<p>Are there any online resources or other ways to find out how various colleges view prep schools and the relative attractiveness of the students applying from such schools? In other words, beyond SAT and similar standardized tests, how does a college compare students from various prep schools? Are there any ranking or rating systems or similar publications of some type out there for prep schools similar to those available for colleges and universities? Prep schools are just as expensive as college in many cases and yet, I haven't been able to locate anything that shows in an objective way, how prep schools are viewed by colleges and how successful they are with their student body. Thanks much.</p>
<p>The point is, prep schools will have an inherently better standing with colleges. They have maintained their relationship, albeit less influential, since post-Revolutionary times. When a graduate from a school of renown applies to top colleges it will, in and of itself,show one of three things:[ul][<em>]Holistic excellence[</em>]Pedigree[li]Athletic prowess[/ul]Due to the large number of legacies and athletes in boarding school, it serves almost as a pipeline for such people into platinum colleges. For those who got in solely due to holistic excellence, it immediately shows the degree of such excellence–getting into these schools is no joke. </p>[/li]
<p>There is a fairly reliable ranking system called PrepReview. It comes under much scrutiny, and for good reason, on this board. While on any given matriculation cycle the system may be inaccurate, the overtime results of the system is fairly indicative. If something like this interests you, you can buy the latest version from the website (a hefty 60 dollars set on fire) or if you want an older one tell me. There was a posting of the list by another poster about a year ago. While difficult to read, it serves its purpose.</p>
<p>Just remember - purely objective ranking systems at this caliber are not all that helpful. You can’t compare the academic prowess of Exeter to that of Andover.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your insightful reply. I would very much appreciate the older version of the PrepReview you mentioned as a way for myself to become better familiarized with the information that is available. </p>
<p>The difficulty I am having is in evaluating whether a school with a long standing, very solid reputation would be inherently better positioned to place their graduates in top colleges, as opposed to a school with a superior pedigree with their very well-established lower school, but which only recently (last 6 years) launched an upper school and now only has a few years’ track record in placing graduates in colleges. How can I determine if the new school is on the right track in terms of establishing an equally superior upper school pedigree as opposed to a school with an already established reputation?</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind is that stats for college placement are not based solely on merit. I have seen this discussed many times on these forums. Legacies, athletes etc can make one school seem far superior to another when in actuality it is not the school that is doing better at placement but rather the legacies etc that go to that school. This article implies that actuality if you are not one of the “chosen” it may even hurt you going to one of these schools… read:
[WSJ.com</a> - For Groton Grads, Academics Aren’t Only Keys to Ivy Schools](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Groton_Grads.htm]WSJ.com”>WSJ.com - For Groton Grads, Academics Aren't Only Keys to Ivy Schools)</p>
<p>that’s why it’s good to get good grades/test scores and be well rounded. Notice how in that article that kid or his mom didn’t mention one EC</p>
<p>The WSJ report ss based on a very specific shortlist of schools, so I think it is very skewed. </p>
<p>Look at the matriculation list for each school with focus on ALL the schools. Don’t just look at Ivies but try to get a sense of where the bottom half of each graduation class goes.</p>
<p>Many thanks to everyone for their replies. It has been very helpful. I would be very interested to hear from PrincipalV regarding my last post…i.e. what can one look for as evidence that a well-established and prestigious lower school will have equal success in creating a similar reputation with their relatively new upper school? Related to this question, if you have a child weighing the pros and cons of attending such a school versus attending an already well-established upper school - but with a slightly lower pedigree, what would be areas to consider in this decision? Anyone that that is willing to share thoughts on this would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking for it, give me a sec.
</p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>As noted college attractiveness rankings (whether WSJ, PrepReview or others) that are based on matriculation stats use a select subset of schools. In the case of PrepReview it is the Ivies + Stanford and MIT. Given that 9 out of 10 are located in the Northeast the rankings will inherently skew toward regional schools, including those with large legacy populations, athletic connections, etc. Schools in other parts of the country may be just as well regarded but a lower percentage of their students may be interested in pursuing college so far away. Also, some schools, particularly small ones, may have a student body that has a greater orientation toward top tier liberal arts colleges. In either case, colleges know those schools are very good and their students are competitive in applications with schools that may be ranked higher.</p>
<p>As for more recent rankings I think the most recent PrepReview had Andover, SPS and perhaps one other tied for the top spot with an additional cluster of schools following close behind. If you do a search on this site you will find the list (albeit without the detailed data found in the report for subscribers) from last summer. You will also find numerous discussions regarding the published matriculation rates for each school and the relative impact of BS (positive or negative) on the results for any particular type of student. After reading them you will probably conclude that YMMV is the rule of the day and such data should be read within the context of your circumstances rather than to draw broad generalizations.</p>
<p>PrincipalV - Thank you very much.
Padre13 - You make some interesting points. With respect to your comment on matriculation stats, I would tend to agree with you…and thus, I would think that acceptance stats would be somewhat more useful - albeit still with some bias based on geography and other factors. Sorry, but can you tell me what “BS” and “YMMV” stand for? I will check out the PfrepReview site.</p>
<p>BS = boarding school
YMMV = your mileage may vary</p>
<p>thanks HJ0519</p>
<p>wanted clarification on the table that principalV cited. </p>
<p>it’s ranked by “% of 2008 graduating class that attended ivies+mit+stanford”, is that right?</p>
<p>the next number looks like avg SAT score. </p>
<p>then what is the next set of numbers/rankings, e.g, for SPS – “20 unranked 13 9 17”. what do those numbers mean?</p>
<p>thx.</p>
<p>Looking at where the bottom half of the class matriculates may be the best advice I’ve seen yet on cc.<br>
Great advice, Creative1.
zp</p>
<p>I have looked at the college acceptance list for students graduating recently from HADES schools. The SPS list, especially as to students graduating in the middle to the lower end of a class, is incredible. That said, SPS may be the toughest school for entry by kids without hooks because of the high number of legacies attending that great institution.</p>
<p>
According to Winterset’s recent post in the St. Paul’s thread,
</p>
<p>Is this particularly high rate of legacies? toombs61, do you know about how many legacies students there are in other top schools to compare?</p>
<p>I don’t know the exact % of legacies, but it is high. SPS is school of around 535 students, as opposed to PA and PE. SPS also has a ballet company, very strong music program and sports teams to fill, up, so at the end of the day, each student needs to have something more to offer than just straight A’s and 99% SSAT’s.</p>
<p>17.1% legacies sounds like a lot of legacies to me. With this number, only 82.9% of the school is open to non-legacies. So, instead of 535 spaces at SPS available to applicants, there are only 443 slots open to non-legacies.</p>
<p>I have no problem with these numbers. SPS may do anything it wants with its admissions program. Applicants just need to know these numbers when applying to SPS so that non-legacies can adjust their hopes for acceptance at SPS appropriately. I’m glad that SPS makes info on legacies available. It would be good practice if all BS’s did the same.</p>
<p>It should all come down to acceptance rate, assuming the legacy rates are similar among schools, which apparently there is no way to know. SPS is a smaller school but there are a relatively smaller number of applicants compared with A/E as well so it has a similar acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Why would you think there are less applicants for SPS than any other school? SPS and Deerfield are by far the most difficult to get into.</p>