<p>I go to Walt Whitman in Bethesda, MD. If I'm not mistaken, we have the highest non-magnet SAT score (1234). The school doesn't rank, but if it did, I think you would probably need a 3.2-3.5 unweighted just to be in the top 50%. I used to go to Wakefield ($12,000 a year private school in Virginia) before I moved here. Whitman is MUCH harder.</p>
<p>AAST is one of the Bergen Academies. From their web site, it looks to be a public magnet.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bergen.org/Admissions/guide.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.bergen.org/Admissions/guide.html</a></p>
<p>AAST is definitely a public magnet. It sent a busload of contestants to the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament this year.</p>
<p>Magnets = nerd schools</p>
<p><em>shrug</em> screw magnets/privates. i think the OP was talking about regular public schools.</p>
<p>PUBLIC SCHOOL PRIDE Y'ALLS!</p>
<p>Well, actually, the OP (who is I) was wondering how many people think some school they know locally is "the" top school in the country. Evidently there are dozens, or even hundreds, of high schools whose students think they are among the top ten high schools in the country--which is a dangerous delusion to entertain when deciding where to apply to college.</p>
<p>Don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't pass up my little K-12 public school in the middle of nowhere for any other highschool.</p>
<p>"Slightly OT: are US private schools ranked, either with the "high-performing" publics or alone? I don't recall ever seeing such a list. (OK, apologies for the threadjack, send me PMs if you know of any such list.)"</p>
<p>Mootmom, here is one of the rankings of publics and privates together:</p>
<p>Yeah, Whitman is on there, and rightfully so. We were also in Newsweek as one of the top 5 public schools in the country. The thing about Richard Montgomery having an average combined SAT score of 1435 is crap. The school district made a chart, and it was around 1200. They probably got the 1435 as an average from every white male enrolled in the IB program. 9% "success" rate is still good, especially because I don't even believe that going to an Ivy will make you successful. They should have taken into account how many students applied to Ivies. Several of my friends are qualified enough to attend one, but found them to be too stuck-up, and didn't even apply. Personally, I am not applying to any, and none of my friends are either (including one of my friends with a 3.5 unweighted, 4.1 weighted, 1490 SAT). I wouldn't go to one if they begged me.</p>
<p>"i wouldn't go to one if they begged me."</p>
<p>and you say THEYRE stuck up.</p>
<p>lol my high school's first graduating class ever was in 2002. according to those statistics of percentage of students attending ivy+, my school should be on there.</p>
<p>Thanks, momsdream, very interesting! Did you happen to look at the "Behind the Numbers" page they cite, where they listed the 10 colleges they focused on? I'd be interested in knowing what 10 colleges they included in their calculations (in part because I'd like to "do the numbers" on my sons' school, which graduated its first class in 2002 also).</p>
<p>They are stuck-up. I wouldn't go to one of those schools because they are abnormal. People who attend them are destined to be losers. They have no social lives.</p>
<p>actually a few of those are fully public schools. as in non-magnet. like princeton high school, and my high school.</p>
<p>here's a list of the SAT scores (2003) from all of the Fairfax County (in northern va) High Schools.</p>
<p>Some private schools with excellent stats do not share their data with the press or anyone else.</p>
<p>such as? all the reputable ones ive heard of are on that list.</p>
<p>I can think of at least one private school which routinely has 35-50% of class get NM recognition and 10-20% get Ivy admission. They are not on the list and I know they have a 'non-publication' policy.</p>
<p>I'm sure that there are public schools too that may fit on that list, but that don't publish the figures necessary to verify that they belong on that list. That list also is based on quite an odd selection of colleges.</p>
<p>so cheers, name the school.</p>