The US News High School Rankings are a meme. Looking at the calculations, they first look at performance on “state proficiency” tests. Frankly, that’s a 100% BS.
Especially coming from a state like NJ, I’ll tell you first hand, that the PARCC is an absolute joke, and the old HSPA’S were an even bigger joke. No one tries on any sort of these tests, since they have no effect whatsoever on the individual student.
Furthermore, pretty much the general consensus of most students in NJ is that JPS (fairly well-known around the nation) is definitely a top 3 school. The fact that they are barely slotted in the top 30, shows the inherent flaws of this ranking methodology.
I have multiple friends who go to SB and they said at least 10 people this year got into BS/MD programs. It most assuredly is a competitive school, which program directors probably know a lot about. Take for example, the Drexel interview day for NJ. More than a quarter of the students were from South Brunswick.