<p>Yes, the Green Cup Challenge was started by Exeter, but Millbrook School won the challenge last year, and NMH won the year before :)</p>
<p>Yup....NMH won the first year the Green Cup Challenge was opened up to other schools!</p>
<p>Solstice, the financial aid at Exeter is even more generous than you mention. Admissions has been need blind for domestic students for decades. And financial aid has always been generous. But now, a student from any family with combined total income of under $75,000 per year receives a FULL scholarship. That means that the children of two-thirds of the families in the country would receive a full ride. Yes, you read that right. And the average grant for those in the $75-$200K zone is $27,000.
No more talk of elitism. This means that the school is going to be able to attract the best candidates in the country, period.</p>
<p>Taking into account all publically available data, some private data, and personal experience, here is a ranking of the top 20 or so boarding schools. Did this as a planning step for my own purposes but thought Id share the results of a fair bit of research.</p>
<p>First a few comments as caveat:</p>
<p>1) Ranking provides a general idea of overall quality. However, a rank is just a starting point. On-campus visits, personal assessments, interviews, etc are more valuable in finding a good fit. The top boarding schools vary quite a bit in character and strengths, and you'll want to find an environment where a particular student is most likely to thrive. </p>
<p>2) Contrary to conventional wisdom, a top boarding school will actually reduce a students chances of getting into a university of the caliber of Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. There are a number of great reasons to attend boarding school increasing your chances of getting into HYP is not one of them.</p>
<p>3) Only looked at true boarding schools with at least 50% boarders. My bias is at least 2/3 boarders, and 100% is optimal. Having said that, Milton (50%) and Loomis (60%) made the list. Good schools like Hockaday, Indian Springs, Concord, Cranbrook, and Georgetown fall below the 50% boarder cutoff.</p>
<p>Of roughly 300 boarding schools in the US, here is a ranking of the top 20 or so.</p>
<p>--Elite Tier--
1 St. Pauls
2 Groton
3 Exeter
4 Andover
5 Deerfield</p>
<p>--First Tier--
6 Hotchkiss
7 Choate
8 Lawrenceville
9 Milton
10 St. Andrews
11 Middlesex
12 Peddie
13 Taft
14 St. Georges</p>
<p>--Second Tier--
15 Thacher
16 Cate
17 St. Marks
18 Episcopal
19 Loomis Chaffee
20 Woodberry Forest
21 Webb
22 Northfield Mount Herman
23 Kent</p>
<p>Interested in any comments you may have.</p>
<p>With the same format as ELW, but not the same critera, I'd say:</p>
<p>--Elite Tier--
St. Paul's
Andover
Exeter
Groton
Deerfield</p>
<p>--between elite and first tier--
Hotchkiss
Milton</p>
<p>--first tier--
Choate
Lawrenceville
Middlesex
Peddie
thacher
cate</p>
<p>--between first and second tier--
Taft</p>
<p>--second tier--
St. George's
Webb
Blair
Tabor
Cranbrook</p>
<p>--third tier--
Kent
Loomis
NMH</p>
<p>Jonathan's suggested adjustments to ELW's list look pretty good, except (in my opinion) Loomis and NMH do not belong in a tier below Tabor.</p>
<p>To clarify my comment above, Loomis and NMH are both at least second tier and on their way up (again, in my opinion).</p>
<p>I think Loomis (1946 avg SAT) should be moved to the second tier of my list, but NMH (1782 avg SAT) should probably remain in the third tier. My list isn't solely based on academics, though. I couldn't find any SAT data for Kent. LC has an endowment of $175M compared to NMH's $137M, although LC is a slightly larger school.</p>
<p>Agreed....and, we did look at the "elite" and "tier one" schools. If academics are one of the criteria, they are every bit as rigorous as the elite tier schools. I just spoke with a parent yesterday whose son was admitted to SPS and Exeter with 100% FA and NMH....but not as large an aid package. They chose NMH based on their own knowledge of the academic rigor, combined with the fact that they loved the warmth and friendliness of the place and were very impressed by the faculty and staff. When people start to look beyond name and prestige, they can then see a school's true attributes.</p>
<p>Keylyme, I'm not trying to belittle NMH as it is an excellent school, but in your opinion why do you think NMH has a much lower average SAT score than schools like St. Paul's, Deerfield, Peddie, etc.?</p>
<p>Jonathan, I don't believe it is the quality of the academics that lowers their SAT scores; I think part of it is their large (21%) international population and the fact that they are an ESL school. The academics are certainly rigorous and the school's profile is highly respected. If you are an Ivy-capable student, NMH can prepare you as well as any of the "elite" schools. I also don't think NMH attracts as many students who are in the "Ivy" race.
Also, because they are not as popular, they do have a smaller applicant pool to choose from. But, I think it might also be their decision to increase their diversity and not just choose students based on how high their SSAT score was. I believe SPS has begun doing this and showed a much lower SSAT average (83%)....we'll have to see if this translates to lower SAT scores for this and future classes.</p>
<p>Good point.. I wasn't aware of the ESL program at NMH and the large international student population.</p>
<p>i agree with jonathan.</p>
<p>ELW - geographical bias looms large....Thacher certainly deserves to be in the top tier and you can make a good argument that Cate should be there as well....</p>
<p>Kent should at least be in 1st tier. If we are factoring in athletics Kent should be elite tier. I hate these lists.</p>
<p>One of problems I have with Jonathan's list is Hotchkiss not being in the elite, in my opinion, they are definitely elite. One thing I do agree is the sat scores, NMH's average scores are considerably low (they are a great school, I applied there) and should be considered. What hap to Episcopal and Woodberry :)?</p>
<p>Aussie13, in terms of academic rigor and college matriculation, Kent doesn't come close to schools in the elite tier. However, like you said if it were based on athletics, it would be in the top tier.</p>
<p>scrocks, I would consider Hotchkiss low in the elite tier or high in the first tier. It is an excellent school and comparable in every way to A/E, but at least in my experience it does not carry the same level of prestige and name recognition as A/E.</p>
<p>Jonathan, What experience are you talking about? You post your findings, but aren't you just a 9th grade student? I understand that we can have our opinions, but you write as if you are some sort of authority. New readers on this thread, who might not know your background, might think that you are some sort of authority. That's not the case.</p>
<p>Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as if I had a lot of authority, and if any prospective applicants were to read any other thread on this forum they would see they I am only an applicant.</p>
<p>The experience I was talking about is the name recognition I got from my friends, teachers, and family when I told them where I was considering applying and where I ended up applying. Nearly all of them knew of Andover, most knew of SPS and Groton, and few knew of Taft. (Those are the schools I ended up applying to)</p>
<p>Oh, it is hard to do rankings. They can never really be right, but I think we humans are innately attracted to them, as we are to fire. Certainly every school in ELW's "elite" list belongs there, probably Hotchkiss too. From attending revisit days at some of those schools, I can say the others are the peer schools most students are choosing between or wish they had been admitted to. </p>
<p>Keeping in mind that rankings are somewhat for sport, it would be best to define the universe, such "co-ed chools that are at least 50% boarding, have at least 200 boarders, and are located in the new england and mid atlantic states," and then try to sort all those schools into tiers. I agree that the "highest tier" school is not necessarily the best for you, and that you can get a great education at many schools.</p>