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[quote=Anonymous]St. Anselm's is quite easy to get into for the appropriate candidate.  They don't care if you are rich, have fancy jobs, drive a certain kind of car, have a certain kind of job.  If your son is smart (gifted, hard-working -- at least 1 of the above), interested in going beyond the minimum in terms of education, it could be a good fit.  They use 2 widely well-regarded standardized entrance exams and also look at grades, teacher recommendations, student visit and interview, parent interview (are the parents interested in supporting the success of the child at the school), and student essays.  The Admissions people are very open and honest about what makes a successful candidate and what doesn't.  They are very open and honest throughout the process about who will succeed and if they feel your son won't, why.

I am horrified to hear about a negative racial situation happening at the Abbey.  There are sometimes small groups of difficult boys and it sounds like an unfortunate situation where those boys got some bad ideas and made a child's life unpleasant.  I have never seen any sort of racial division there, but the boys do have a lot of freedom in their day and things could be whispered.

The middle school boys do NOT have 3-4 hours of homework/night.  If they do, something is wrong.  It's more like 1-2, more if there are tests or projects.  The upper school boys have more, but not out of ratio with that of other kids at demanding college prep programs.  There are some hard-nosed, old-school teachers and they grade accordingly.  It can be a tough wake-up call for kids who are smart enough to skate through most programs.

Yes, it is very similar to BASIS in many ways in terms of seeking academic rigor.  The differences are that they "weed out" according to the rights of private schools from the outset.  There are always some kids who don't rise to the challenge, but the ones who attend the school all could do the work.  They take kids with well-maintained ADHD, high-functioning Asperger's, anxiety/depression, as long as the parents and child (as appropriate) are aware of what the school can and cannot do for the student.  They are clear about what they can and cannot accommodate, which is in keeping with the rights of a non-public school.

St. Anselm's has about 40% of its students on financial aid.  If you know anything about Benedictine monasticism, you will know that they will do anything they can to make a St. Anselm's education possible for your family.  If the numbers show that you could pay $20K/year and you feel you really couldn't, the reality is probably somewhere in the middle.  The FA office will be happy to have a discussion with you on the subject to see if a compromise can be made.  As is the case with other schools, sometimes families don't want to do what it takes to make the sacrifice.  St. Anselm's is very much a middle-class school for which many families are willing to make an extra sacrifice.  I totally understand that that is not possible in all cases.

BASIS states that if a student is willing to work hard and take advantage of the extra help they can succeed at the school.  I think the jury is still out on that.  I know some of the families of kids who left and there are stories there.  They are stories that are not mine to tell, but they are interesting ones.

I hope BASIS succeeds, but I think they need to beef up their support mechanisms to make sure no one is left behind who truly wants to do the work.  [/quote]

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