<p>SAS advocate here and willing to answer to the best of my abilities any questions from a parent's perspective. My family was traditionally all NE boarding schools and it wasn't until I learned that my father in-law attended SAS did I even hear of the school. I started checking the school's website two years before my oldest could apply. The more I read, the more impressed I became with the school. Someone once remarked to me "anyone who knows anything about boarding schools, knows about St. Andrew's". I've seen and experienced so much of the boarding school scene but I have never witnessed such cohesiveness between the student body and the faculty that I have seen at St. Andrew's. The academics certainly are challenging and their college matriculation list speaks for itself. Tad Roach is the epitome of a headmaster, an educator, leader, thinker, writer. St. Andrew's is a quite little gem that provides exceptional inspiration and challenges to the students lucky enough to attend. For those looking for a small excellent boarding school, I strongly recommend St. Andrew's School. Please check out the website and the new admissions video.</p>
<p>what would you say the general âfeelâ of the campus is?</p>
<p>Thereâs an energy on campus that is strong, vibrant and shared amongst the students and faculty alike. Iâve never seen anything like it. I contribute it in part to the school size, caliber of students and faculty with an incredible headmaster.</p>
<p>Agree about SAS. Very impressive campus. fantastic auditorium. Only downside I can think of is they play many day schools in sports so I think the schedules can be a little erratic. Is this right ops?</p>
<p>Yes, they play mostly day schools but I donât see any down side in that. They mostly have their week games on Tuesdays as opposed to Wednesdays, no big deal. Saturday games as usual and always a pleasure to drive down and watch. Theyâre building a new in ground energy efficient gym. I donât know all the details but I have no doubt it will be impressive when finished.</p>
<p>finally some diversity on this forum! what would you say is st. andrews biggest strength? academics? sports? arts? does st. andrews de take very liberal arts approach to there academic curriculum? do most kids who graduate from st. andrews attend liberal arts colleges? what type of students attend st. andrews?</p>
<p>On a side note, St Andrewâs School in DE was where the movie Dead Poets Society was filmed at.</p>
<p>IMO: Very strong in academics coupled with an incredible arts program. They have an Arts Weekend in the Spring. Very much a parents weekend but highlights the arts. That weekend is also coupled with athletics and with Crew traditionally being one of their strongest sports. They are good kids with a lot of diversity from around the globe. About half the students receive some form or another of financial aid but you could never tell which ones. Flwg is a partial list from their website with 06-09 college matriculation:
College Mat.
Williams College 10
Boston College 9
Sewanee: The University of the South 9
Davidson College 8
Franklin and Marshall College 8
Carnegie Mellon University 7
Hamilton College 7
The George Washington University 7
University of Virginia 7
Vassar College 7
Brown University 6
Dartmouth College 6
Kenyon College 6
Dickinson College 5
Harvard University 5
Haverford College 5
Middlebury College 5
Princeton University 5
University of Richmond 5
Yale University 5
University of Delaware 5</p>
<p>(williams, ftw!:p)</p>
<p>what are the quality of the sports teams, girls soccer in particular? also how is school spirit?</p>
<p>I confess not following the Girls soccer but the Varsity record last Fall was 7-3-1. The school is well known for itâs Crew both both boys and girls. Many have gone to row at the college level. In 1997 the girls won the Peabody Cup in England. Sports at all boarding schools ride a roller coaster with non winning seasons, undefeated seasons and zippo. Taft had itâs first winning football season in more than a decade this past Fall. </p>
<p>Regardless of a teamâs record the St. Andrewâs spirit is electric when it comes to sports. On the website thereâs a photo of some painted spectators, you tell me. The auditorium fills up when the school orchestra plays, no one has to tell them to go listen.</p>
<p>How selective is it? I read on the site that there are 80 open spots for lk~485 (something like that) applicants. do you think it woulld be easier to apply as a repeat rather than for one of 20 spots?</p>
<p>Applying as a freshman would have itâs advantages. In the past, more applicants have chosen the traditional New England schools when given the choice, reason being for the 30% acceptance rate. But, I understand that acceptance rate has been reduced to about 13-14% this past Spring. Word is getting out.</p>
<p>i saw one of the videos on their website about their athletics programs and it says that alot of the students who come in have never played sports or are new to certain sports, but the school has a strong athletic program. the school has a long tradition of rowing.</p>
<p>How would you rate the academic pressure? I heard from a child who attends that it is not that bad until junior year. any knowledge of the workload/pressure?</p>
<p>Does anyone have any recient experiamce with attending SAS from a far distance (i.e., far enough to have to fly)? I visited the school in the last few months and it seemed like a lot of students were from fairly nearby (i.e., less than a 3 hour drive). I REALLY REALLY LIKED THE SCHOOL AND THE KIDS but Iâm concerned that I wonât be able to go home very many weekends during the year and also that my parents and family wonât be able to come to any of my games or activities. Iâd greatly appreciate any thoughts current students or parents have on this! Thanks.</p>
<p>My family was also always NE boarding school (Groton, SPS, Andover). I visited SAS a few weeks ago and FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. The campus and people were so nice and I really think that it is a âgem.â Not many people talk about it, and most of my friends just know HADES. </p>
<p>I just have one question, how would you compare SAS to NE schools. I have a lot of pressure to go to a NE school but I really fell in love with SAS. I can still make my own decision of where to go, but Iâve grown up with the atmosphere of NE (I live there and all my family members went to HADES). How different would SAS be?</p>
<p>St. Andrewâs is a misfit school in Delaware. They donât belong to any of the âcliquesâ of schools (i.e. the northern public schools, the southern public schools, the private schools, the Wilmington private schools, the Catholic schools, the charter schools, THE charter schools), so they really donât have much of an interscholastic life. Youâre just stuck at your boarding school in the middle of nowhere with your boarding school friends. I didnât even know it existed until last year, and I didnât know it was a prestigious school until this year.</p>
<p>I know teachers at SAS come from Choate, Andover, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, etc.
They use Andoverâs textbooks (correct me if Iâm wrong).
Itâs relatively a new school and has some unique features (100% boarding, 2000-acre campus, several signature programs).</p>
<p>They have sports games on Tuesday afternoon (like Wednesday sports for NE schools). I believe some NE schools are even more isolated.</p>
<p>If prestige is your thing, then donât bother applying.</p>
<p>âDead Poets Societyâ was filmed at St. Andrewâs. Random fact.</p>
<p>They thought it was a beautiful campus which had a little cave for the poets. The story does not relate to the school in any way.</p>