Anonymous wrote:Plenty of legitimate reasons for someone to decide not to go to Columbia or even Harvard. But, typically, they’d select another extremely highly regarded school that was more in sync with their ideals, whatever they might be.

Some of the SAAS students clearly selected those schools, many others were not in the same universe. Was it actually a choice between an ivy or ivy-adjacent and an otherwise unremarkable school? Maybe, but probably not.

Some top students don’t apply to privates without merit aid — or apply to mainly publics — in the first place. In those cases, yes, it was such a choice, but the choice was made at application time. In other cases (the Columbia example is not one of them; your facts are wrong) a cheaper alternative is picked over a “prestigious” school.

Parents are telling you this is the case. But you are not listening…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some folks rave about the rigor and deem it underrated academically relatively to more prominent peers. Others argue that it has a justified inferiority complex based on less well-rounded students and meh college outcomes.

Sounds to me like if your kid is a bit quirky and nerdy, it night be nirvana. If they are athletic or seeking a more traditional high school experience, they may be better off elsewhere.

I don't get the less well rounded comment. Not true at all. Actually, more so than other schools they are required to engage in well-rounded activities.

Exactly. I find the boys to be more well rounded than at other peer schools. As for college outcomes, don’t mistake it for other schools where the students get in based on being athletic recruits or legacy or other hook. Kids at SAAS get into great schools, but many boys choose merit money over prestigious schools.

This is the part where the SAAS crowd loses credibility. In today’s world, kids who need financial aid get it at the most prestigious schools. Many top tier universities offer free admission to students whose parents earn less than a fairly high amount. Saint Anselms may be a great, rigorous, challenging school that the rest simply don’t understand. But, the college outcomes are mediocre and not because parents choose Fordham or Providence College for financial reasons when they were also accepted at Columbia and Yale.

I guess you don’t understand what it’s like to be a doughnut family.

I understand there actually was a student who turned down Columbia last year to go to a school you might think beneath them for a number of reasons. These days the Ivies are culture and political battle zones, and some students want to have a healthier and happier college experience.

There are several students, every year, who turn down more ”prestigious” schools for cost reasons. This happens more frequently than at the Big 3. Keep in mind the tuition is 20k cheaper at the Abbey to begin with, so you would expect some doughnut hole families to weigh cost and fit for college choice just as they did for the choice of high school.

Apparently not, so please explain.

College outcomes are not the only (or even primary) reason to select a private school. But, the “only for the most rigorous, intellectually curious boys” is incongruous with the schools with the most matriculation from SAAS: (specifically, Pitt, Rochester Institute of Technology, Drexel, UMD, Fordham and Virginia Tech - not UVA, but Tech, which is more expensive for the presumably in-state attendees). Those are the most attended colleges according to the SAAS site.

All are totally fine schools. But, they’re not better or even in the same zip code as other privates in DC and it’s not only because of financial aid and humbleness.

SAAS might be a great school, but for some reason, colleges don’t see it in the same light as others.

The perennial fixation on where these boys go to college and whether the school is as good as other area schools pervades DCUM threads on this topic.

Why is this? Sometimes I wonder if these threads have the same 5 people talking to each other.

If this is a school you are interested in, check it out and decide for yourself IRL. Good advice, in fact, for any school in the area.

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of legitimate reasons for someone to decide not to go to Columbia or even Harvard. But, typically, they’d select another extremely highly regarded school that was more in sync with their ideals, whatever they might be.

Some of the SAAS students clearly selected those schools, many others were not in the same universe. Was it actually a choice between an ivy or ivy-adjacent and an otherwise unremarkable school? Maybe, but probably not.

Guess you'll never know.

Plenty of legitimate reasons for someone to decide not to go to Columbia or even Harvard. But, typically, they’d select another extremely highly regarded school that was more in sync with their ideals, whatever they might be.

Some of the SAAS students clearly selected those schools, many others were not in the same universe. Was it actually a choice between an ivy or ivy-adjacent and an otherwise unremarkable school? Maybe, but probably not.

Should I apologize that none of my boys chose to attend the highest ranked colleges that admitted them? I can't believe this is used to form people's opinion of the quality of a high school education. They are happy and thriving, and they value the education they received at the Abbey. That's enough for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some folks rave about the rigor and deem it underrated academically relatively to more prominent peers. Others argue that it has a justified inferiority complex based on less well-rounded students and meh college outcomes.

Sounds to me like if your kid is a bit quirky and nerdy, it night be nirvana. If they are athletic or seeking a more traditional high school experience, they may be better off elsewhere.

I don't get the less well rounded comment. Not true at all. Actually, more so than other schools they are required to engage in well-rounded activities.

Exactly. I find the boys to be more well rounded than at other peer schools. As for college outcomes, don’t mistake it for other schools where the students get in based on being athletic recruits or legacy or other hook. Kids at SAAS get into great schools, but many boys choose merit money over prestigious schools.

This is the part where the SAAS crowd loses credibility. In today’s world, kids who need financial aid get it at the most prestigious schools. Many top tier universities offer free admission to students whose parents earn less than a fairly high amount. Saint Anselms may be a great, rigorous, challenging school that the rest simply don’t understand. But, the college outcomes are mediocre and not because parents choose Fordham or Providence College for financial reasons when they were also accepted at Columbia and Yale.

I guess you don’t understand what it’s like to be a doughnut family.

