<p>"Are you sure that all 38 made National Merit? The The school’s profile lists 22 as commended/semi finalists…</p>
<p>Still pretty impressive."</p>
<p>Of that, it looks like 16 are commended and only 3 semi-finalists. Is that impressive?</p>
<p>Check out the list of public high schools too - why just focus on the privates…</p>
<p>Yeah, only 50% of the class getting NM commendation does kinda suck. I see your point.</p>
<p>Ha, well this is a “let the bragging begin” thread, and compared to some of the stats on other schools on the list, that’s not a particularly significant number. I’m not sure the whole NM testing should be such a big deal anyways, it’s only one test on one day.</p>
<p>Yes the metric is absurd. Then again, my alma mater, the storied Harvard-Westlake, got about 15% NM, if I recall correctly, when I was there. So whether BUA got 100% in 2012 (as the article claims) or 50% in 2013 (as BUA claims), pray tell, in what circles is that not a significant number?</p>
<p>Well, if your school had 15% national merit finalists, that is awfully impressive. But national merit finalist is far more difficult to achieve than semifinalists, which is more difficult than commended. I’d take a random guess that at least half the students here on cc would be finalists/semi-finalists, or commended. But far more will be commended than semi-finalists or finalists. My kid’s graduating class had 31 semi-finalists (don’t know how many were finalists), 40 commended, and 8 of the other achievement/hispanic, out of 132.</p>
<p>Nope, my son wasn’t among them. I think he worked hard to bend the curve downwards.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I have to wonder why Thomas Jefferson isn’t in the top 50 public HSs. Their last published average SAT is higher than the private day schools discussed up-thread.</p>
<p>No it was 15% commended. And you’ve just cited (approvingly, I believe) your son’s school with about 30% commended.</p>
<p>So, again, how is 50% “not significant”?</p>
<p>I’m not certain that you realize the difference between commended and semi-finalist, tortoise. It takes a higher score to become a semi-finalist, you can’t miss very many questions at all. It is significantly easier to be “commended”.</p>
<p>The school with 38 national merit cites that 16 were “commended” and 3 were semi-finalists. If I get out my calculator, that would be about 8% were semi-finalists, and 42% were commended. The other school I listed had a rate of 23% semi-finalists, and 30% were commended. I suspect that many other schools have a far greater rate of semi-finalists.</p>
<p>I know that schools want to state the largest number of national merit honors that their graduating classes have to make them look good. But to re-iterate, there is a big gap between bragging about your finalists, semi-finalists, and commended. My older son was commended, it gives him absolutely no scholarship money, and I don’t think he even put it on his college applications.</p>
<p>Oy. Yes, I am aware of the difference. Just as I’m sure you’re aware that you’ve dodged the question…again.</p>
<p>Look, this whole thing is absurd. The statistic is sorta meaningless and frankly, 50% bores me. It was the 100% figure (for 2012, I gather) cited in the article that caught my attention. Specifically, I cited it by way of illustrating the article’s inherent sloppiness. To say that 38 students at Boston University Academy got NM commendation without pointing out that BUA’s class size was…38 students…sorta missed the point, y’know? Also, the article’s regard for Harvard-Westlake is nuts. So my post was intended more as a journalistic critique than an exercise in school boosterism.</p>
<p>That said, just as you “suspect” that “many other schools have a far greater rate of semi-finalists” I suspect you don’t know what you’re talking about. But frankly, I don’t really care one way or another. Ta!</p>
<p>Well gosh, tortoise, what a cranky post. I must have hit a nerve somewhere. I do agree that it is far more significant if 38 students in a class of 38 get some sort of commendation, than if the class is larger than 38. Of course it is.</p>
<p>To answer your question, because apparently I didn’t do an adequate job of it…I should have better phrased my statement to reflect that I didn’t think 50% of students having national merit mention (or which the vast majority are commended, not semi-finalist), is particularly significant compared to other schools ON THE LIST. It may be significant in a national comparison, but if you wanted to hunt up all the statistics for the other schools, I think that you might not be so impressed. But I am purely basing my assumption on the one school that I am familiar with, which is merely one data point. I was assuming that they were not outliers, but closer to the norm of selective schools. Perhaps I am incorrect.</p>
<p>I think we both agree that it’s really not that important of a statistic anyways. It’s the same as colleges boasting about their SAT scores. And if high schools are going to be selectively accepting students with high ISEE scores, it stands to reason they will have many high scorers for national merit selection and SATs.</p>
<p>I think Hershey Montessori should definitely be on this list. Farm life anyone?</p>
<p>Five out of the top ten schools on this list (and the eleventh also, actually) are within a ten-block radius (if you don’t count Central Park) of my private, all-girls high school.
