<p>the following is the list of top boarding schools whose seniors have achieved the highest average sat score, 2000 plus, according to figures on Boardingschoolreview website:</p>
<p>Exeter
Andover
SPS
Thomas Jefferson
Deerfield
Groton
Hotchkiss
Concord
Middlesex
Peddie School</p>
<p>I decided to replace the last two (Middlesex and Peddie School) with Choate and Lawrenceville as they both have been known for overall high quality academic strength and prestige for decades and thus deserve to be on the top 10 list as I suggested in post #248.</p>
<p>Since there has been so far no official ranking for the private boarding schools and considering the fact that most top, say 10-15, private boarding schools are more or less comparable in other areas, the most important criterion should then be one of the highest average sat score achieved by seniors by each, individual school.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that founding date is factored into the rankings presented on post 259. Yet Deerfield comes in below Groton (and Hotchkiss) and was founded nearly 100 years earlier. So according to US News and World Report, this tiny school of less than 400 students in FIVE grades settles in amidst three school with over 1000 kids and over 200 years of endowment building.</p>
<p>I think this may be a good example of how very little difference there is in the quality of the education to be had at all of these fine schools. It comes down to what you personally want in a community - size, feel, history, and approach. How fortunate we all are to have such a range of amazing institutions to choose to apply to.</p>
<p>Why ask which school of the top schools is best? It is a meaningless question, in that it cannot have a meaningful answer.</p>
<p>neatoburrito: Well said. All great schools, great students, and rankings are meaningless attempts to differentiate subtly different shades of gray. </p>
<p>My school is the best, unless you go to a different school then I hope you feel that yours is the best. It probably is.</p>
<p>exeter
andover
st. paul's
hotchkiss
choate or deerfield i really don't know</p>
<p>what are lawrencville, peddie, mercersburg, cate and the hill school??? i've never heard of them...but some of you guys put them in ur top five. should i have heard of them?</p>
<p>According to the Wall Street Journal's evaluation of all schools, Andover is the best among boarding schools -- fifth overall in the nation.</p>
<p>Also, I wouldn't rely too much on acceptance rate. Schools manipulate that to the extreme. Because the 10 Schools share their admissions information, if admissions officers believe a student is more interested in another top school, they'll wait-list them -- forcing the student to demonstrate interest and lowering their admissions rate.</p>
<p>there are a number of criteria one may consider when applying to boarding schools. they include highest average sat score, smallest average class size, faculty/students ratio, most ap courses, largest endowment, largest vs smallest student body, to name just key factors.</p>
<p>as you can see, most elite boarding schools more or less have similar, small average class size (10-15 students), faculty/students ratio (1 to 6-8 students), ap courses not much different among the tops. only two factors would be significantly different; the highest average sat score (2000 plus vs 1900-2000 vs 1800-1900 vs 1700-1800 and so on) and the largest endowment factor which many would feel is a factor but not necessarily reflected in the quality of the education.</p>
<p>since there are no official rankings on boarding schools with proper methodology to really evaluate the intangibles like dedication to teaching quality, graduation output and so on, perhaps the single most important element should be the highest average sat score because it at least measures the academic output of the juniors/seniors who will be applying to colleges in which their academic achievement in terms of standardized test scores (sat/act) will be an important element in their college application process.</p>
<p>of course, their gpas/class rank will always be an important contributing factor when applying to colleges. everything else being equal, highest average sat score would presumably carry the highest weight.</p>
<p>Among the top schools, there's no "best," there's just a "best for you." The real secret is finding the right fit. We're a hardcore East Coast boarding school family, but for our son Thacher was the right choice - and then some. We had to go 3000 miles to find it! But a school with its alchemy of horses, mountains, incomparable teaching, physical beauty and generosity of spirit was exactly right for his personality. I'm just thankful that we didn't let our N.E. boarding school bias get in the way of making the right match.</p>
<p>Gee whillickers...you ought not be so quick to rule out Siler City Barber Academy. Sure, you'd be a day student hailing from Mount Pilot and all, but I reckon anyone from Mayberry and yonder would likely bring their rucksack along, making it one of the darnedest boarding schools west of Raleigh, if not in all of North Carolina.</p>
<p>When you search schools, you have to define what kind of schools you like first. Otherwise, you confuse yourself since there are so many schools.</p>
<p>Andover and Exeter are pretty much the same, except Andover has higher SAT scores, but the facilities at Exeter are a bit nicer. Exeter has a formal dress code, Andover doesn't have a dress code. It is also harder to get into Andover than Exeter. It all depends on what you want. Andover's athletics are also better. Some people would say Exeter is more "prepy".</p>