class of '25 st. marker here! drop any questions/concerns below! congrats on making it through the process and happy m10!
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Happy to see a dedicated thread about this school. I’m sure we will have many more questions as the days progress. Our daughter has been accepted to this school and I believe this will be her school. Class of 2027.
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This is our top pick for our son as parents. He wants to revisit St. Marks and Williston. He will also be class of 27, boarding. He knows a few people at SMS already so I am hoping he has a great revisit day!
I’m a current fourth former (sophomore) at St. Mark’s! Happy to answer questions too.
Calling @buuzn03 whose son graduated from St. Mark’s a few cycles ago. She was always helpful with info about her son’s time there.
Hi - please share the good and otherwise - any info will help! My son is a reclassed 10th grader who plays lacrosse and loved St. Mark’s and was very surprised to make the cut to be accepted! Can’t wait for revisit days. He applied as a border but was accepted as a day student which is the only “issue” we have as we were hoping for boarding but we are dealing with it. How are the academics - cut throat or good? S26 is a good student A/B and I am a bit worried. He loves lacrosse and helping out in the community. Thanks
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I am not on this forum much anymore.
SMS was the absolutely perfect place for our DS. So much so, he transferred to WPI after a year of being away from the area. He still attends some functions at the school, like WICK and alumni 5k runs.
The academics are challenging but the faculty so supportive. DS had several friends with learning challenges who were very well supported and thrived there. One of whom had a sibling at Deerfield, and not only did his parents tell us that the academics were superior at SMS, but their St Marker got multiple acceptances at very selective colleges, whereas his sibling only received one.
There was nothing cutthroat about the SMS community - everyone challenged themselves in a healthy competition and celebrated each other’s successes.
I can’t say enough good things about SMS (well, the food wasn’t stellar, but it was better than my daughter’s BS). We just dropped in for a visit when I visited my son at college.
For full disclosure, my DD was accepted to SMS but did not attend- which made me a bit sad but it wasn’t the right fit for her in other ways. She would’ve thrived in the community, however.
Also, one of my DSs good friends was also accepted as a day student initially, and was able to switch to boarding his IV form year. That is actually pretty common.
Thank you so much for all that information! My son is a good student, but occasionally need some extra help to work through science type things so it’s great to hear that you don’t have to be an A+ student to enjoy Saint Marks. Also, while he was admitted as a day I know he would like to board eventually, so I’m glad you mentioned that it could be an option. We are also going to bring it up with admissions. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but it would be nice to have him there eventually.
Everyone we have not so far has been extremely nice. The lacrosse coach is newer, but he seems very eager and is reaching out a lot to all the new lacrosse kids which is great.
So happy to hear you’re a DS loved it -
There are so many things to think about when choosing a boarding school and since he is our first to go to one, our head is kind of swimming with the choices. He has three great ones with Kimball Union, Saint Marks and Portsmouth Abbey. Each one gave him a nice merit package, so they are all within the same price range so now it’s just deciding on which state in which school to go to.
My son was accepted as a reclassed 10th grader as well and is very excited about SMS! I’m wondering whether boarding students stick around on the weekends or do many go home? Trying to understand the feel of campus after Saturday classes/sports and on Sundays. Since my son is from the Midwest he’d definitely be on campus - what are popular weekend activities? Any insight would be appreciated!
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hi, im a class '26 boarding student at sms and boarding students who live close to the school do go home. every weekend there are a variety of activities, the most popular being trips to the nearby mall or occasional trips to boston. there are also concerts, movies, and more. im from the midwest as well so i enjoy the activities sms provides. hope this helps!
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We are from Texas. And while the “local boarders” do leave for many weekends, the Saturday morning classes and afternoon sports competitions damper the campus “emptying “. There are plenty of distance boarders and international students that stay, and as another has posted, the school always has trips to Target, the mall, the Apex, etc scheduled, as well as special night events like s’mores bakes, guest entertainment, dances and casino nights.
My son actually liked the quiet on Sundays…he could leisurely do laundry, find friends to play spike ball or cage ball, go hiking around the reservoir or meet for brunch at the local Mauro’s diner.
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congratulations!
first, congratulations on the acceptance! second, i believe it is possible for students to change from boarding to day and vice versa before September, i have a few friends that did so (but it might also just be luck). academics are not cut throat, and there is a lot of support and flexibility around work/assessments. hope this helps, but st. mark’s sounds like a great fit for him!
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congrats on the acceptance! as @anouk said before, we have a variety of weekend trips every weekend. there are usually multiple trips to the mall, target, whole foods, trader joes, movies, etc. students can also work with the dean that manages the activities to customize them to their liking. if he is able to come for revisit day, i’m sure the current students would love to show him examples of past trips and plans for the current weekend!
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Thanks everyone your experience is so helpful! My son is super excited and we’re figuring out about revisit days.
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We’re excited too. My daughter is a class of 2027 but we live 5/6 hours driving from SMS so things to do on weekends are very important.
Happy to hear that they have many activities.
Thank you for this… Have been reading much about the school today. We are now so excited.
Do you know when are revisiting dates? I have already received packages from all other schools but not this one. I don’t know if they ship anything or everything is electronically. Other schools put the information about revising dates in their packages…
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April 4th and 6th.
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