<p>Guys, we've all been through this before on multiple occasions and every time we've come to the same conclusion: *RANKINGS MEAN NOTHING! *</p>
<p>There is no 'best' school, only the best school for YOU. It doesn't matter what school is best statistically. They all have great programs endowments whatever. </p>
<p>Say PEA is said to be the best school(which would definitely be arguable btw) it might not 'fit' for you. Even if you want 'the best' think about whats best for you. What programs do you want? Location? Sports? What? How do you feel at the school? Deerfield is GREAT, but you might not like it.</p>
<p>Don't go to a school for its stats. Go for the 'feel'.</p>
<p>"RANKINGS MEAN NOTHING! "
To say that would be wrong, we all know some rankings have importance, but I do agree with you that it is all about what school you prefer. I myself really considered Episcopal, but in the end I will be attending St. Pauls</p>
<p>sorry i had too
its like that "that’s what she said"opportunity in the middle of english class
even if you get a bad look from the teacher you just had to go for it</p>
<p>Well if you looked at college matriculation rankings and Prep Prepatory academy had 75% of its class go to jimbo community college and the rest headed to mcdonalds university.
Ranking in endowment b/c If a schools endowment keeps you from getting enough Financial Aid.
Average SAT, because when a college looks at your schools profile, they don’t want to see a bunch of ,low scores
Ranking in campus acres to have a bigger school
ranking in athletic programs so you can have good teams
Ranking in SSATS so you know there will be mostly smart kids there</p>
<p>But if you are accepted to HADES and to another lesser known school that you feel better at, please listen to yourself and go to your “fit school”. Your time there will be better. </p>
<p>Rad, rankings are very important. But fit is too.</p>
<p>rankings tell you something about the school but its not all about rankings.</p>
<p>it not the hand that you’re dealt but how you deal with it.</p>
<p>Though if all the students go to MCDonald’s U that may tell you something of the quality of their education. What if they’re some sort of feeder school? What if they go for the athletics? What if they’re sick of rigorous work and want to slack off?</p>
<p>My current school has a 100% of graduates going off to college and good SATs etc but the education quality isn’t good. They usually go to ‘good’(cough) colleges but then flunk out or drop out b/c they’re not used to the work. Its usually spoon fed to them and they don’t know how to work w/o a study guide.
So stats could be misleading.</p>
<p>(On the other hand back in the day (2003) people went to good colleges (ie- Williams etc) and did well. But as the years went on they lost track of how to do their ‘college prep’ <em>COUGHCOUGHCOUGH</em> mission and went downhill.)</p>
<p>are you saying that rankings are more important then fit wow…
the reality is that if you succeed at any of these academically you will go onto an unbelievable university it doesnt matter if you go #1 school A or #1 school B</p>
<p>Hcoss I wish you would read my entire post before commenting. Here are some quotes from my two previous post. </p>
<p>But if you are accepted to HADES and to another lesser known school that you feel better at, please listen to yourself and go to your “fit school”. Your time there will be better. "</p>
<p>To say that would be wrong, we all know some rankings have importance, but I do agree with you that it is all about what school you prefer.</p>
<p>Competition is simply a part of the human instinct. I don’t see why people are so irritated by ranking boarding schools. Colleges get ranked, public schools get ranked, hospitals get ranked, retirement centers get ranked, students get ranked, etc. </p>
<p>Of course rankings do not mean everything, but it give a sense of standards that should always be considered.</p>
<p>Rankings can be helpful for newbies to have some basic idea what tier a school roughly belongs to, because many newbies may end up wasting a lot of time digging out information on schools they shouldn’t consider in the first place. But as long as the school is academically challenging enough for you, ranking means little. On a recent high schools ranking based on their performance of sending graduates to top colleges conducted by a major newspaper, Choate was ranked #51, wayyy lower than Groton (#4) and Milton (#9), but does that mean Choate is significantly less prestigious than the two other schools? No, not at all. This is where rankings don’t come into play, but the right “fit” does. Oh and remember, the right “fit” even includes if the school is on the same academic caliber as you are.</p>