St Mary's Hall - Doane Academy

"The students are involved in too many activities and academics are a low priority.  Many of the graduating seniors drop out of college the first year completely or switch to a community college because they are unable to handle basic english, writing and math.  The school's mission is all over the place."

This is entirely true. They should create statistics of the last four graduate classes on how many have dropped out or switched to easier schools. Lower School is amazing. if you have the money, feel free to send your children here for Pre-K through 5th grade. One-on-one attention is wonderful for the kids.

However, Upper School is falling apart. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. Upper School has already fallen apart and is a complete disaster. The academics are never emphasized in class. It's all about sports and extracurriculars. Most of the kids can't write a decent two-page paper by the end of high school. The students in high school constantly whine about the smallest bit of work, and then receive high grades for it. Teachers constantly scale up. Fail a test? No problem. You have three more tries. A student could come into class during the day of an exam, complain that they're stressed about a different exam, and then be granted the option to take it later in the week. This would happen multiple times.

Thankfully I had created my own study habits and dedication before entering college. I'm doing well, but I know many of my former classmates who have switched majors to an easier one, constantly complained about how hard college is, switched to an easier college, or dropped out completely.

Speaking of college, the administration and staff lack the diligence and organization to send applications and transcripts in a timely manner. If not for my parents and I constantly on top of what was going on concerning applying to colleges, I would not have received half of my scholarships or acceptances.

Upper School needs many improvements before I would ever consider sending my own future children to this educational facility.

I am not sure where the parent who wrote the previous comment got their information, but most students do not drop out of college the first year. Sounds more like a disgruntled parent or student if you ask me. There was another review at the same time by a "parent" on another site. Seems to me like this anonymous review stuff is not legitimate or relevant. I loved the school, learned a lot, was very well prepared for college and my entire class did not drop out. I recommend it to any parent who is willing to participate in their child's education and is excited by a small school who develops a well rounded student. Good grades alone will not make you successful.