Getting into St. Albans
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Anonymous
Would it matter? |
Anonymous
| Answering a question with a question. Helpful. |
Anonymous
15:52, at least PP is making a point. Your post is pointless. |
Anonymous
| Of the boys in my son's class, probably 85% of them play a sport. I don't know if that is too much different from what you would find at Sidwell or GDS. If it is, so be it. STA has more athletes. It also is a great school, and the boys love it. |
Anonymous
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I don't know what class your son is in that 85% are athletes! I have 3 there and one has maybe 50% athletically inclined boys. You have to play something so everyone finds something to play (even the choristers) but in 4th and 5th it is sports rotations. Then in 6th grade you can play for the school. Only about 30% of one son's grade tried out for basketball this week! Another grade has at least 1/3 of my son's homeroom class who have no interest (currently!) in sports. We have an eclectic science kid, a voracious reader, a history buff, a budding chef and one I don't know but he does not partake in any sports during recess so while all 5 could easily be sporty, they are not. So I don't buy it that 85% are athletic. I think that is hugely inflated, as it is a small school and boys are part of a team but may not actually be very athletic. One son's football team had about 10 out of 20 or so boys who are any good. The other 10 had playing time and might develop stronger skills, but have not to date.
Don't pull numbers out of your you-know-what without having fulll information. ST Albans gives every boy a chance to play sports, as the school believes that this helps form a whole boy, that exercise is a good thing, that learning to be a good sport and a good team mate is valuable and that competition can be a good thing. While they have enjoyed success in different sports over the years, it does not compare to several of the other all boys schools in the area. They won't take a kid just because he is an athlete. A famous NFL football player went there and supposedly his brother could not get in. Other schools often give their athletes a free pass, but not at STA as they have to cut it academically as well. |
Anonymous
| PP here adding to my own post. 100% of the boys have to play something! No one gets excused from sports as it is part of the day. You can do conditioning courses or this program that has rock climbing and kayaking (so neither are teams per se) but everyone does something. |
Anonymous
| I'm the person who posted the 85%. I don't think I actually pulled out of my hat, but maybe my estimate was wrong. He's not in 6th grade yet, and I just did a count of anyone playing the seemingly requisite recreational sports over the year, which even science-geared children seem to do for at least part of the year. In any event, the point of my post was that it may be there are more sporty kids at St. Albans (as someone suggested), I just don't think it matters. I agree that the school accomodates many types of boys. |
Anonymous
| Wow - the infighting among the parents make it seem like a lovely school. Hopefully the boys aren't this vicious. |
Anonymous
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In fighting? Who knows who is really a STA parent or not? There may be imposters lurking. If the PP does not have a son in at least 6th grade how can she possibly know anything about sports yet. She (or he) said she estimated how many kids in her son's class play rec sports. How would she even know this? If her son is in 4th or 5th grade, he doesn't know the weekend plans of all 40-50 boys. And playing rec sports does not mean that they will or won't play at St Albans. I think the point of an earlier poster is that athletics is important, but not critical to acceptance. Nor is it the best athletic school around. But the school values the athletic program and every boy there participates in it, and usually finds something that they enjoy.
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Anonymous
| Just curious, is the economy affecting applications this year to St. Albans? |
Anonymous
| Point noted: don't quote numbers unless you're sure. I only estimated (and I take it back!) based on my son's class (not the grade) on who did a rec sport or played a sport (including SWIMMING and such!) after school or on weekends. I actually do have a sense from my son that most of them do. But forget I even said it. Apparently, this is a VERY SERIOUS allegation. |
Anonymous
The economy will affect those expensive privates that are not often discussed on DCUM. For STA and the other Big Two, there will always be demand, and always be enough people who will beg, borrow, steal, or just reach into their trust funds to pay for STA. |
Anonymous
And all posts on this board are full of useful content. Get over yourself. |
Anonymous
| Have the Beauvoir boys received word yet? I understand they are told informally around this time of year whether they're on track to get accepted to STA or not. |
Anonymous
I believe the Beauvoir boys have heard back. I know of at least one disappointed and now desperate DCU-Beauvoir M feverishly filling out applications to other schools as it looks like DS did not quite make the grade. |