<p>So, ELW, what criteria are these ratings based on?</p>
<p>I disagree on your #2 - it does not always DECREASE your chances of Ivy admitance. That is such an individual case-by-case thing. We've discussed that here a bazillion times, so need to get into that again, however, it is not a FACT, it is your opinion - just to clarify.</p>
<p>And, name recognition has nothing to do with any "ranking." In fact, to be perfectly honest, I in New England, my kids go to a Jr. Prep school and I had never heard of Groton until we started searching for schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback. I have taken it into consideration and made some updates. Concur with the addition of Blair. Also with the move of Thacher and Cate into first tier. </p>
<p>Added the all girl’s schools Emma Willard and Miss Porter’s. Also added a third tier for a total of about 40 schools -- roughly the top 15% of true boarding schools in the US.</p>
<p>Three filtering criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Boarding population >= 50%. This excludes otherwise excellent schools with smaller boarding populations, such as: St. Albans, Noble & Greenough, Hockaday, Belmont, Indian Springs, Concord, Cranbrook, Georgetown, Oregon Episcopal, Athenian, Bolles, Wyoming Seminary, Masters, and McCallie.</p></li>
<li><p>Viable interscholastic athletics program. This excludes schools such as United World College.</p></li>
<li><p>Total enrollment of at least 200 students. This excludes schools such as Westover and Thomas Jefferson in St. Louis.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Ranking included such inputs as:</p>
<ul>
<li> Matriculation into top colleges</li>
<li> Student performance on standard tests</li>
<li> Endowment and other assets</li>
<li> Fund raising</li>
<li> % Boarding population</li>
<li> % International students</li>
<li> Student teacher ratio</li>
<li> Interscholastic sports program</li>
<li> Financial aid program</li>
<li> Post Grad level (a mild negative)</li>
<li> Acceptance rate</li>
<li> Brand strength</li>
<li> Experience and informal conversations</li>
</ul>
<p>--Elite Tier--
1 St. Paul’s
2 Groton
3 Exeter
4 Andover
5 Deerfield</p>
<p>--First Tier--
6 Hotchkiss
7 Choate
8 Lawrenceville
9 Milton
10 St. Andrew’s
11 Middlesex
12 Peddie
13 Taft
14 Thacher
15 Cate
16 St. George’s</p>
<p>--Second Tier--
17 St. Mark’s
18 Episcopal
19 Loomis Chaffee
20 Emma Willard
21 Miss Porter’s
22 Blair
23 Northfield Mount Herman
24 Kent
25 Woodberry Forest
26 Webb</p>
<p>--Third Tier--
27 Mercersburg
28 Hill
29 Westminster
30 Western Reserve
31 Governor’s
32 Asheville
33 Brooks
34 Lake Forest
35 Madeira
36 Tabor
37 Pomfret
38 George
39 Santa Catalina
40 Williston Northampton
41 Stevenson
42 Fountain Valley
43 Culver
44 Westtown</p>
<p>There have been others who have asked an individual on this board to provide his rankings (since he had done a study on the top boarding schools.) To the best of my knowledge, those rankings weren't provided. So, for the people who like looking at these types of statistics, this information can be useful. Of course, everything is relative and most individuals will still maintain fit is everything.</p>
<p>Westminster - based on your stated criteria should certainly be higher than third tier.<br>
Also, wondering about the all-boys schools. I thought at first you had not considered any single-gender schools, but then you added the 2 girls schools. A couple of the all boys schools have very similar stats to your tier 2 schools.<br>
It is always interesting to see different rankings and I do like that you considered more than just the college placement AND that you said it really is about the fit.</p>
<p>Hill is at least as good as Blair.</p>
<p>I would like to see how day schools compare</p>
<p>Apples and Oranges</p>
<p>just subtract the boarding part</p>
<p>Day schools are probably easier to rank. The best are obviously the top NY prep schools (Collegiate, Dalton, Chapin, etc.), Boston (BB&N, Roxbury Latin), LA (H-W), and Chicago (Lab), and several others scattered throughout the country.</p>
<p>First, ranking should not matter as much as if the school is a good fit for you. For example, if you want to be on a swim team, some of these schools are essentially a zero ranking for you, as they do NOT have swim teams.</p>
<p>But, let's say you like rankings. Humans do seem to appreciate lists and numbers. So, how was the research done? In the OP's original post, there was no discussion of methodology at all. Later s/he includes some characteristics, but not how they were utilized. Which factor was given more weight? We have no idea. Go look at an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, or Science, or Nature, or any other peer-reviewed journal (not just biological/physical sciences, but social sciences as well). Each article MUST have a detailed Methods section. So detailed as for another person to re-create the experiments that were done. We don't have that here, nor have we had it with any of the other lists that people have posted. So, if rankings really matter to you, ask for how the list was made!</p>
<p>Another thing to consider about these rankings: what is the background and experience of the researcher? Here, we know nothing. S/he could be a teenager, a concerned parent, or someone who works for Petersons. If you or I submitted a paper to an important journal claiming a cure for cancer, the journal would look at our past research and published papers to see if we were qualified to produce such a cure. Again, in this case, we know none of these variables.</p>
<p>You are right BrooklynGuy. And to add to it, he/she is "adjusting" the rankings based on comments here - many of which are from young adults. </p>
<p>Where's fun-is-fun and D'yer when you need them? :)</p>
<p>These lists are irritating. Atleast they choose 20 good school though. I think Hill should be higher than Woodsberry and probubly a place ahead of Peddie.</p>
<p>Of course fun is fun can't speak for the D'yer Maker, but this is a case of shooting fish in a barrel. So silly, so inane that it's impossible to respond to.</p>
<p>Also, the WBTY Indices are currently being reconfigured to include an additional 40 plus factors including vegan breakfast choices, pet friendly and number of helicopter pads. Should be available in late June.</p>
<p>First of all, your placement of Lawrenceville as beneath the top group of schools is incomprehensible. As a member of the 10 Schools, Lawrenceville is consistently regarded in the same group as Andover, Exeter, Deerfield, etc. Secondly, your comments about college admissions and prep schools are totally off the mark. Top schools, such as Princeton, take prep schools kids with 3.5's, while they consistently turn down valedictorians from random public high schools. Colleges know prep schools and are familiar with their academic rigor, etc.</p>
<p>you're pushing it with the 3.5, but the sentiment is correct.</p>
<p>Just to add that when it comes to the top 10 or so schools, its really apples and oranges, which is why so many in this forum continue to say that you really need to pick out what fits you best. My S got into one of the "top tier" schools if you will, but will be choosing a "1st tier" school (as ranked above) based on a number of considerations. We are confident that the school we are choosing has academic programs and students on par with the premier school that he is turning down, and factoring in quality of daily life, location to our town, and size of school as well. All of these things matter, and in the end, 19% vs. 22% acceptance rate comes down an insignificant consideration. I've seen so many inaccuracies in this thread by some who seem to be an authority on boarding schools. I would caution anyone just starting the process to not rely on the type of rankings seen here and do your own investigation. CC has been a great resource on a number of topics, but when you get to a certain level of school, you have to go by many factors. We did, and after a long few months, know that my S will be going to a place that feels best for him and our family (and getting a world class education at that).</p>
<p>No...two of my son's NMH classmates are going to Harvard with a 3.5 and 3.6 respectively. When my older son was there, one of his good friends was accepted to both Harvard and Yale with a 3.5-ish GPA and a 14-something SAT. These schools do understand the academic rigor and respect the school's profile.</p>
<p>And what were their hooks if any?</p>