St. Albans acceptance rate = 25 to 30%?

[Anonymous]

The fact that you posters are attacking the AD under the cloak of anonymity confirms that the AD made the right call it denying your family admission (yes, it's not just about your son, decisions are made on the desirability of the parents to be included in the Cathedral Community as well).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What’s the word on the new AD in terms of who he favors. The last 2 coached lax and soccer so it was no surprise who had an edge in admissions. The new guy is not a coach so I’m hoping some reasonableness returns to the admissions equation??

Define "reasonableness". His agenda seems to be one of "diversity"

AA or other forms of diversity?

AA not so much Hispanic (very underrepresented), Persian, Indian, or Asian

In other words, Smart.... and similar to the kids from past many years.

Joe Viola is a very fine man and, if for some reason your child is not accepted, you can be sure he looked hard at it and he was fair

This sounds like STA admin to me, keep up the posting.

Nope, just a very satisfied parent who's child got a great education and interaction with Dr Viola was from when he was Lower School Dean

His roles are very different now. Your past interaction with him as Lower School Dean has no bearing on those who have interacted with him as AD. He was not a good pick for his current role. He is better suited to his former one.

I think he’s doing a fine job. I’m not sure what your particular issue is. Previous AD is a really nice guy but in regards to being an admissions director he made the school more clubby and Republican than it has been in probably 30 years.

Correct. His legacy lives on and not in a good way for most of us who are neither clubby nor Republican.

Uh oh are you besmirching the former ad’s character? Where’s the outrage? My my double standards abound.

[Anonymous]

St Albans has an admissions committee and from what I know- at least for HS- the interviewer's impressions are very important. That's the added plus, or not, after grades, recs, EC's.

The people who meet your 8th grader have been with STA in an Admin role for likely decades and they can spot who will thrive and excel and add to the school.

There might be 10 spots.

If you really want STA for your son and are not sure if you can cut it in the 9th grade admit round, then full press on BVR for Pre-K and make sure that your kid is VERY well behaved and knows his math facts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that you posters are attacking the AD under the cloak of anonymity confirms that the AD made the right call it denying your family admission (yes, it's not just about your son, decisions are made on the desirability of the parents to be included in the Cathedral Community as well).

Snowflakes no one is attacking the current AD, get a grip. Suggesting he was a better fit for his previous role, ie belongs at STA just not necessarily as AD is not an attack or an assignation of his character, calm down. No one is perfect and it's dangerous to exalt someone the way some of you have. Someone said something "bad" about the previous AD, where is the outrage? No credibility with you all crazy posters. Really makes it seem like STA admin are posting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has an admissions committee and from what I know- at least for HS- the interviewer's impressions are very important. That's the added plus, or not, after grades, recs, EC's.

The people who meet your 8th grader have been with STA in an Admin role for likely decades and they can spot who will thrive and excel and add to the school.

There might be 10 spots.

If you really want STA for your son and are not sure if you can cut it in the 9th grade admit round, then full press on BVR for Pre-K and make sure that your kid is VERY well behaved and knows his math facts

You keep posting this about 10 spots. There are more like 20-25 for 9th in our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has an admissions committee and from what I know- at least for HS- the interviewer's impressions are very important. That's the added plus, or not, after grades, recs, EC's.

The people who meet your 8th grader have been with STA in an Admin role for likely decades and they can spot who will thrive and excel and add to the school.

There might be 10 spots.

If you really want STA for your son and are not sure if you can cut it in the 9th grade admit round, then full press on BVR for Pre-K and make sure that your kid is VERY well behaved and knows his math facts

You keep posting this about 10 spots. There are more like 20-25 for 9th in our experience.

Last year they took no boarders and took 18 day students. I don't know about this year but I think when they take boarders they usually take about 8, which is probably where the 10 number comes from (I did not post that number).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has an admissions committee and from what I know- at least for HS- the interviewer's impressions are very important. That's the added plus, or not, after grades, recs, EC's.

The people who meet your 8th grader have been with STA in an Admin role for likely decades and they can spot who will thrive and excel and add to the school.

There might be 10 spots.

If you really want STA for your son and are not sure if you can cut it in the 9th grade admit round, then full press on BVR for Pre-K and make sure that your kid is VERY well behaved and knows his math facts

You keep posting this about 10 spots. There are more like 20-25 for 9th in our experience.

Last year they took no boarders and took 18 day students. I don't know about this year but I think when they take boarders they usually take about 8, which is probably where the 10 number comes from (I did not post that number).

Right but not all boarders are not local. I know of several that are local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that you posters are attacking the AD under the cloak of anonymity confirms that the AD made the right call it denying your family admission (yes, it's not just about your son, decisions are made on the desirability of the parents to be included in the Cathedral Community as well).

