St. Mark's School

International Applicants Attending School in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Due to the significant increase in the number of applicants from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; St. Mark's has partnered with Vericant in order to better accommodate students requesting an interview. All students who attend school in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan are required to interview with Vericant (regardless of citizenship or the type of school they are attending) before scheduling an interview at St. Mark's. Vericant will conduct initial interviews and facilitate short writing prompts.

Please understand that Vericant does not evaluate candidates; all videos and writing samples are sent to St. Mark's for assessment. Our Admission Office will review the completed Vericant interviews along with each applicant's SSAT* and TOEFL score reports to determine which students will be offered a second interview with a member of the St. Mark's Admission staff.

In order to meet St. Mark's January 15 application deadline, applicants must interview with Vericant no later than December 15. Please make sure that you also complete our online inquiry form including your full name, preferred name, and email address so that we can contact you upon review of your Vericant interview.

Vericant: http://students.vericant.com

*The SSAT is optional for applicants to the 2022-2023 school year.

*The SSAT is optional for applicants to the 2022-2023 school year.

Applicants who are not US citizens are considered international applicants even if they are currently residing in or attending school in the US.

US citizens employed overseas who file US tax returns are not considered international applicants; however, if you are a dual citizen whose native language is not English, you are still required to take the TOEFL exam.

The international application fee for St. Mark’s is $50 USD. The application fee is not refundable.

Approximately 5 business days.

Application fees are non-refundable.

No, St. Mark’s does not offer an ESL program. All international students are expected to be highly proficient in reading, writing, and speaking the English language before they can be considered for admission.

All non-native English speakers are required to submit an official TOEFL or IELTS score report (regardless of citizenship or current school).

• TOEFL score reports must be sent directly from ETS, we cannot accept copies sent by schools or consultants. While St. Mark's is willing to review MyBest TOEFL scores as a supplement, we will not superscore TOEFLs and MyBest scores will not meet the TOEFL submission requirement.
• IELTS score reports must be sent electronically to St. Mark's through your test center. 
• In terms of preparing for the tests, the best times for you to take them are October, November, December, and January.
• St. Mark’s does not accept DuoLingo, SLEP, iTEP SLATE, TOEFL Essentials or the TOEFL Junior tests.

An SSAT exam taken within the past year is required for all applicants regardless of citizenship and native language. Score reports must be sent directly from SSAT, we cannot accept copies sent by schools or consultants.

For applicants to the 2022-2023 school year, the SSAT is optional. Please see our COVID-19 Standardized Test Impact announcement at the top of the page for more information.

Our SSAT code is 6730.
Our ISEE code is 570103.
Our TOEFL code is 9222.

• Our minimum TOEFL iBT (and Special Home Edition) score is 100 and the median TOEFL iBT score for our accepted 2019-2020 international students was 110. For students applying for 10th grade, the TOEFL score expectations are somewhat higher than those for 9th grade candidates. While St. Mark's is willing to review MyBest TOEFL scores as a supplement, we will not superscore TOEFLs and MyBest scores will not meet the TOEFL submission requirement or the minimum score requirement.
• Our minimum TOEFL IPT score for the TOEFL ITP Plus Vericant is 637. We are only accepting the TOEFL ITP Plus Vericant from students in locations where it is not possible to submit the iBT or iBT Special Home Edition due to COVID-19.
• Our minimum IELTS overall band score is 7.5.
• The median SSAT score for accepted 2019-2020 applicants was 85%.

St. Mark's does not waive the TOEFL/IELTS or Vericant requirement based on citizenship or type of current school.

We have found that students attending English-speaking international schools have a wide spectrum of English language skills, and that being a student at one of those schools does not guarantee strong enough language skills to be successful at St. Mark's.

St. Mark’s accepts the Gateway to Prep Schools (GTP) application and the Standard Application Online (SAO).

