NMH vs St. Marks

UCBAlum
Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:35:13 +0000

In short, both. Again, like the major Ivies, the smaller boarding schools didn’t become too concerned with academic rigor until well after WWII. A little research will show that, pre-WWII, boys (yes, boys as there were no girls) simply signed up for their university of their choice. Admission to HYP was based as much on family background as academic prowess. With the introduction of competitive admission at the major universities you saw the introduction of competitive (academically) admission to the major boarding schools.

St. Mark’s, like the other St. Grottlesex schools and their principal competitors, does not appeal as widely to non-traditional independent school families and thus in addition to a high level of academic rigor there will also be a pronounced level of social exclusivity. That said, all off the schools have done an EXCELLENT job (in my opinion) of increasing the socioeconomic diversity of their student bodies in the last 20-25 years. I believe roughly 25% of St. Mark’s current student receive some financial aid, which is about a 200-250% increase over the numbers when I was a student there.