Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

Well one could ask if they will be able to keep current students that feel their spot on a team was taken or if they don’t like the values and culture change that could come with changing the focus from academics to athletics. Some boys don’t want that type of culture or else they would have chosen a different school than STA.

Current STA parent here - this is not an STA attitude, PP. No one OWNs a spot on a team. You earn it. Every season. Every game. If a new boy comes in at 9th who is better at try outs, thats life. Work harder. STA has never been a "trophy for everyone" school and that isnt changing.

Of course not but if they want to play a sport and the team gets filled with boys that are admitted on athletics, STA could lose some really brilliant kids who will be very successful future leaders. That would be a shame to start filling up STA with a focus on athletic prowess rather than academic and more importantly the values and character of the applicants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

Well one could ask if they will be able to keep current students that feel their spot on a team was taken or if they don’t like the values and culture change that could come with changing the focus from academics to athletics. Some boys don’t want that type of culture or else they would have chosen a different school than STA.

Current STA parent here - this is not an STA attitude, PP. No one OWNs a spot on a team. You earn it. Every season. Every game. If a new boy comes in at 9th who is better at try outs, thats life. Work harder. STA has never been a "trophy for everyone" school and that isnt changing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

Well one could ask if they will be able to keep current students that feel their spot on a team was taken or if they don’t like the values and culture change that could come with changing the focus from academics to athletics. Some boys don’t want that type of culture or else they would have chosen a different school than STA.

You don't understand. Those recruited athletes, at least the ones that I know are excellent students as well. One had SSAT scores 80th and 90th percentile plus straight As great character and an excellent Athlete in two sports, Both had their picks at any schools they applied two. STA is not giving up anything, they're getting multidimensional students. Believe it or not, my DC had excellent scores, great shadow day and interview, is a fabulous athlete and off the chart EC"s. We had our picks as well, and we were still waitlisted. We would have likely gotten in this admission cycle, but we found a better fit. From what I know of the two candidates from the last admission cycle, STA is not dumbing down anything, if my own experience is anything to go by. They're getting excellent candidates, coming out of the public schools especially. The kids I know of got into every schools they applied to, including my own. STA has to be concern with keeping the current class of student athletes. I don't see them staying happy if the coaching environment doesn't improve. These kids are bringing a lot to the table and a lot is being demanded of them, they deserve better than a complacent coaching environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

Well one could ask if they will be able to keep current students that feel their spot on a team was taken or if they don’t like the values and culture change that could come with changing the focus from academics to athletics. Some boys don’t want that type of culture or else they would have chosen a different school than STA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

We don’t want the school changed. One class already was negatively impacted by bringing in some of these students that seemed to be “older” and into things their classmates weren’t into yet. If the school culture changes they could also lose current families that liked thing culture for what is is now. Who is mandating these changes?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

This is disappointing if true. It’s no secret that certain sports have a culture and bringing in die hard lax families can change the school. We’ve already seen a bit of that. Don’t existing parents have any say in maintaining what they signed up for?

Anonymous wrote:Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

I was waitlisted last school year. I was told we should try again this admission season but I will not. I am familiar with two of the last bunch of kids admitted last admission cycle. Those kids are excellent students with great scores and grades. They are also great athletes, football, basketball, lacrosse. STA is moving into that direction. The question is, will they be able keep them? These kids have a lot to offer, and from what I’ve seeing of the coaching environment, I am not sure. I for one, will not reapply.

Lax players or basketball players who can also play football are especially coveted. Send in a highlight tape with your application. I kid you not. Worked for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get back to the topic at hand, shall we. There is an upcoming Open House this weekend. Please attend if you are able. Lots of boys and school reps will be there, maybe even some parents. They can help answer a lot of your questions.

If you show up in your travel soccer or club lacrosse uniform, even better. STA is now aggressively seeking student athletes, emphasis on a capital A.

This post is from last year. It may have been intended to be snark. But it played out as reality. Word is the Powers that Be are happy with last year's athletic yield, and are doubling down for this cycle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES parent here. Of course more WES graduates go to every public school combined than go to St. Albans each year. What a silly comparison. The same is true for every middle school.

I don't know a single graduate who went to public school involuntarily this year. The only kids who went public school had been planning to do so for years (including mine).

Um, not so not true. The other schools mentioned rarely send any kids to public for middle school. In fact its virtually unheard of for kids to go to publics for middle school from St Pats, NPS, Sheridan, etc... In fact no more than 2 usually go to Pubic for high school any given year.

Just face facts, WES cannot and does not compete with these other schools. Its just not as good in attracting and producing top students.

I'm confused. You say other schools rarely send any kids to public for middle school and that's it's virtually unheard of for kids to go to publics for middle school from St Pats, NPS, Sheridan, etc. Neither does WES.

I believe previous poster was discussing students going into high school, not middle school.

I don't have a dog in this fight (I live in MoCo and never considered any of these schools seriously) but another OBVIOUS difference is that a greater number of WES students live in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac where they have high achieving public HS options.

Anonymous wrote:I opened this thread to learn about getting into STA, not to read bitter people ranting against random feeder schools. Please don't hijack it. Go be angry somewhere else.

This thread is 9 years old!! Don't you know by now whether your son is in or out at STA??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES parent here. Of course more WES graduates go to every public school combined than go to St. Albans each year. What a silly comparison. The same is true for every middle school.

I don't know a single graduate who went to public school involuntarily this year. The only kids who went public school had been planning to do so for years (including mine).

Um, not so not true. The other schools mentioned rarely send any kids to public for middle school. In fact its virtually unheard of for kids to go to publics for middle school from St Pats, NPS, Sheridan, etc... In fact no more than 2 usually go to Pubic for high school any given year.

Just face facts, WES cannot and does not compete with these other schools. Its just not as good in attracting and producing top students.

I'm confused. You say other schools rarely send any kids to public for middle school and that's it's virtually unheard of for kids to go to publics for middle school from St Pats, NPS, Sheridan, etc. Neither does WES.

I believe previous poster was discussing students going into high school, not middle school.

I opened this thread to learn about getting into STA, not to read bitter people ranting against random feeder schools. Please don't hijack it. Go be angry somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:WES parent here. Of course more WES graduates go to every public school combined than go to St. Albans each year. What a silly comparison. The same is true for every middle school.

I don't know a single graduate who went to public school involuntarily this year. The only kids who went public school had been planning to do so for years (including mine).

Um, not so not true. The other schools mentioned rarely send any kids to public for middle school. In fact its virtually unheard of for kids to go to publics for middle school from St Pats, NPS, Sheridan, etc... In fact no more than 2 usually go to Pubic for high school any given year.

Just face facts, WES cannot and does not compete with these other schools. Its just not as good in attracting and producing top students.

Anonymous wrote:WES parent here. Of course more WES graduates go to every public school combined than go to St. Albans each year. What a silly comparison. The same is true for every middle school.

I don't know a single graduate who went to public school involuntarily this year. The only kids who went public school had been planning to do so for years (including mine).

I get your logic. That said, Wes has sent very few kids to STA. Especially surprising as former hos had direct (marital) link to STA royalty.