Anonymous wrote:Saint Anselms Abbey School

Definitely the Abbey. We know both well and the rigor is the same. Character development stronger at the abbey, and we say this as non Catholics. STA has stronger sports. Both have loyal alums and great communities.

Anonymous wrote: Saint Anselm’s is the closest match from the academic angle. It’s probably more religious than St Albans but you could call it comparable. Where it’s definitely not comparable is on sports prowess and facilities

Concur.

Anonymous wrote:Put your kid in Public school.
If they are not academic enough fot St Albans by now you have failed to educate them properly.

Yikes, what a mean and unhelpful comment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really love STA then apply and apply again. My son was admitted on the third try.

Wow congrats for sticking to it! Was it 4th, 6th, and 9th?

6/7/9.
Ended up top 10% in the grade and is now at an Ivy.
This year's salutatorian (different class) was waitlisted in 9th, admitted in 10th, now at Harvard (and talked about this path in his address).

Many kids apply more than once. It's very difficult to get in because there are many smart applicants, many institutional priorities and very few spots.

Anonymous wrote:If you really love STA then apply and apply again. My son was admitted on the third try.

Wow congrats for sticking to it! Was it 4th, 6th, and 9th?

If you really love STA then apply and apply again. My son was admitted on the third try.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Does SSSAS compare at all? Not an ideal commute, but it might be a better option than St. Andrew's.

DP. Opinions on DCUM always vary. For me, I definitely would pick St Andrews (SAES) over SSSAS, but understand that I care most about academic rigor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:13:30 again, I don’t think that any of the all-boys independent schools are an easy admit. They all have competitive admissions.

Yup! The Catholic high schools recommended are not a slam dunk for a non-Catholic. The preference is for legacies, Catholics, especially from feeder schools, and athletes. While the academic requirements for admission might not be as high as at St Albans, there are other barriers.

I guess he could consider Mater Dei for middle school and then try for Prep.

Sure.

But Mater Dei is way more intensely Catholic than Prep which is consistent with it being a grammar/middle school. It certainly isn't the mildly religious place that you might find at an Episcopal school.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Does SSSAS compare at all? Not an ideal commute, but it might be a better option than St. Andrew's.

I have a hard time picturing where you might live that both SAES and SSSAS are both possible commutes.

Op, so your child is a 3rd or 4th grader? It's very early to settle on a specific school as your top pick.

You should look a range of schools. STA's "religious" component is very mild compared to, say, The Heights or Prep. Landon might be a more similar to STA than the Catholics in that department.

SSSAS is fine, but its coed and, as an Episcopal school, the religious aspect is also light.

You might tour Bullis if you are thinking about St. Andrews, and look at Sidwell, Maret and other coed schools.