<p>By the way, among the boarding preps, SPS, which I would classify as midsize, has the largest proportion of students going to high prestige colleges. This does not mean it is "better" than Groton, or Exeter, it is just a description of where the students go. One can get a great education at any of these places. At this level, fit is far more important than any detectable differences in overall quality.</p>
<p>prep schools are overrated..im gladd i didnt go my dad would be dirt poor.</p>
<p>afan, that was not directed at you, rather all of us as a whole.
My opinion, Middlesex is academically as good as any school any size. There I spoke my peace</p>
<p>Davida, what is the basis for the comments that you've made about the intellectual maturity of students at Andover/Exeter? How many people do you know that went to these schools? As a current student at Andover, I would disagree with your comments. </p>
<p>I think that some of the points you made are valid, there are some advantages to going to a smaller school. But I do feel that you are misinformed and misguided in your opinions about A/E. </p>
<p>Respectfully,
an Andover student</p>
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[quote]
davida1=I know some people who ended up graduating from the Phillips Academies' that are not impressive in terms of their intellectual maturity.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>apparently he knows more than one person and that person according to davida1 isn't mature? I am not sure what intellectual maturity is. I know that following my time at Exeter there was a range of intellectual achievement. Most all of it top percentages. I think this statement is about 1+ persons out of a thousand. Sounds like sour grapes.</p>
<p>haha, for davida1 to say that any new england boarding school (whether it be a/e, deerfield, groton, or middlesex) lacks "intellectual maturity" is somewhat of a joke. i mean, you have to admit, the rigorous application process to such schools is so intense that it must weed out the "intellectualy immature." of course, there is always going to be the small number of people who fit davida's description, but that can't be used against the majority of a school.</p>
<p>as for the size of a boarding school, i don't see how anybody could support a certain size over another. it's true that there are some disadvantages and benefits for both small/large schools, but these are the factors that go into the selection of a boarding school. in the end, i decided that i was more of a large-school type after applying to a number of large and small boarding schools. i think the partialities that i have read in some posts concerning sizes of schools is based on personal preference. so, ultimately, it is up to the applicant to decide.</p>
<p>oh, and to prepparent - i don't think that small schools are "dogged" on these threads. i just don't think they generate as much interest, which is mostly due to the fact that a/e are more well-known (since they are older institutions). once you take a look at the smaller schools, you can see that they can be just as excellent as a/e, if not better for some students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i mean, you have to admit, the rigorous application process to such schools is so intense that it must weed out the "intellectualy immature."
[/quote]
I disagree. Teenagers anywhere are going to be immature. It doesn't matter how intelectual and prestigious a school is, the kids are still stupid for the most part. Albeit, I believe the kids at ne prep schools are still going to be slightly more mature and independent than most public school educated teenagers.</p>
<p>well, that's what i mean. obviously, teenagers can't help but be immature sometimes. but compared to other kids their age, most ne boarding school students are overall fairly mature (no matter which school they come from).</p>
<p>Wow, overall davida had some good things to say. OK, the one issue may have been a bit of a problem to some/all, but, maybe he speaks from experience, and we all have different experiences. However, he certainly cannot extrapolate this experience to cover all students at said schools.
eklektist, dogged is probably an incorrect assessment. Maybe we tend to over look schools that are as good as the big 2/3. I think we can agree that not all the young students on these prep treads are suitable for A or AE, yet they all seem to think so. By virtual numbers it can't be so yet many may not realize it and miss the opportunities of some very very good schools.
