<p>townsend harris is crazy strict though! i would never want to go there. bxsci's administration is awful this year, but a lot of the kids and teachers are good. TH seems so confined</p>
<p>south side hs in rockville ctr ny</p>
<p>
lmao...and to think I almost ended up there (you make my school sound like Exeter)...just about every senior here goes to college...and our senior class has about 400 people...</p>
<p>It's easy to say you got accepted to TJ over the internet and say you got to Andover, isn't it? Also, the cut-off for National Merit in Virginia is NOT low. Also, TJ has a lot of very good EC' as well. Besdies, if you don't think PSAT is a good source of measuring the school look at SAT, and if youd on't agree with that look at AP scores. I guarantee if you put Andovers numbers against TJ, TJ would blow Andover out of the water Also, TJ could give a lot of schools a run for thier money in sports. The only TJ dosen't have that some elite prep schools do have is a lot of money. Some of the previous posters act like high numbers are a bad thing, but it just shows TJ is a power house for high schools, second to none, and unlike Andover it dosen't matter if your rich or your daddy went to TJ when looking at admissions.</p>
<p>I've always wanted a New Jersey Magnet HS. Right now, besides for AAST (and possibly High Tech HS), all the NJ magnet schools are crap. And other than in math (in which it is the hands-down best HS in NJ), AAST isn't that great; my school has consistently beat it in the sciences. The brightest kids seem to come from the less known but still very good schools.</p>
<p>Also, NJ is insanely competitive. You have all these brilliant uber-motivated kids who all want to get into HYP, and many of the brightest ones come from good schools, but often schools without a big name. In other words, while NJ as a whole has some of the brightest kids, they're diluted over a set of good schools, not concentrated in one insanely great school.</p>
<p>Wouldn't it be great, then, if you put all the kids together into on NJ Magnet High School (maybe call it Alexander Hamilton HS...a nice rival to ol' TJ)? 25% of the graduating class could go to H, 25% to Y, 25% to P, and 25% to S!</p>
<p>But yeah...we'd totally blow Stuy or TJ out of the water.</p>
<p>Jersey pride!</p>
<p>Frankly, Andover is. Unfrankly, LHS.</p>
<p>Bobsagetlol what is your point? I have great respect for TJ as an educational institution, this I specifically said in my earlier post: </p>
<p>"Please remember though, that I am a big fan of TJHSST and I'm not trying to take anything away from the wonderful institution. My point is simply that, while TJ is a great school, calling it "the best in America, hands down" is a gross exaggeration. Thank you." </p>
<p>I am also very aware of the wonderful testing numbers that TJ produces. I'm aware that TJ has some of the greatest testing numbers in America, I am not trying to dispute any of that at all. My point was that most of the most famous of TJs accomplishments are TEST oriented. Last time I checked, the SAT was a TEST. The AP examinations are TESTS. One qualifys for USAMO through the AMC-10 and 12 which are TESTS. It takes more than test-taking skills to justify that TJ is "the greatest school in America, hands down." </p>
<p>"I guarantee if you put Andovers numbers against TJ, TJ would blow Andover out of the water"</p>
<p>Which numbers? How about the number of Andover kids on the International Physics Olympiad team (twice as much as TJ)? Or how about the numbers that show that no one has sent more kids to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton in the past four years? Or what about the number of Andover alumni who are Presidents, Senators, Nobel Laureattes, etc etc? Weird how TJ hasn't blown us out of the water yet...</p>
<p>"and unlike Andover it dosen't matter if your rich or your daddy went to TJ when looking at admissions."</p>
<p>Wow... </p>
<p>1). I could probably count the number of people who could buy their way into Andover on one hand. The adcom will not raise their eyebrows at a 6-figure donation from the family of a prospective student. Money will not guarantee you admission at Andover, and if you think otherwise just... wow...
2). If your daddy went to Andover and you're not qualified for the admissions spot, the adcom will reject you on the spot. Or you won't survive Andover and you'll get kicked out for whatever reason. It's happened before. I've seen it been done. Prove me wrong.</p>
<p>"It's easy to say you got accepted to TJ over the internet and say you got to Andover, isn't it?"</p>
<p>Very easy. I can't prove to you that I got into both schools and currently attend Andover, without revealing wayyy more personal information with you than I'm prepared to do. You're going to have to take my word for it. If not, I don't mind terribly, I don't think my arguments appear to be inspired by bitterness and if you do you are simply getting the wrong impression from my writing.</p>
<p>If you are trying to argue whether or not TJ is a great school don't bother. I agree with you completely, as I already stated. In fact, I was never debating that at all, as you can see from my original post.
If your trying to argue that Andover is not a great school, you're wrong. Just search "Andover" on this board and you'll find out why.
If your trying to argue that TJ is a better school than Andover don't even bother. It's like comparing apples to oranges and if you believe that I thought the opposite was true, again you misunderstand me. </p>
<p>I simply believe that the claims that "TJ is the best high school in America, hands down" are utterly untrue and grossly exaggerated. Thank you.</p>
<p>"and unlike Andover it dosen't matter if your rich or your daddy went to TJ when looking at admissions."</p>
<p>according to the school newspaper, for entrance into 2005-2006, legacies had a 25% acceptance rate, while non-legacies had a 24% acceptance rate. (I may be off on the percentages, but I remember they were one apart.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Umm obviously Central Catholic High School in Massachusetts. my school. aha maybe not THE best, but its really good. Colleges like us anywayL at least Harvard and the rest of the ivy league lol.
