electives). This year they offered, small, large and underwater robotics classes and also a "legos & leadership " class where the kids taught younger kids from neighboring schools basic robotics and acted as team managers for these kids in competition. Several of the robotics classes worked off campus with Amazon’s drone program, also.
I will try to gets the students’ feedback on what they thought were pluses & minuses of their experience this year and get back with you. Hope my limited information was helpful, though!
Oh!! A few things I forgot to address @Runningmom3 First, contact with kids-- we FaceTime with DS almost every night. He initiates it, so we don’t interrupt something but it is usually at the same time each evening. We are able to talk for about 15 - 30 minutes…sometimes less if he’s had a busy night. On the nights he is committed (evening chapel, sit down dinner, advisory activity, hockey practice due to ice time, etc) he will usually call me between classes and tell me he can’t make our visit, or at least text. The faculty advisors encourage the kids to reach out to parents, also. The every night thing was DSs idea, for which I’m grateful, because it seems to keep him a part of our daily home life.
I know parents who live closer are able to pick kids up for dinner occasionally and see them on weekends, too. Sometimes, they’ll drop in at lunch and join them in the dining hall. Quiet study hours are in their dorm room from 7:30-9:30. If grades slip, these become mandatory study hours in the dorm common room with faculty proctors there for help, if needed.
This year there are thirty boys on crew…for a co-ed school of 360 kids, I think this is a pretty strong number (20% of male population roughly). They have kids committed to colleges for rowing, and a new head coach. I’m not familiar with crew, being from the desert. DS and I are learning as we go. But, the coach is committed to developing rowers, and feels that is exactly what HS rowing is for. He graduated from SMS and was a member of the team/boat when they took 2nd at New England’s.
Boys XC is strong. They actually compete in Div I at NEPSAC despite being a Div III or IV size school. They have a deep team and this group of boys are truly some of the best kids I’ve ever met.
Boys hockey is developing again…they lost two key players to the national juniors team this year, and several graduated. I personally think the organization and structure could improve, but I think the unexpected absence of these key players from the roster had an effect on that.
Wrestling is strong and the team did very well in ISL championships. I’ll have to do my research with some of the squash players.
The field hockey team went to the finals at NEPSAC and lost in a very close game…so you can say that program is very strong. Being a boy mom, though, I’m not too tuned in to the girls’ sports.
I touched on a lot of the sports info in PM to you, but thought I’d post it for others who may have similar questions but hadn’t asked.