One way to list and rank prep boarding schools is by size of endowment. I found this list on another website which claims to be the most recent endowment amounts. The top two boarding schools by size of endowment both have over one billion dollars.
Phillips Exeter Academy–$1.150 billion
Phillips Academy at Andover–$1.058 billion
St. Paul’s School–$633 million
Deerfield Academy–$532 m
Hotchkiss School–$487 m
Lawrenceville School–$466 m
Culver Academies–$394 m
Choate Rosemary Hall–$392 m
Groton School–$350 m
Woodbury Forest School–$332 m
Peddie School–$321 m
Milton Academy–$310 m
Mercersburg Academy–$275 m
Middlesex School–$262 m
Taft School–$259 m
Episcopal High School–$230 m
Cranbrook Schools–$217 m
Loomis Chaffee–$203 m
St. Andrew’s School–$195 m
Hill School–$153 m
St. George’s school–$145 m
St. Mark’s School–$141 m
Northfield Mount Herman–$139 m
Thacher School–$137 m
Berkshire–$134 m
Baylor–$130 m
Blair Academy–$101 m
McCallie School–$93 m
Cate School–$90 m
Kent School–$87 m
Concord Academy–$72 m
Brooks School–$71 m
Wyoming Seminary–$60 m
Asheville School–$48 m
Portsmouth Abbey–$48 m
Tabor Academy–$44 m
Millbrook School–$36 m
Fountain Valley School–$38 m
Lawrence Academy–$29 m
Hun–$23 m
St. Andrew’s Sewanee–$19 m
Tallulah Falls–$30 m
Almost certainly some of these numbers need to be updated. I did not include several schools such as Miss Porter’s and other all female schools because they did not align with my project.
Some may prefer to list by endowment per student. In that case, I suspect that St. Paul’s School with an endowment of $633,000,000 and only about 540 students might be at the top of the list.
I did not include day-only prep schools. Typically, The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia tops that ranking.
A co-ed day prep school, The Westminster Schools in Atlanta reported an endowment of $260 million a couple of years ago.
Among all girls schools, Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas reported an endowment of $160 million within the past few years.
The following may be a couple of years old:
Miss Porter’s School–$125 million
Emma Willard School–$93 million
Foxcroft School–$80 m
Just in case future applicants stumble upon this thread and assume the higher the endowment, the higher the chance for generous financial aid: Our most generous financial aid offers did NOT come from the schools with the highest endowments or endowments per student on our list.
I was just about to post the link ski posted. What is the purpose of this re-tread? It doesn’t provide any information that is useful in making a decision about a school. Perhaps we should post a list of boarding schools by the color of bricks in their buildings.
If there is some particular discussion the OP wishes to generate, it would be helpful to to put that context around the list. Otherwise, nothing to see here.
If I were to list the top 10 National Universities & the top 10 LACs next to the top 10 list of endowments for National Universities & LACs, then the importance of endowment might be more clear.
For example, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford & MIT are usually regarded as the top 5 universities in the country. Is it just a coincidence that these same top 5 universities also have the top 5 endowments ?
Accordingly, Andover, Exeter, St. Paul’s, Deerfield, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss. Choate & Groton are widely regarded as the top ranked & most prestigious boarding schools. Is it just a coincidence that all also rank among the top 10 endowments for all prep schools whether boarding or day ?
Alas, it is nearly impossible to find data that attributes a person’s success to their having attended a university with a large endowment. When you compare equally credentialed students, you find that “how” they approach college is more of a factor than the name on the diploma or the college’s ranking on a list designed to boost circulation and sell ads.
Are schools with high endowments more financially stable? Undoubtedly. Do they have shinier facilities and more robust marketing campaigns? Sure. Do their graduates have better teachers than students at other schools? Not necessarily.
LACs (liberal arts colleges) with the largest endowments are:
Williams College-- #1 US News
Univ. of Richmond–#25 US News
Amherst College-- #2 US News
Pomona College–#5 US News
Swarthmore College–#3 US News
Wellesley College–#3 US News
Smith College–#11US News
Washington & Lee–#11 US News
Bowdoin College–#5 US News
Middlebury College–#5 US News
Vassar College–#11 US News
Schools with the largest endowments tend to be the highest ranked whether an LAC or a National University or a Prep Boarding School. Why ? Because they can & do provide the best resources which attract the best students & teachers.
Also, the prep boarding schools with the largest endowments also have the largest financial aid budgets by far.
Financial aid budgets per school can be easily researched & verified.
Phillips Academy at Andover is a truly needs blind school for admissions.
St. Paul’s School provides free tuition, fees, room & board (and often more) for all accepted students from families earning $125,000 or less per year. Plus, considerable financial aid is awarded to families earning substantially more who demonstrate need.
Exeter is extremely generous with financial aid as well.
P.S. If one were to make a list of the prep boarding schools with the largest financial aid budgets, it would almost certainly fall in line with the same ranking for largest to smallest endowments.
@Publisher One might assume that a school with a higher endowment and higher financial aid budget would be more generous when providing FA to one’s child. THAT WAS NOT ACTUALLY THE CASE WHEN WE APPLIED. The most generous FA offer came from a smaller school with a smaller endowment.
Endowment per student might be a better measure of opportunity and stability, too, since larger schools have larger expenses, too… and endowments might be used for graduate programs that don’t directly benefit underclassmen. One of my best friends went to Harvard and only had one class taught by a professor her first year. (Nearly all of my freshman classes were small and taught by professors.)