<p>Thanx ERKYBK</p>
<p>Which other schools are you considering??</p>
<p>I am waitlisted on Hotchkiss, Choate, Deerfield, and Groton. I am in SMS and Middlesex. My parents like SMS better than MDX because MDX driives sports too much and they are telling me to go to SMS.</p>
<p>Erkybk,</p>
<p>Congratulations on the admit to Middlesex and St. Mark's ("SMS"). I agree with Oldprep's assessment early on that the one thing SMS really must work on is college admissions. When you take into account the relative strength, academic and otherwise, of the student body the college matriculation statistics are weak. That said, most major colleges and universities understand that a SMS education is second to none and will look carefully at your grades there and take into consideration that the rigor of the curriculum is greater than at most schools. I went to SMS in the late-80s after having been rejected at Groton and St. George's and accepted at Brooks and Pomfret. SMS was a great experience for me and it has, in the last 20+ years since I was at the school, really made an effort to compete more effectively with its principal peers (i.e., St. Paul's, Groton, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, etc.). I had a wonderful experience at the school and certainly know that college was infinitely easier for me than 90% of my classmates because of the excellent preparation. As far as teaching goes, my only complaint was that I had a physics teacher (who is still on the faculty, and has been since the early-80s) who was not at all good for those of us who were not destined to go to MIT. I actually discussed the same with a former headmaster at an alumni event and he concurred that the teacher was best for "strong" science students (I was not). One thing to note is the size of the school. Judging from your other choices, with the exception of Choate, I would take it you're looking for a smaller school environment. If that is true, St. Mark's is an excellent place to be and a place where you will experience a true sense of community.</p>
<p>Lastly, in response to earlier discussion regarding over-enrollment for the classes entering Fall 2007, that is true. The school's yield was considerably higher that year which lead to almost 50 students more than expected accepting the School's offer of admission. I don't know how that affected the Fourth Form (10th grade) applicant pool but there were no openings for entering Fifth Formers (11th graders) in the Fall 2008 intake. This information was made public by the School.</p>
<p>Again, congratulations on the admissions you received and best of luck in your decision.</p>
<p>My daughter and I visited ST Marks, Taft and several others. She preferred Taft and will attend Taft starting next week. I an not sure there is a lot of difference reputation-wise although others may know more. Taft's stats seem to show that it is more selective for whatever that is worth. My daughter thought ST Mark's was too small and she preferred not having the more formal dress code of ST Mark's. I would definitely suggest that your decision be made on fit and feel. I do not know Concord Academy.</p>
<p>What's the diff between the dress code at Taft and St. Mark's?</p>
<p>St. Mark's dress code is not that strict. The only thing is that I am not allowed to wear jeans during school days. Other than that it is pretty much flexible.</p>
<p>That was our impression -- other than male varsity athletes wearing coat and tie on game days...</p>
<p>For those who want to know about St. Mark's school more, </p>
<p>St. Mark's school is listed among the top 20 boarding schools (out of 240 schools) for: </p>
<p>• Selectivity - Low acceptance rates
• Offering Breadth - High # of AP/advanced courses offered
• Student Test Scores - High average SAT scores </p>
<p>check it out at</p>
<p>St</a>. Mark's School - Boarding School Profile</p>
<p>And also the school is ranked at 12 out of 240 borading schools
based on SAT score, endowment/student, number of AP classes, number of Sports club, number of Extracurricular activities, boarding students ratio, students to teachers ratio, percentage of the advanced degree holding faculties, students per class, and its history(foundation year).</p>