<p>I don’t think the USNWR top50 are really the top 50. Ranking criteria is so very subjective-- does how many vegan saladbars a school has really relevant to its excellence?</p>
<p>However, I can accept that the USNWR top50 are all solidly excellent schools. Therefore, ranking prep schools on the basis of matriculation into a sample size of 50 excellent univs is more meaningful than ranking them on the basis of matriculation into only 5 insanely-selective univs w skewed enrollments of children of celebs, princelings & oligarchs (as that WSJ article I linked about Groton showed).</p>
<p>That matriculations stats link keeps getting posted, but it was last updated in April of 2011 for anyone who hasn’t caught that and is concerned about how current the data is. Also, several of the schools many people here are interested in have only a year or two of data in that database.</p>
While there’s truth in this statement, having gone through the process with close range exposure to college counseling at a top boarding school, I’m now less “cynical” than I used to. What I have observed is that while the connected and powerful certainly have more leverage, they still just constitue a minority even in top boarding schools. The vast majority of those who are at the top of their class academically (both in terms of course rigor and grades), regardless of what hooks they have or have not, end up in highly selective colleges if they choose to. Are all the HYP admits academic stars? No. There are atheletes and students with other hooks with lower stats getting in, but so are those top students with no such hooks. Of course, as in prep school application, one should cast a wide net and shouldn’t have a dream school too soon…</p>
<p>While getting into a top college is certainly part of the reason to go to BS, I think that in many ways the BS should be an end in itself. If a child spends too much time stressing over where they will be going in two or three years (i.e. “I am going to school x so I can get into college y”) , they will miss out on all of the exciting and unique activities BS has to offer–athletics, ECs, dorm life, a diverse student body that you may not find at home, etc. In fact, I felt that college was a bit of a let down (and many of my friends felt the same way), because we had just spent four years at our own “little college.” BS offers so much more than just college matriculation numbers! Whether or not a child gets into an Ivy, BS provides them with an experience that will never be forgotten.</p>
<p>"I think the rankings based on college matriculation are rankings with very limited scope. "
-Agree. Good number of very top kids (rnaked #1) simply do not apply to Ivy / Elite, they choose to attend state public UGs.</p>
This may be true with the general population, but not necessarily true with this subgroup of students. Usually, the very top kids from boarding schools don’t go to their state public. In top boarding schools, many more kids other than the “top kids” go to colleges considered “elite”. The point is there are many more great colleges than just the top few and the rankings like WSJ’s are too focused on a few colleges. And, while college is important, a school is more than just college placement.</p>