<p>St Andrews is a fine school. Due to location, it tends to attract kids from the Washington/Baltimore areas as well as Philadelphia/southern NJ. If you`re not wanting ice hockey and snow ski, which is very accessible in NE, you should consider this school. It does bring in an average amount of international students so diversity is nice. The school has a very good reputation.
I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, so I love the area. :)</p>
<p>Hmmm, unsure where to begin here; Location; if you live in NYC then itâs closer than most NE BS, except CT. As for being in the middle of nowhere, it has more than most in the surrounding area than 2 or 3 NE BS put together and thatâs just Middletown, not to mention Wilmington. Delaware is a delta state, excellent farming, itâs flat, not the campus. Thereâs everything but a Costco in Middletown.<br>
It takes the cream of the crop from the surrounding states and farther. Plenty of intellectual badass students but if your a parent, youâre not complaining and if a student then good chance you may end up working for one. </p>
<p>@fishinlady - It has been known to be a pressure cooker but depends on the student.
@March 10 - When it comes to long weekends or any weekend, some kids who live far away are invited to friends homes. Another popular alternative is staying on campus during long weekends where basically the students (within reason) get the run of the place. The kids realize there may be more to do at school than at home on their free time. There is Parents Weekend in the Fall and Arts Weekend in the Spring both filled with athletic activities. Otherwise, yes, your at boarding school and your folks just wonât be able to attend all your functions.</p>
<p>@2CHiLLaXiN - I refer back to my original post âanyone who knows anything about boarding schools, knows about St. Andrewâsâ.</p>
<p>Good luck to those waiting to hear back March 10.</p>
<p>should read âyouâre at boarding schoolâ. My grammar as usual, obviously I did not attend SAS.</p>
<p>I think a big selling point of St. Andrewâs is headmaster Tad Roach. He really seems to have built a great community down there. If you are at all interested in SAS, a read of his archived chapel talks is worthwhile, if not downright inspirational.</p>
<p>And, as far as I know, heâs not planning to leave anytime soon (I bring this up in light of the impending head of school changes at SPS and Choate).</p>
<p>A link to a few of Tad Roachâs Chapel Talks:</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.standrews-de.org/data/files/pages/TadsChapelTalks.pdf[/url]â>http://www.standrews-de.org/data/files/pages/TadsChapelTalks.pdf</a></p>
<p>So good, The Prank is my favorite.</p>
<p>Any advice or speculation for a homeschooler applying as a freshman to SAS?</p>
<p>BS was completely off my radar until early January when my sonâs chess program moderator pumped him up to apply.</p>
<p>He has since applied to two schools, St. Andrewâs and Westtown (weâre Quaker). </p>
<p>Heâs very excited about the prospects, but I canât help being nervous that heâll be crushed by a rejection letter.</p>
<p>He is strong academically and in the community, but has no formal scholastic record and no âin-schoolâ activities brag list.</p>
<p>Neither school seemed at all phased by him submitting a personal academic portfolio in lieu of an official transcript. He took two practice SSATâs and scored 2227 and 2304, and felt confident he did even better on the actually test.</p>
<p>Any ideas of what we should expect?</p>
<p>I donât think anyone can answer that question except; hope for the best and prepare for the worse. Pretty much all the schools make their applicants feel wanted as they themselves are unsure until the acceptance process has been completed. A very intriguing aspect of this whole process is that until now, the students have been marketing themselves to the schools. After March 10th, the tables really turn 180 degrees and the schools really do their utmost to get those students to choose them. The schools remain very tight lip until March. Sometimes the Jr. Prep schools get a few days heads up and even the Counselors otherwise itâs pretty much zippo. Fingers crossed and good luck!</p>
<p>I think you need to have a frank conversation with the schools so you know how they treat home schooled applicants and what kinds of academic records they expect. Other than that, although SAS is small it is not too selective. According to its website,
</p>
<p>Two years ago the yield was very high followed by an acceptance percentage rate in the teens last year. Between the the internet and word of mouth, SAS has become more defined on the radar screen for those seriously contemplating boarding schools.</p>
<p>^^so this info on the school website is out of date? Where did you find the teen admit rate published?</p>
<p>The websites of many schools are not updated annually with respect to Admissions. It is an average figure. The schools do not want to intimidate potential candidates with numbers. My source is simply that I asked them because I know their yield was so high the year before. They still have more students then they anticipated and I understand their intentions to get back down below 300. </p>
<p>Facts and figures on the websites is not a perfect science as much as it it would be ideal, certainly would make life easier for the Admission teams. St. Georgeâs for example reads 700 applications for 100 places, but it varies from year to year from 775 for 90 to 675 for 100.</p>
<p>OK. I think a big part of the school websites can remain the same from year to year, and most of them do, but the stats/figures should be updated at least yearly. Especially when the title is âFacts and Figure for 2010-2011â, it is a bit misleading. Being concerned that the true stats would âintimadate potential applicantsâ is not a valid reason. This is an institution not a church lady.</p>
<p>Not to stray too far from the thread but SAS states âapproximatelyâ and SG is âaboutâ and Iâm sure many others use similar verbiage. As for intimidation, that was my choice of words.</p>
<p>How are the weekends at the school - are there organized activities (and if so, are they well attended & what kinds of things do they do)? Can you tell us more about âthe kids have the run of the place on the weekendâ? How structured is the school - mandatory sports, mandatory study hall, enforced lights out? Thank you!</p>
<p>I think I had better clarify âthe kids have the run of the placeâ remark. On long âholidayâ weekends some stay on campus who live far away. They can use the facilities, ie. swimming pool, movies, athletic facilities. Lights out I presume is lax. To be quite honest Iâm not completely sure what transpires. My guy debates coming home with there being so much more to do at school. Obviously there are benefits of being at home as well. There are organized activities on the weekend after sports. Dances, hypnotist, road trips to Delaware, there always seems to be something going on. I was on campus for a sporting event one Saturday and decided to stick around for the evening concert. The auditorium was full, I was surprised to think that they would make this mandatory for a Saturday night. I was wrong, it wasnât mandatory, just very well attended. It was followed by some crazy soccer / dodgeball game with some of the faculty at the gym. It seemed like the entire school was participating.