I think I’m being gypped.</p>
<p>Had to google Hershey Montessori. Now I’m interested. I always give bonus points to farm kids because they know how to work.</p>
<p>I was initially wowed by the thoughts of kids working hard on a farm, till a vision of unpaid child farm labor came to mind…</p>
<p>I would be happy if someone around here just cleaned their room.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if Winsor has always had such tippy top SAT scores? It was founded by a relative of mine, and because of where my cousins who attended went to school, I’d never thought it was as good as the New England boarding schools, but I suspect now I was just ignorant. (One of those cousins may have had great scores and chosen to go to art school because she was a fabulous artist.) My own alma mater, I don’t think appears on lists any more though I suspect it would have in my day. (It’s a boarding/day school.) It was really hard to be a NM semi finalist from my school because we were lumped in the New England Boarding school group, which required much higher scores than our state.</p>
<p>These schools are more expensive than most colleges. My total fees from undergrad to grad school was less than what these schools cost in a year!</p>
<p>The top 3% of all PSAT scorers become Commended scholars, roughly 50,000 out of 1.3 million test takers. The top 1% of test takers or about 15,000 become National Merit Semi-finalists and possibly Finalists. When half or more of a high school class score that high, it is impressive, whether they become commended or make it to be semi finalist.
Our local suburban High School, usually ranked about #10 in the state had 8 SF and 17 commended in a class of just under 500. Put another way, 5% of the class was recognized. While it is tougher to become a semi-finalist than commended, it is nothing to sneeze at or treat as routine, even here on CC.</p>
<p>
In the Boston area at least, Winsor has always had a great reputation and going back to this dinosaur’s day, was known for top scores on standardized tests as well as great acceptance rates to top colleges. Look at the writing SAT score. With a 790 as the top end of the 25-75 percentile, 1/4 of the class is getting 790 or 800 on that portion of the test.</p>
<p>[Winsor</a> School, MA Review | Private School Search](<a href=“http://www.privateschoolsearch.com/pss/Winsor-School/view/School.do?id=78]Winsor”>http://www.privateschoolsearch.com/pss/Winsor-School/view/School.do?id=78)</p>
<p>Mid-50 Percentile Math SAT 660-740
Mid-50 Percentile Critical Reading SAT 650-740
Mid-50 Percentile Writing SAT 700-790</p>
<p>[The</a> 50 Best Private Day Schools in the U.S.](<a href=“http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2013/04/30/50-private-day-schools-united-states/]The”>The 50 Best Private Day Schools In The U.S.)</p>
<p><<<<<5. Winsor School (Boston, MA)</p>
<p>The Winsor School, founded in 1886, is one of the top all-women’s prep schools in the country. Its academic excellence is evidenced by its high average combined SAT score of 2100 and its Ivy League/MIT/Stanford matriculation rate of 35%.>>>>></p>
<p>Actually this whole discussion seems to be based on a false premise. In the original link to the best schools, it states,
</p>
<h2>but a link to BU Academy for the 2012 class only lists 22 recognized scholars…</h2>
<p>[Academy</a> Quick Facts » Boston University Academy | Boston University](<a href=“Boston’s Best Private High School for Curious + Kind Students | Boston University Academy”>Boston’s Best Private High School for Curious + Kind Students | Boston University Academy)
</h2>
<p>Somebody made a mistake to make it appear more competitive. I’m always a little suspicious of perfect records…when there are so many variables… It’s understandable how it happened. Whoever wrote it, quickly saw the number 39 and rather than recognize it as class size, assumed it was number of commended/SF without reading further…</p>