Oh and by the way, for the person who thinks the measure of a school is how many and types of courses it offers. Dead wrong, I went to an inner city high school with about 15% of the students attending college. Most of these were community coleges.We had a bare minimum of course offerings. Not to toot my horn, but Iam quite successful and professional. I was one of the few who went to a 4 year uni and than to professional school and I never saw one science AP course ever offered at my school. It's the man/woman who makes it so not the course offerings. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Prep schools are indeed best evaluated on an individual and personal level. Not everyone can thrive at places like Andover and Exeter. Choate, too, I hear is quite isolated. Smaller boarding schools like Concord Academy, Milton, and Middlesex are often more refreshing, healthy, and nourishing.</p>
<p>yes, i agree that those who are new to boarding schools often mistakenly think that andover or exeter is the best school for them. after some extensive research, though, they can realize that smaller schools can offer just as a good an education.</p>
<p>Seems to me the best objective measure of the "quality" of a high school is the quality its college matric list (of course, any such "measure" is hardly objective, but, hey, we're just debating here....)</p>
<p>Hopkins, in New Haven, has a terrific matric record (haven't been able to find 2006 yet. Anybody got it?).</p>
<p>Milton -- half day/half boarding -- has as good a matric record (in terms of % going on to the top 15-20 most selective national universities and the top 15-20 most selective LACs) as any private high school in the country with 50+ graduates.</p>
<p>Milton partial matriculation list, class of 2006, 178 graduates, as of 6/9/2006. Source: The Milton Measure</p>
<p>11 Brown
9 Penn
8 Harvard
7 Yale
6 Wesleyan
5 Columbia
5 Tufts
4 Cornell
4 Georgetown
4 Trinity
4 Vanderbilt
4 Oberlin
4 BC
3 MIT
3 Amherst
3 Bowdoin
3 Middlebury
2 NYU
2 CMellon
2 Duke
2 Emory
2 Wellesley
1 Princeton
1 Northwestern
1 JH
1 Pomona
1 Dartmouth
1 Reed
1 Rice
1 Vassar</p>
<p>Most of these schools are top 20 or close. Total matrics on the list -- likely to grow some with summer melt -- approaches 60% of the graduating class. And I'm sure I forgot to include some other colleges that should be on this list as well. Can any high school in the country, public or private, top this? Styvesant(sp?) , maybe?</p>
<p>burntsnowman, this list is quite impresive. It fits well with what I have been saying about the large group of bs that matric in the ivies. All about 25-28/29%. Milton was 25.8% in 06. It's safe to say that if you go to Deerfiled, andover, groton, sps, Middlesex, L'ville and others that you have between a 1in4 or 1 in 3 chance. I have the utmost respect for the big two, but you still have a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 chance, whether you go to the big two, groton, miltom, Middlesex, or Sps on and on.</p>
<p>
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It's safe to say that if you go to Deerfiled, andover, groton, sps, Middlesex, L'ville and others that you have between a 1in4 or 1 in 3 chance.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That doesn't mean you have a "one in four chance" or a "one in three chance." It means that (insert percentage here) go onto highly selective universities. It doesn't mean that you will have a one in three chance. </p>
<p>You're in a school with some of the brightest students in the nation, and the world. Of course 25 - 30% are going to go onto highly selective and prestigious universities.</p>
<p>I was speaking of the ivies, it seems that's what most people on this thread aspire to........all the schools I have mentioned matric its students to very good schools. From what I see about 85-90% of each class goes to top notch schools.</p>
<p>These are interesting, and they may be helpful to show whether the students at the school go where you want to go, but they do not serve to "rank" the schools. Not everyone wants to go to an Ivy, so summing the numbers who do, and ranking on that basis, assumes that everyone would go Ivy if they could. If you want an LAC, then an Ivy is a poor choice. If you need a merit scholarship, or an athletic scholarship, then an Ivy is out of the question. As the boarding preps expand their financial aid, more of their students are price-sensitive, and colleges that offer these scholarships, as well as state universities, become top choices for more of the students.</p>
<p>Afan: Well argued, and absolutely true.</p>
<p>afan, you're right of course. But just to offer an answer to burntsnowman's query about whether any other school in the US approaches Milton's percentages, and as a parent of kids who've attended Harker School (day prep school in San Jose, CA), I'd like to match their list of matriculants from the classes of 2005 & 2006 with any school's:</p>
<p>15 U Penn
11 MIT
11 Stanford
8 CMU
8 NYU
8 USC
7 Wellesley
6 BU
6 Yale
5 Columbia
5 Cornell
5 Harvard
5 Princeton
4 GW
3 BC
3 Northwestern
2 Brown
2 WUStL
2 Caltech
2 Smith
2 U Chicago
2 Vassar
1 Bryn Mawn
1 CMC
1 Colgate
1 Duke
1 Georgetown
1 JHU
1 Middlebury
1 Sarah Lawrence
1 Swarthmore
1 Tufts
1 Williams
(and if you want to include the top UCs, add in
33 UC Berkeley
12 UCLA
14 UC San Diego)</p>
<p>So from two years' graduating classes totalling 266 students, 50% are attending the top schools listed above; the number rises to 72% when you include the three top UCs. I would put Harker in the same class as the East Coast prep schools.</p>
<p>
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I would put Harker in the same class as the East Coast prep schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's more students attending Ivy's at schools like Andover, Milton, Exeter, SPS, Deerfield, Groton, etc. percentage wise and number wise. </p>
<p>Harker is still probably a great school, though. </p>
<p>Why are you guys so concerned with the matriculation? It's getting ridiculous.</p>
<p>i think a good way to look at it is from not only matric rates, but also acceptance rates--granted, one person who is accepted to harvard will probably be accepted at another ivy, thus making the numbers a little bit skewed--but it shows how many people choose a liberal arts college over an ivy.</p>
<p>actually, in my sister's class, 18 were accepted to yale, and around the same number of people were accepted to harvard (most of these numbers involved the same people). 17 of the 18 chose yale, which lowered the number of matrics for harvard of that year. so clearly, the numbers could be much higher, if you factor in the acceptance rates.</p>