<p>thegreentea68: BB&N, Rivers, and Thayer are NOT boarding schools. </p>
<p>I’m with GTMplus7. In general, rankings are ridiculous. Other than SAT scores and college matriculation, there are so many unique and ever changing factors for each school (student population, athletics, size of graduating class, curriculum, etc.) that it is impossible to make an accurate comparison to determine which school is “the best.” It all comes down to fit and what you are looking for from a school (e.g. single gender v. coed; boarding v. day; secular v. religious, autonomy v. rigidity, etc.).</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone could make a reasonable argument for moving these schools more than 1 spot above or below (these rankings are based off of prestige - college matric, academics, athletics)</p>
<p>day:
RL,
Nobles,
Bell Hill,
St. Sebs,
BBN,
rivers,
thayer academy</p>
<p>boarding:
St. pauls,
groton,
middlesex,
milton (although 50% day),
St. Mark’s,
st. georges,
brooks,
governors,
lawrence</p>
<p>Good discussions online out here.
agreed that the distinctions are splitting hairs within the rankings.
Greentea’s ranking at 3:24 PM isn’t too far off from mine. The key schools are in the cluster.</p>
<p>Even as a BB&N grad, I knew where the placement was in the ISL pecking order. When I graduated in the mid 1990s, we were viewed as middle of the road of the ISL.
Boston Magazine ranked BB&N #3 one year and #5 in another. Personally, I thought they
were being a little generous with us. What always helps BB&N is because of its Cambridge location, many students are the children of Lesley, Harvard, and MIT employees. Thus, the school was always strong in the arts and very intellectual.</p>
<p>Other/final thoughts:</p>
<p>Of the three boys schools on these lists, everyone has the order correctly.
Saint Sebastians has come a long way though. Very strong placement for Holy Cross and BC. Nice suburban campus. Superb hockey and football teams.<br>
Belmont Hill has grown significantly because of the Kraft family of Patriots fame. </p>
<p>Roxbury Latin. I graduated from a NESCAC college and the dean of admission of my college wouldn’t recruit at RL for years. When there are only 50 in a class and 1/2 are attending Harvard, Yale, Brown, or Dartmouth, it wasn’t worth the trip. Only one student would come out to hear the pitch of my college and that’s because there was a family tie to the college to begin with. RL is in its own category.</p>
<p>To MiltonMom of 2, hope your son enjoys BB&N. At $35,000 a year, he better!! :)</p>
<p>My thoughts after many years of participation and observation within the ISL:</p>
<ol>
<li>Roxbury Latin - Simply The Best-The One True School</li>
<li>Groton - St Paul’s —Remarkable Schools; Beautiful Facilities; First Rate; boarding</li>
<li>Milton - 1/2 cut above #5-#8-weird day/boarder vibe</li>
<li>Nobles- Culture of the Priviledged; lovely campus; fine school</li>
<li>Middlesex- Beautiful Campus, preppy; thinks of itself as Groton
7 BB&N - Very Cambridge; competitive;“different” feel than other ISLs</li>
<li>Belmont Hill - Traditional, Sports focused, character building
9.St Mark’s- Getting it back together w/ new leadership; wonderful community
10 St Georges and Brooks- Outstanding and Very Underrated Schools-SGS had drug issue</li>
<li>Rivers- Up and Coming- Check the Numbers; Weston location helps</li>
<li>St. Sebs; Thayer; Governor’s- Very different schools-with pockets of excellence </li>
<li>Lawrence- The latest sports implosion doesn’t help their suffering reputation</li>
</ol>
<p>BTW, does anyone no where “Harvard or Bust” is going to school next year?</p>
<p>Prep Review released their 2012 rankings for the top 50 prep schools (boarding/day) in the country. They rank based on % of graduates going to the 8 Ivies, Stanford, and MIT.
While I will not rank all 50 schools, I will rank those in the ISL in chronological order that made their Top 50. I more than realize that there are so many metrics for analyzing a school, but when all is said and done, college placement is what these schools have as a forte over the competition. Here is how the ISL ranks based on % going to Ivies, Stanford, MIT.</p>
<p>PR rank ISL % going to above places</p>
<p>6 1 Roxbury Latin School 33%
11 2 St Pauls School (NH) 30%
17 3 Noble and Greenough 27%
22 4 Groton School 24%
27 5 Buckingham Browne & Nichols 22%<br>
27 6 Milton Academy 22%
36 7 Middlesex School 20%
37 8 Belmont Hill School 19%</p>
<p>Thus 8 of the 16 ISL schools made the list in some capacity. And they tend to be the same
8 that others including myself put in subjective rankings over the last few months.<br>
This is another gauge of quality…not the only one…but I think a telling one for people to review. </p>
<pre><code>curious to know what others thoughts are. thx!