Yes, no matter which application method you are using, all applicants are required to submit a total of three current teacher recommendations – English, math, and foreign language. If you are not taking a foreign language - or if English is your foreign language - you must submit a science or history recommendation. Supplemental forms for the common applications can be found on the SAO and GTP websites. Please contact our office if you are not sure which recommendation forms to submit.

No, if English is your foreign language, we will still require a third teacher recommendation from either a current science or history teacher.

Our Admission Officers do travel around the US and overseas to interview in the fall and winter. Please refer to the admission calendar to see our travel plans for fairs, receptions, and interviews. While we believe that a campus visit is always helpful, if you are unable to visit the campus, you may contact us to schedule a Skype interview. Please note, due to high demand, Skype interviews cannot be scheduled prior to the submission of your completed application including SSAT and TOEFL / IELTS scores. Please contact our office prior to January 15 to request your interview so that we can schedule it prior to January 31.

St. Mark's does not offer interviews through third party organizations, however, we have partnered with Vericant to provide initial video interviews for applicants from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The Vericant interview does not replace a formal St. Mark's interview.

If you have a well developed talent in the creative or performing arts, you may submit samples of your work for review by St. Mark's art, theater and music faculty. You may also submit athletic videos for our coaches to view. St. Mark's accepts athletic videos and art submissions via Slideroom. Please review the detailed submission instructions on the Slideroom website. If you elect not to submit materials via Slideroom, you may include with your application a printed art portfolio or athletic resume that lists your training and experience, repertoire or roles performed and honors received. For network security purposes, we do not accept submissions via USB drives, CD, DVD, or email.

Yes, St. Mark’s is authorized by SEVIS (US Department of Security’s Student and Exchange Information System) to issue the I-20 application form. Students must apply, be admitted, and enrolled before St. Mark’s may issue the application. We have around 70 international students each year to whom we issue I-20 Forms annually. After new students enroll in April they must provide us with financial certification, parent affidavit, and a copy of their passport page. In nearly all cases, our newly admitted students succeed in obtaining student visas. Due to legal regulations, St. Mark’s cannot issue I-20’s for enrolled students more than 90 days prior to the start of school.

No. International students who require an I-20 visa may not enroll as day students.

We do not accept students at mid-year. Our admissions application deadline is January 31st to begin study the following September.

Due to our graduation requirements, we typically cannot accept international applicants for 11th grade. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Director of Admission for international students who have been studying in the US or Canada for more than 3 years. St. Mark’s does not admit any applicants for 12th grade regardless of citizenship and we do not offer a post-graduate year.

There are occasions where applicants may repeat a grade level, however, this must be approved by the Director of Admission after review of the application by the admission committee. The student’s age is also taken into consideration when requesting to repeat a grade level.

While it is very common for applicants to complete a grade elsewhere and then repeat that grade at St. Mark's, students who have already attended a particular grade at St. Mark's may not repeat that same grade while they are here.

Applicants may not repeat multiple grade levels (i.e. current 11th grade students may not apply as 10th grade).

St. Mark’s is willing to consider applications for financial aid from international students. Application is relatively easy from Canada, a country with income and asset verification analogous to US tax reporting. However, we must caution applicants that our international student financial aid is very limited and highly selective. St. Mark’s requires as much income and asset verification as families can provide, including tax schedules, proof of salary, bank statements, property assessments, etc. Additionally, we must caution families that, although we have granted financial aid to a highly select group of non-US citizens, international student financial aid is extremely difficult to obtain at American colleges and universities.

St. Mark’s cannot provide fee waivers for the PFS/application to SSS for international students. For families with great demonstrated need, we can provide an admission application fee waiver upon completion of the PFS and a St. Mark’s interview.

Please read through the SSS by NAIS International Financial Aid sections. Please send all supporting and verifying income and asset documents directly to SSS/NAIS. You can upload all information into the extra supporting document file spaces within the document section of the Parent Financial Aid Statement (PFS). Additionally, complete and submit the Supplementary SSS International Financial Aid Form.

Please refer to our financial aid FAQ and timetable for more information regarding financial aid at St. Mark’s.