<p>There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this list. For example, it seems to emphasize PSAT/ national merit recognition/SAT scores to some extent. However, the school in Mississippi that has 1800 average SAT score ranks much higher than schools with significantly higher SAT scores and doesn’t seem to have any unique features or better college placement to explain its rank.</p>
<p>"National Merit Commendations</p>
<p>Class of 2012: 39 students
Finalists: 3
Semi-Finalists: 1
Commended Students: 16
Hispanic Recognition Scholar: 1 "</p>
<p>For a private school, this record is lousy.</p>
<p>St Johns in Houston usually has about 45+ out of 120 EVERY YEAR making NMSF. Most of the rest are probably making the commended list but they consider it so unimportant they don’t even announce it.</p>
<p>@redpoint-- we’re neighbors! I live a block from that same school. I know it’s supposed to be among the best, but it’s not very diverse and I don’t really like some of the kids who go there. I teach at one of the other schools in the neighborhood.</p>
<p>I think that it is purely logical that top day schools and top boarding schools will have a large number of students with high PSAT and SAT scores. These schools are very competitive, and can choose the students with the highest ISEE scores and grades. Of course they will have large numbers of high scorers, but it may be due to whom they choose to accept vs their school’s education. Now if there’s a public school that has a large cluster of high scorers, that has to accept everyone, that would be eye catching.</p>
<p>I thought there would be a number of schools like texaspg mentioned.</p>
<p>Regis High School #represent</p>
<p>@texaspg </p>
<p>Here’s where they do, indeed, “announce it.” On their fact sheet. </p>
<p>Oh dear. I notice that St Johns (or whatever it’s called) has only gotten 11 kids into Harvard in the past five years. Eleven out of, what, 750? As you said, “for a private school, this record is lousy.”</p>
<p>I’m really enjoying this thread. It’s, like, the best ever. As one who has not quite reached child-rearing years, I’m curious. Are your kids like this? Or is just that you parents have A LOT of time to kill?</p>
<p>Or you could interpret the results as:</p>
<p>For the past five years, St Johns helped two of its top students to matriculate at Harvard, or one of each five to seven students ranked in its top ten percent.</p>
<p>With thirty thousand HS in the US, it is not that lousy to grab more than one of the 2000 offers of admissions.</p>
<p>And remember this is in Houston. :)</p>
<p>@xiggi, texaspg’s words, not mine. </p>
<p>I think these comparisons are idiotic</p>
<p>Not sure who started with the NMS stuff, but here are some data points for the stat lovers. From Dallas</p>
<p>[National</a> Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - City-Data Forum](<a href=“National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum”>National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum)</p>
<p>217 Plano Senior</p>
<p>206 TAMS</p>
<p>170 Plano West</p>
<p>118 St. Mark’s
114 Flower Mound (LISD)
110 Plano East</p>
<p>88 Hockaday</p>
<p>72 Coppell</p>
<p>67 Highland Park</p>
<p>57 Cistercian
51 FM Marcus (LISD)</p>
<p>44 Southlake Carroll
42 Greenhill
42 Jesuit</p>
<p>38 Hebron (LISD)
38 Allen
35 Garland
33 Pearce (RISD)
30 Martin (AISD)</p>
<p>29 ESD
28 Heritage (G-C ISD)
28 Keller
27 Ursuline
27 Lamar (AISD)
26 Newman Smith (C-FB ISD)
26 Grapevine
24 McKinney Boyd
20 McKinney</p>
<p>Read more: <a href=“National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum”>National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum;
<p>Check the absolute numbers and the per capita table.</p>
<p>28.4% St. Mark’s
23.8% Cistercian
21.7% TAMS</p>
<p>14.7% Hockaday</p>
<p>7.5% Greenhill</p>
<p>6.0% ESD</p>
<p>3.4% Plano West
3.4% Jesuit
3.2% Plano Senior</p>
<p>2.8% Ursuline
2.8% Highland Park
2.8% Flower Mound (LISD)
2.2% Coppell</p>
<p>1.5% Plano East
1.3% Pearce (RISD)
1.3% Southlake Carroll
1.2% FM Marcus (LISD)
1.0% Garland
1.0% Newman Smith (C-FB ISD)
1.0% Hebron (LISD)
1.0% Heritage (G-C ISD)</p>
<p>0.9% Grapevine
0.8% McKinney
0.8% Keller
0.7% Lamar (AISD)
0.7% Martin (AISD)
0.6% McKinney Boyd
0.6% Allen</p>
<p>Read more: [National</a> Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - City-Data Forum](<a href=“National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum”>National Merit Semi-Finalists: 2008-2012 Cumulative Totals - plus 2013 NMSFs (Dallas: catholic schools, universities) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum)</p>
<p>Geez, all these schools are starting to look kind of “lousy,” huh, texaspg?</p>
<p>Not sure what this is about but taunting members is inappropriate on this forum and has been dealt with.</p>
<p>I have no kid at St. Johns and so it is not material to me. I do think for a school to be in top 50 schools in the nation, they need more than 4 out of 40 people make NMSF.</p>
<p>This is an academic achievement. Where they go to college on the other hand depends a lot on where they want to go. Not everyone Texas thinks Harvard is all that. I guess St John’s students seem to like Yale much better though.</p>
<p>“Not sure what this is about but taunting members is inappropriate on this forum”</p>
<p>I think the fallacious assumption that we sometimes make is that we assume, since this is the parents forum, that the students who post are mature. That they can argue their disagreements without becoming hostile, rude, or getting personal.</p>
<p>It seems fitting on this thread to discuss what one thinks should be considered when choosing a list of top schools. I doubt the number of students attending Harvard is one of the parameters. Not everyone applies to Harvard, nor accepts it beyond all other school choices, which would be difficult to reflect when listing statistics.</p>
<p>Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn</p>
<p>Granted that National Merit is a pretty narrow measure of academic achievement, it’s still nice to see that St. Mark’s with its $100 million endowment and 40% higher tuition barely edged out tiny Cistercian in the per capita NM derby. Since this is a bragging thread, I guess I can say, “Go, Hawks!”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s one way to look at it. Lately I’ve come around to the assumption that the kids are generally better behaved than the adults around here. </p>
<p>Don’t ask me about day schools. I grew up so far out in the sticks that my opinions would be useless.</p>
<p>You have to be kidding me! Best private day-schools? Who would read this? LOL</p>
<p>My kid’s school did not make this list, though the school made another recently published one by the washington Post as a “most challanging”. The school ranked #3 on this "most challanging list didn’t even make this list; so evaluating the criteria for list inclusion probably should take weight when reviewing any list.</p>
<p>As i’ve written here previously, The WW (wonderful wife) & I made the parental decision to send D to private school in 9th grade, after K-8 in public school. We wanted to insure D was properly prepared for the academic rigors, written communication skills, proper study techniques and time manaagement this particular private school stresses.</p>
<p>It pains me to have to write the tuition checks in July, November & January. We planned for her to attend college, but not private high school, so annual tuition is funded annually out-of-pocket. Suffice to say I’m very grouchy arond the 10th of July, November & January every year.</p>
<p>However, it is money well spent in our opinion, so we just bite the bullet and deal with it.</p>
<p>Here is an article that makes me glad my kids went to a CA Public HS… </p>
<p><a href=“Is Avenues the Best Education Money Can Buy? - The New York Times”>Is Avenues the Best Education Money Can Buy? - The New York Times;
<p>I thought CC had some helicopter pilots…</p>
<p>Article said: “Founded in 1645, Roxbury Latin is one the oldest, operating private schools in the country . . .”</p>
<p>RL is THE oldest continually operating private school in the country.</p>