I understand there actually was a student who turned down Columbia last year to go to a school you might think beneath them for a number of reasons. These days the Ivies are culture and political battle zones, and some students want to have a healthier and happier college experience.

+1 the mention of Columbia made me laugh -- spot on to prove the opposite of PP's point.

Do you really think families receiving FA from colleges are living higher quality lives than so-called doughnut hole families?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some folks rave about the rigor and deem it underrated academically relatively to more prominent peers. Others argue that it has a justified inferiority complex based on less well-rounded students and meh college outcomes.

Sounds to me like if your kid is a bit quirky and nerdy, it night be nirvana. If they are athletic or seeking a more traditional high school experience, they may be better off elsewhere.

I don't get the less well rounded comment. Not true at all. Actually, more so than other schools they are required to engage in well-rounded activities.

Exactly. I find the boys to be more well rounded than at other peer schools. As for college outcomes, don’t mistake it for other schools where the students get in based on being athletic recruits or legacy or other hook. Kids at SAAS get into great schools, but many boys choose merit money over prestigious schools.

This is the part where the SAAS crowd loses credibility. In today’s world, kids who need financial aid get it at the most prestigious schools. Many top tier universities offer free admission to students whose parents earn less than a fairly high amount. Saint Anselms may be a great, rigorous, challenging school that the rest simply don’t understand. But, the college outcomes are mediocre and not because parents choose Fordham or Providence College for financial reasons when they were also accepted at Columbia and Yale.

I guess you don’t understand what it’s like to be a doughnut family.

I understand there actually was a student who turned down Columbia last year to go to a school you might think beneath them for a number of reasons. These days the Ivies are culture and political battle zones, and some students want to have a healthier and happier college experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some folks rave about the rigor and deem it underrated academically relatively to more prominent peers. Others argue that it has a justified inferiority complex based on less well-rounded students and meh college outcomes.

Sounds to me like if your kid is a bit quirky and nerdy, it night be nirvana. If they are athletic or seeking a more traditional high school experience, they may be better off elsewhere.

I don't get the less well rounded comment. Not true at all. Actually, more so than other schools they are required to engage in well-rounded activities.

Exactly. I find the boys to be more well rounded than at other peer schools. As for college outcomes, don’t mistake it for other schools where the students get in based on being athletic recruits or legacy or other hook. Kids at SAAS get into great schools, but many boys choose merit money over prestigious schools.

This is the part where the SAAS crowd loses credibility. In today’s world, kids who need financial aid get it at the most prestigious schools. Many top tier universities offer free admission to students whose parents earn less than a fairly high amount. Saint Anselms may be a great, rigorous, challenging school that the rest simply don’t understand. But, the college outcomes are mediocre and not because parents choose Fordham or Providence College for financial reasons when they were also accepted at Columbia and Yale.

I guess you don’t understand what it’s like to be a doughnut family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some folks rave about the rigor and deem it underrated academically relatively to more prominent peers. Others argue that it has a justified inferiority complex based on less well-rounded students and meh college outcomes.

Sounds to me like if your kid is a bit quirky and nerdy, it night be nirvana. If they are athletic or seeking a more traditional high school experience, they may be better off elsewhere.

I don't get the less well rounded comment. Not true at all. Actually, more so than other schools they are required to engage in well-rounded activities.

Exactly. I find the boys to be more well rounded than at other peer schools. As for college outcomes, don’t mistake it for other schools where the students get in based on being athletic recruits or legacy or other hook. Kids at SAAS get into great schools, but many boys choose merit money over prestigious schools.

This is the part where the SAAS crowd loses credibility. In today’s world, kids who need financial aid get it at the most prestigious schools. Many top tier universities offer free admission to students whose parents earn less than a fairly high amount. Saint Anselms may be a great, rigorous, challenging school that the rest simply don’t understand. But, the college outcomes are mediocre and not because parents choose Fordham or Providence College for financial reasons when they were also accepted at Columbia and Yale.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone say how homework load translates into hours per night for a good student? Do they give study periods to help get work done or is it a significant amount of time per night?

They encourage the boys to get ahead on homework during lunch, any breaks and sometimes the activity period. Hours depend in part on efficiency, any tendency to expand work to fit the time, the student’s individual strengths and weaknesses and the level of performance they’re aiming at. So it varies by student, but it is pretty consuming.

I have a DS at Saint Anselms and a DD at a big 3. HW load is comparable. Several hours. But as PP said above, a lot of it depends on the kid and how efficient they are. My DS is not super efficient and struggles in some subjects, so workload seems heavy. And he takes advantage of free periods, lunch and metro ride home to do some work. Unfortunately, DS also involved in athletics, so part of inefficiency might just be that he’s tired at the end of the day.

Did he apply to the Big 3 and get rejected?

Not the previous poster, but we chose it over a big 3 and love it. Many families make this choice.

This is my DS’s 5th year at the Abbey. He and his friends aren’t quirky or nerdy but they are intellectually very “quick”, meaning they understand material easily and need a challenge. It’s not that my son enjoys doing homework, he’d much rather play video games, but he acknowledges that he is happier at the Abbey despite the higher workload compared to his previous well regarded school. I think it’s because he doesn’t feel like he’s wasting time. Tonight he told me that he’s enjoying math more this year because it’s challenging him (pre calc vs geometry). To me that’s the type of kid that is particularly well suited for the school.