The school is structured and if your not doing sports then maybe your doing the school play. Study hall is mandatory. For the ninth graders they all go down to the dining hall for study hall. For Friday nights study hall is in their rooms. The practice of the freshmen class down in the dining area for study hall really helps in focusing on their studies and eliminates goofing off. Lights out is enforced along with abusing cell phone and gaming.</p>
<p>Thanks, ops, this entire thread is really helpful. </p>
<p>Do you happen to know about how many new sophomores they take on each year? I imagine the next year or two might be a little lower than normal, to work through that high-yield year.</p>
<p>Is it overall a happy place with happy kids? What kind of kid would you say they are looking for?</p>
<p>How would you describe its academic rigor? Are kids more competitive or cooperative? How supportive is the school (ie, sink or swim)? </p>
<p>Are most of the teachers âtriple threatsâ? Do many live on campus? What is the mix between older/younger teachers? How is the turnover?</p>
<p>As you can see, I have lots of questions!</p>
<p>Ops, what do you mean when you say that abusing cell phones and gaming is enforced? also, how is it enforced? Is spending too much time playing DVDâs on our computers in the dorm room also enforced? If so, how and when?</p>
<p>I read that the dorms donât have internet reception or access so I assume cell phone use in our rooms is impossible too. Is this correct? Thank you for your info.</p>
<p>@ 2kidsnoanswers: My understanding is that they are going to slowly reduce the student population over the years. How many years, Iâm unsure and as to the number of incoming sophomores it would also be wrong for me to guess because I donât know.</p>
<p>It is an overall happy place, there is no doubt in my mind about that. It is academically challenging and it has been known to be a pressure cooker but that depends upon each student. Like any of these schools, as soon as one gets behind then one will really have their worked cut out for them. My Grandfather went to Groton and I kind of look at SAS as a Groton South of NY but without the baggage. I guess Iâll find out which Groton people read this. Iâm unsure by what you mean with respect to competitive vs cooperative. It is not a sink or swim school, too small for anyone to fall between the cracks but itâs no walk in the park. One has to use their free time wisely.</p>
<p>Sorry, youâve lost me with âtriple threatsâ? Many faculty do live on campus. Whatâs old, whoâs old? There are some young faculty with impeccable qualifications. Some turnover but where a teacher leaves to be the Headmaster at the Kingâs Academy in Jordan. </p>
<p>@March10: Cell phones can be used in your room but not during study hall and certainly no video games during study hall or after lights for that matter. There is a time to play and time to study ie. time management. You miss meals, classes and so forth youâll end up with detention which usually consists of 1 hour study hall on Saturday night coupled maybe with a Sunday morning road side clean up.
The common rooms in each dorm have internet access, not the rooms. Understanding that technology advances daily and the younger generation is normally first to utilize those upgrades and bend the rules, makes it a constant challenge to curb abuses. Placing a WI-FI in the attic has already be done and tried.</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread, ops. I think it would be great to see a thread like this on many wonderful schools not typically given much air time on CC. </p>
<p>Love the comment on the attic wifi - I am sure you saved some kids time in knowing that has already been tried. LOL. But you are right - the kids are the early adaptors of tech advances & it is not easy to keep pace with them.</p>
<p>How is the clarity of cell phones in the dorms? Problems with dropped calls?</p>
<p>Competitive vs cooperative - I was trying to get at whether competition for grades was intense & at the expense of your neighbor, or more low key where there is a fair amount of group work & helping each other learn. This question might not really apply at such a young age.</p>
<p>âTriple threatsâ are faculty that serve in 3 capacities: teachers, coaches & dorm parents - one person playing all three roles. Our current JBS has its share of these, & they seem to do the job very well, but there has been some discussion on this board & elsewhere that perhaps triple threats get stretched a little thin.</p>