This discussion was created from comments split from: Post March 10th Advice.
Not sure if this is the proper thread or if many are interested, but I summarized the results of a boarding school college matriculation study of 40 boarding schools. The study is from 2011 & the results are quite similar to a more extensive study that I did in 2007.
The 2011 study rates & ranks 40 boarding schools based on their college placement (matriculation) over a period of years (up to 5 years) to H,Y, P,M,S & Ivies & Top 25 National Universities & Top 15 LACs. My earlier study was more comprehensive in that it included all college placements. Nevertheless, the top two boarding schools (St. Paul’s School & Phillips Academy at Andover) remain the same. The only glaring difference is that in the 2011 study Exeter is #3 and in the more comprehensive 2007 study Exeter was #7 based on the 40 schools in the 2011 study & #9 based on a more comprehensive list of schools. Neither study included NYC day schools.
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St. Paul’s School–287 points
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Andover–285
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Exeter–264
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Groton–262
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Lawrenceville–245
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Deerfield Academy–235
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Milton Academy–229
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Hotchkiss–219
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Choate Rosemary Hall–216
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Middlesex School–199
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Concord Academy–197
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St. Andrews School–191
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Webb Schools–189
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Thacher–186
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Taft–180
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Cate School–176
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United World College–166
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Peddie School–162
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Episcopal High School–153
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Loomis Chaffee–148
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St. George’s School–147
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Woodberry Forest–118
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Brooks–117
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Blair Academy–114
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The Master’s School–112
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Stevenson School–111
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Westminster School (Ct.)–105
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Western Reserve–102
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Asheville School–100
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Emma Willard–94
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Mercersburg Academy–92
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Hun School–86
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Pomfret–82
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Salisbury–80
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Avon Old Farms–70
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Governor’s Academy–70
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Pennington School–45
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Wyoming Seminary–42
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Trinity Pawling–28
Obviously I missed one of the forty schools.
Hopefully this list will encourage future applicants to become aware of more boarding schools than the usual suspects.
@Publisher Kent? I’d have guessed that it would land in the 20s somewhere on this list.
I’ll check (if I can find the list again).
Surprised not to see St. Mark’s either.
Kent & St. Mark’s were not included in the 2011 study. Most likely due to unavailability of comprehensive college matriculation data.
Suffield Academy–66 points is the school that I missed.
Kent School campus is among the most beautiful in the nation. Certainly Kent would rank among the top 20 boarding schools for elite college placement.
How were points assigned?
Somewhat like the utter lack of utility of Naviance where there is no information on legacy, minorities, athletes etc-the same issues will apply here. These numbers are not all that useful. A hockey player from Salisbury heading to a top 20 school or a HYP legacy at SPS or Andover etc makes this merely interesting from a numerical standpoint.
@Calimex The results page did not disclose that.
In my study, I used the peer assessment score found in the US News rankings (with an upward adjustment for those matriculating into public university honors college/programs) for the most recent year. Since the results were similar to those in my study, I felt comfortable sharing them here.
I included a few elite non-NYC day schools in my 2007 study. Roxbury Latin was the number 1 school followed by St. Paul’s School & Phillips Academy at Andover.
Does ANYone find rankings useful for ANYthing? What does anyone deduce from such a list? You can make up any methodology you want and come up with an entirely different order for any metric you’re interested in. What’s the point of this exercise? Remember, these schools are not getting any student in to any college. They are preparing students well for the colleges they choose to attend. If one BS has a high matriculation rate to a particular college, it may be because that school self-selected/cherry-picked students who would have ended up at that college from any BS (or LPS) those students attended. Too many people look at these lists and think there is some cause and effect going on, and we already have too many kids (and parents, evidently) here who think that attending a BS that “sends” a high number of students to certain colleges is somehow predictive of their own results when nothing could be further from the truth. There is so much more going on behind matriculation results that lists like the above are meaningless for any practical purpose and do more harm than good for people who think they reveal something they don’t.
It’s been a very long time since someone dragged a rankings list to this forum. We expect it on the big board, but I hope we don’t devolve into rankings discussions here when we’re trying to teach our BS applicants to choose schools based on everything BUT meaningless college matriculation data.
Folks are free to use information as they deem appropriate for their purposes.
Boarding schools obviously see a demand for this type of information as many include it in their marketing materials.
Yes, @Publisher, but because of the young ages of the children here and the ignorance (meaning lack of BS knowledge) of parents new to this process, we try to be very careful with our advice here, and rankings lists generally do not further a helpful message.
That is very clearly your opinion.
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Yes, it clearly is. I never post anything but my opinion.
We most certainly looked as DD’s position as it related to champuonships and her potential impact when applying to BS two years ago. Like @AppleNotFar we are doing the same for college, although it’s early as well. An online tool for DD’s sport makes it easy to see where gaps will be come graduation time.
You want to know what I think? People obsessed with BS college matriculation data/ lists ruin it for everyone else- especially normal parents who would like their kids life just to unfold naturally without any expectations for college admissions whatsoever … You know- the way it’s supposed be… That is- if you believe a kid should be able to find his/her way unencumbered by their Ivy driven bat**** parents.
College obsessed-ROI- PITA parents who totally miss the point of a BS education should just stay home. I’m totally serious- I don’t know one family who wants their kid exposed to this kind of hysteria when incoming III Formers have enough going on . Give it a rest until V Form like everyone else.
I think parents who pour over this stuff and analyze these lists have failed their kids. Gloves off. I really do. There’s nothing healthy or useful to be gained from these lists or data. There’s no information on any of those lists that apply to YOU. Whether parents realize it or not… they’re sending a really screwed up message to their kids with all this Ivy crap.
Trust me - it’s not all that if you get there… the inmates have taken over the asylum. 
Those lists could not have been made without the assistance of many of the schools involved.
Families are free to spend & invest their money as they see fit.
No @#$& but that doesn’t make it right.
My kid would base the ideal list on the NCAA football rankings, the Final Four, the Frozen Four and who makes it our of “Q School” with a card B-)