<p>Bonnied, I don’t know St. Andrew’s except vaguely – a few alumni from the early sixties, a couple of friends’ kids – so I am not really qualified to speak about it, except that everybody I know was quite pleased. The challenge for St. Andrews is that because it’s so far away from the New England prep school heartland, competition with peer schools is more complicated and I think more infrequent. </p>
<p>I have a daughter at St. Mark’s now and I am quite pleased with the school. We initially looked into it because I’d heard good things about it recently from an old boarding school dorm-mate; our own investigations confirmed the positive impression we had of St. Mark’s today. St. Mark’s positives include:a strong new headmaster (who is also an alumnus); great new facilities; the St. Mark’s Math Institute; the athletic program; (and perhaps most importantly) a holistic approach to the kids (this I heard in great detail from my former schoolmate who was a teacher there).</p>
<p>We chose St. Mark’s for these reasons, and haven’t been disappointed. Our daughter has very happy with her experience on a variety of levels. St. Mark’s is a small school, and that has pluses and minuses. The big plus: everybody knows everybody. The big “minus”: everybody knows everybody. What I mean here is that people really do interact because that’s the way the school is structured, and that’s a function of a small boarding school. Kids don’t fall between the cracks. Sure it’s old fashioned, but I am old fashioned myself.</p>
<p>I am also somewhat of a “helicopter parent” and did quite a bit of research about the school, and note that I have read some negative postings about St. Mark’s here and, for example, in Sean Wilsey’s book about St. Mark’s fifteen years ago. These comments are about as relevant, to me, as twenty-year old criticisms of St. Paul’s or Groton. St. Mark’s seems to have gone through a tough patch as it adjusted to the modern age. St. Mark’s is not the only elite boarding school to have addressed these issues. St. Mark’s has also put those issues behind it.</p>
<p>I have a very focused, super straight, academic daughter who tells me what’s going on and I am convinced that dated negatives from a few posters don’t reflect today’s school. My recommendation? Do revisit day. Investigate the school. Talk to the kids. Let St. Mark’s speak for itself to you directly. Everybody is different. But we’ve been very happy and St. Mark’s today is a great place to be.</p>