</code></pre>
<p>Thanks mdgran1955: it is all very interesting…Roxbury Latin is always very high and frequently #1 in the country so not surprised there. </p>
<p>Nobles surprises me a bit at #17. 27% is outstanding.</p>
<p>In general, placing 8 schools in the top 37 in the country is a real feather in the cap of the ISL. Understandable why admission to these schools is so difficult.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what were the 2012 PrepReview top 10 schools? And how does that compare to 2011’s list?</p>
<p>I agree, I was surprised at Nobles exceptionally high placement. I knew it was an excellent institution from my attending BB&N, but it was still very high!</p>
<p>Everyone on the posting board put the same 8 of 16 ISL schools in their own top 8 with little exceptions. So there are probably like two tiers of ISL with Lawrence (sadly) at the bottom consistently. </p>
<p>Prep Review is a little tricky for “ranking schools” since they focus on % going to ten universities. While we all know the prestige of the Ivies/Stanford/MIT, there are approximately 3,000 colleges in the country and many schools are superb that are omitted based on their criteria. So a good private school that sends 7 to Williams in one year and 4 to Georgetown might be omitted if no one is attending PR’s criteria— those above ten schools. </p>
<p>PR releases a new ranking every 2 years. Last time was 2010.<br>
While I won’t rank the other 42 schools that were non-ISL, the usual suspects were in the top 50: Deerfield, Phillips Andover, Phillips Exeter for boarding among others. Spence School, Collegiate, Brearely were among the NYC day schools. </p>
<p>With all due respect, anything in the top 50 is very impressive. </p>
<p>have a great summer and thanks for posting!</p>
<p>Just thought I should point this out that we had a junior transfer from Nobles to MX, girl is very bright (committed to Stanford). Said that Nobles was really quite easy academically she was in all honors and APs there, and that MX was much more rigorous, please remember that college placement is not indicative of the quality of education one will receive at prep school. College placement has to do with a lot of things, including how connected the headmaster is. My friend and I often remark on how much more difficult boarding school is than normal prep school (day school), for him a very competitive school in Dallas and for me a Hill School in NYC. Boarding school is always harder you have so much more to juggle and no one to help get out of the jam.</p>
<p>No one to help get out of the jam at BS? What happened to all the teachers and advisors who are supposed to be available 24x7 in a boarding environment?</p>
<p>Thanks for breaking the news! So you are saying kids don’t get the same level of attention and oversight at BS that they can get at home and going to a local school?</p>
<p>So you are saying kids don’t get the same level of attention and oversight at BS that they can get at home and going to a local school?</p>
<p>In some ways, the students get more attention and oversight, but those monitoring them are not their parents. Your dorm parent will not fib about an illness to get you out of an assignment. If your dorm parent catches you drinking or breaking major rules, there will be severe consequences.</p>
<p>If a boarding student is overwhelmed by the workload, there isn’t a parent at hand to monitor his schedule. If something is bothering the boarding student, he has to find the courage to raise the topic with his advisor or with student leaders. The schools do teach good study skills, but the student can’t fall back on parents running interference.</p>
<p>I am a new student at the Roxbury Latin School this year, and I would have to say it is one of the best schools in the country. The challenge is incredible, and the pace is amazing. We learn a chapter of Latin a week and no one has ever taken Latin before. It’s very demanding but it’s totally worth it. I love the school and all the kids in my grade love it, too. It’s a great challenge for anyone who’s really bright and you make a ton of friends and you’re all really close. It’s such a fantastic school (it’s in West Roxbury, Massachusetts).
Belmont Hill is another great school. I applied there and it’s very similar to RL, but I chose RL because it fit my personality better. Though it takes all personalities, the most common is an excellent student, and a good athlete. I just happened to relate to the RL kids more, and I’m very happy with my decision</p>
<p>To devin: Great to hear from a RL student. Congratulations on your acceptance to Roxbury Latin! That alone is no small accomplishment. You should be proud of yourself.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are having a wonderful first 6 weeks. RL is an amazing opportunity for you and it sounds like you and your classmates are having a blast and are up for the RL challenge. Please check in on the board when you can…and best of luck to you.</p>
<p>I’d remind you to “work hard and have fun” but it sounds like you and your classmates have that part down too!</p>
<p>PS Also, tell the football team to beat St Paul’s this weekend and stay undefeated : )</p>
<p>tim 3423’s ranking is excellent. the key schools are in the cluster. He omitted Brooks, but got the other 15 in the right locations. I’d put Brooks around his St. Sebs’ Thayer range. Good work!</p>
So you are saying kids don’t get the same level of attention and oversight at BS that they can get at home and going to a local school?</p>