Snowflakes no one is attacking the current AD, get a grip. Suggesting he was a better fit for his previous role, ie belongs at STA just not necessarily as AD is not an attack or an assignation of his character, calm down. No one is perfect and it's dangerous to exalt someone the way some of you have. Someone said something "bad" about the previous AD, where is the outrage? No credibility with you all crazy posters. Really makes it seem like STA admin are posting

What is your relevance to this discussion? You do not currently have a student at STA. Why do you insert yourself into every thread? You had your moment in the light now move on to something else.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Judging from the kids at Beauvoir, NCS and St. Albans, admissions can’t be that selective. The whole exclusive thing is a myth created to separate fools from their money..

I don't think 25 to 30 percent is THAT selective, ultimately. That's equivalent to a low tier Little Ivy acceptance rate.

I think it is not very selective coming in at 4th from BVR. If the question is how selective is it for 9th grade? VERY. Many more very qualified and impressive applicants and only about 10 available slots(some filled by those with hooks or sons of VIPs)

What about those coming in from 4th grade who are non-Beauvoir or are from MCPS or Virginia Public Schools? I know a couple folks who got waitlisted outside of Beauvoir. Great kids and families who are full pay. Too sad. What other factors if even underrepresented folks are being waitlisted?

There are only about 10-15 spots for 4th Mac for non-beauvoir coming to 4th. It’s tight. Yes siblings do get an advantage as they should. That is one thing we preferred about sta over Sidwell and why we chose sta. A few Sidwell friends’ younger children did not accepted into pre-K/k and it was difficult on the family to split up among different communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think about it this way:

Andover's acceptance rate is 13%. They pull from all over the country and the world, and are one of the most coveted private high schools.

Aside from some kindergarten classes, where there are simply very few slots, I can't imagine day schools in this area--even the best ones--having an acceptance rate that is that much lower than a top independent boarding school.

My guess is that you have a few schools that hover around 15-25%, and then the rest are significantly higher.

That's fine; acceptance rate is simply NOT a proxy for excellence. UChicago had a very high acceptance rate before they started accepting the Common App, simply because they had a self-selecting applicant pool. As soon as they started taking the Common App, their acceptance rate plummeted and people started talking about how great the school is. The school didn't change; the number of applications did.

OP here. I'm not interested in acceptance rates because of prestige, but for practical planning for my children. And while acceptance rates are fuzzy predictors at best, the difference between a 7% acceptance rate and a 30% rate are huge when it comes to figuring out where my dc can realistically go to school.

Fine. So, take everyone's advice then: If you want STA get your kid into BVR

just make sure that they are very well behaved and learn their math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the word on the new AD in terms of who he favors. The last 2 coached lax and soccer so it was no surprise who had an edge in admissions. The new guy is not a coach so I’m hoping some reasonableness returns to the admissions equation??

Define "reasonableness". His agenda seems to be one of "diversity"

+1. He talks a good game, but in the end, most admits are siblings, legacies (a lock for admission) and families with hooks/ connections of some sort.

THIS is TRUTH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the word on the new AD in terms of who he favors. The last 2 coached lax and soccer so it was no surprise who had an edge in admissions. The new guy is not a coach so I’m hoping some reasonableness returns to the admissions equation??

Define "reasonableness". His agenda seems to be one of "diversity"

+1. He talks a good game, but in the end, most admits are siblings, legacies (a lock for admission) and families with hooks/ connections of some sort.

THIS is TRUTH

I simply don't think he has much, if any power over who is admitted.
There continue to be many toxic families admitted but they bring $$$ and that is ultimately what makes the school tick. Money and power. Plenty of new, gauche, exclusionary money. It is the thorn in STA's side.
The teachers are lovely. The education is amazing. But these families almost ruin the experience. NCS does not have this issue to this degree. It's a major shame that STA does.

[Anonymous]

When you say siblings have an advantage, I assume you mean brothers only? My son has two sisters at NCS and was WL at STA for 9th grade. Having siblings on the close didn’t tip the scales for our son. He was objectively qualified (grades, ECs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the word on the new AD in terms of who he favors. The last 2 coached lax and soccer so it was no surprise who had an edge in admissions. The new guy is not a coach so I’m hoping some reasonableness returns to the admissions equation??

Define "reasonableness". His agenda seems to be one of "diversity"

+1. He talks a good game, but in the end, most admits are siblings, legacies (a lock for admission) and families with hooks/ connections of some sort.

THIS is TRUTH

I wholeheartedly agree. My son has all A’s and was applying from all boys school ranked just below Albans and was not accepted. We have no connection or hook and foolishly thought he had a change based on merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the word on the new AD in terms of who he favors. The last 2 coached lax and soccer so it was no surprise who had an edge in admissions. The new guy is not a coach so I’m hoping some reasonableness returns to the admissions equation??

Define "reasonableness". His agenda seems to be one of "diversity"

+1. He talks a good game, but in the end, most admits are siblings, legacies (a lock for admission) and families with hooks/ connections of some sort.

THIS is TRUTH

I wholeheartedly agree. My son had all A’s on his report card from another boys schools with a ranked one below Albans in Dc. He plays a sport, chess, competed in robotics and was denied. We have no connection or hook and was foolish to believe he had a chance based on merit.