The good news is that both are great schools offering you an outstanding opportunity. Congratulations !
A friend who graduated from Loomis last year was accepted to excellent engineering programs and felt like he got great STEM opportunities there while still being able to have great humanities courses. @SevenDad 's oldest went on to STEM stardom from SAS.
As for the comment about day students bringing drugs and alcohol onto campusā¦ I can think of 1 100% boarding BS with a lot of drug and alcohol use (not SAS). Kids travel to each otherās homes on weekends to party. I donāt think either of these 2 schools is an exceptional concern in that regard in any case.
As for size, SAS is well known for its tight community so while it is smaller, it is very cohesive. A bigger school does give you more social opportunities, yet even at LC, you are likely to know most of your classmates pretty well by graduation. I suspect at both that you will be feeling ready to move on by graduation!
Tad Roach is a phenomenal leader and probably spends more time with students than most heads. I bet he has already made an effort to get to know you. It is not unusual for him to write to applicants with his reflections about their admissions essays.
@SevenDadās eldest chose SAS over St Paulās. @misslilbookworm chose SAS over Groton, despite family ties to Groton. There is something really special about the culture there.
I agree with @gardenstategal that you will be ready to move on after four years no matter which school you choose. However, I feel that the small size of SAS is only a strength and contributes to the incredibly strong sense of community. My kid was initially concerned about the size but now sees it as an advantage. There are plenty of opportunities to get to know students in other grades through sports, activities, meals, classes etc.
@willmo, I am sure you have probably received Tad Roachās handwritten letter referencing your essays. I am in awe that he takes the time to write all of those letters, and I think it speaks to how much he values and prioritizes community and how he leads by example. I donāt think anyone who chooses to work at a boarding school is looking for a nine to five job, but something that resonated with us on revisit day was that each student on the student panel spoke about the close relationships with adults at school and gave numerous examples of them going far beyond what is probably in their job description.
I know it is a big decision and especially hard to make from afar, but I am happy to answer other SAS specific questions.
Iām alive (just not as active on the BS side of thingsā¦and less active on the forum in general). As noted above, my older girl chose to attend SAS over SPS. While St. Paulās is more famous and has an INCREDIBLE campus, St. Andrewās just felt more like home to all of usā¦and we have never regretted the decision. Itās really too bad you wonāt be able to visit either school.
Regarding STEMā¦my older girl is in her senior year at a top 10 Chem E program at a state flagship where she got a full-ride+ scholarship. She chose this school over Carnegie Mellonās engineering program (even though we told her to not factor in money). She is currently choosing between fully-funded STEM PhD programs ā and is also waiting to hear about the GRFP (NSF fellowship). My point in sharing this info is that SAS can prepare you for a STEM future (if that is what you want).
But really, it was the community/culture aspects of SAS that sold us and that we look back most fondly on. We are still connected to several folks at the school ā and some fellow parents as well.
I know the decision day is coming up, so feel free to PM me with any questions you or your parents might have. Iām rooting for SAS, of course, but both schools are solid options. Best of luck.