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Randolph-Macon Academy

School rating 4 / 5 by

200 Academy Drive Front Royal VA 22630 United States
Boarding
6th to PG
Day
6th to PG
Gender
Coed

Academic

Randolph-Macon Academy review by .

Randolph Macon Academy specializes in individualized attention. The largest class I was ever in had no more than twenty students and that was only because it was a popular class. Most of my classes had somewhere around ten students. Teachers were available to meet with students in a office hours type environment for more than a half hour Monday to Thursday. Even the most lecture based classes had discussions built in. AP Government taught by the amazing Mr. Barbour for instance had lectures often. Several times a month in Mr. Barbour's course students were required to debate issues ranging from the proper interpretation of specific parts of the constitution to what the role of government ought to be. Competition between students existed but it was all friendly competition between students seeking to better themselves. Class sizes as stated above were far smaller than average. Teachers in addition to being available for office hours after lunch were often available after school. The vast majority of the faculty either lived on campus or within minutes of the school. I distinctly remember working on a term paper my senior year when my English teacher Mr. Sloan just happened to be on duty in the dorms. The teachers as a whole were more accessible than those at any of my friend's schools. The school does have requirements for studying religion and mathematics however all students have a unique experience with leadership. The school appoints student officers, junior officers, and some select sophomores to leadership positions within the corp of cadets. These students have to work with their peers to help clean dorms, maintain discipline while marching, and just maintain order on a daily basis.

College Counseling

Every student is required to meet with a college admission officer several times a year.....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

My situation was unique. I transferred from an art school which used an alternative....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

Housing definitely differs based on gender. The girl's dorm were built more recently and are therefore nicer. They have suite style rooms. Two bedrooms (each containing two girls) are connected by a bathroom. I didn't spend enough time there to properly evaluate them. The boys dorms were standard bedrooms with hallway bathrooms. Housing got much better as you got older. My last two years I had a single room free of charge because they had some extra rooms which they allowed older students to have as their own.....

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