[/quote]
hey we beat you in the basketball state semis back in '03.</p>
<p>"Which numbers? How about the number of Andover kids on the International Physics Olympiad team (twice as much as TJ)? Or how about the numbers that show that no one has sent more kids to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton in the past four years? Or what about the number of Andover alumni who are Presidents, Senators, Nobel Laureattes, etc etc? Weird how TJ hasn't blown us out of the water yet..."</p>
<pre><code> Wow. SHow me the Physcis Olympiad numbers please. Also, how about SAT and AP scores? You say numbers don't mean anything, and then you talk about them. To attend Andover, you have to have some sort of money AND be smart, for the most part. For TJ, you have to be smart. For Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, you also have to have money.
</code></pre>
<p>The adcom will not raise their eyebrows at a 6-figure donation from the family of a prospective student. Money will not guarantee you admission at Andover, and if you think otherwise just... wow...</p>
<p>LOL. Ok, buddy. so $100,000 dosen't make Adcoms raise eye bro, huh?</p>
<p>"if your trying to argue that Andover is not a great school, you're wrong. Just search "Andover" on this board and you'll find out why."</p>
<p>Show me where I said that.</p>
<p>Just face the fact that TJ can blow Andover away in adademics, period. Adover has a lot of money, which is good and important, but it does not make it's students smarter. As far as sending kids to HYP, that also takes money and Andover costs money, so I think you see the coneection there. And as far as prominet Alumni, Andover is much, much older than TJ so it's really not fair to compare that. Once again, TJ blows Andover out of the freakin water in numbers/ academics, but Andover has money, which makes it look a lot better than it is.</p>
<p>BobSagetlol, you keep on throwing out all these statements like TJ would blow Andover out of the water in every aspect. You ask us for specific statistics, but yet you do not present any yourself. To tell you the truth, I don't know much about TJ because I'm not from around there. I'm not going to come on here and go on about how Andover is better, just because I don't know enough about TJ to make that kind of statement. But, I still find it hard to believe that it is so much better than Andover, and until you give me specific facts, I doubt I ever will believe you. Maybe their SAT score might be a little higher, but is that really what school is all about? Just because students perfomed better on a standardized test does not mean everything. I wouldn't classify TJ as the best school in America, hands down, because of their great test scores.
And, stop stereotyping prep schools as places where only rich people with money can go. Many of my friends at Andover grew up in tough economic backgrounds and are on full financial aid. Andover gives out $10.8 a year in financial aid, and 40% of the students are on scholarship. Those are statistics for you. Believe it or not, I know quite a few wealthy legacies who were turned down last year, because Andover looks beyond that. I don't have a problem with you, BobSagetLol or that fact that you are so sold on TJ, but please don't make stereotypical statements and ask for facts but not give any.</p>
<p>You guys clearly have never experienced boarding schools if you are trying to make the case that TJ > Andover Phillips. What a joke</p>
<p>Most of the students there are extremely qualified academically, and they come from all over the world. I'd take any of the top 10 or so boarding schools any day over TJ. The faculty at top prep schools create an amazing experience and you truly receive an education unlike anything in any other type of high school.</p>
<p>PS, the answer to the question is Andover. Followed by Exeter, St. Paul's, Deerfield, and Choate. Someone earlier in the thread said not to answer as such. Too bad, it's the truth</p>
<p>"TJHSST has fielded more National Merit Semifinalists than any other high school in America for most of the 1990s and 2000s. From 2000 to 2005, it fielded more USAMO qualifiers than any other high school in America and has a distinguished history of U.S. Physics Olympic Team members and medal winners.</p>
<p>TJHSST was recently ranked as the top public high school in the nation by PrepReview. TJHSST also has the highest average SAT score among American high schools. Each year, over a quarter of its graduating class accepts admission to the University of Virginia. Other popular destinations among graduates include the College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech, Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, Yale University, and Stanford University.</p>
<p>For schools with more than 1,000 students, TJHSST was cited as having the highest-performing AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language and Composition, AP French Language, AP Government and Politics: U.S., AP Psychology and AP U.S. History courses among all schools worldwide in its size range. No school had a greater proportion of its student body succeed in these subjects..."</p>
<p>Taken from Wikipedia^</p>
<p>If test scores don't make a good school, what does? And Adover does have a lot of rich kids so don't try to shake that one off. Also, there are most definately average/ below average people there, but acting like the majority isn't above average is insane.</p>
<p>Average SAT's for TJ: 739-V 756-M = 1495
Average SAT"s for Andover: 697 verbal 691 math= 1388</p>
<p>More than 100 points seperates the two. So, as you can see, TJ obiouvsly is a better college prep school.</p>
<p>First of all, it is hilarious that you cited Wikipedia. Please, don't do that</p>
<p>It is obvious that the prep schools all let in an amount of unqualified candidates. They are private institutions, a lot like Ivy League colleges, that rely on alumni funding. Legacies can get in quite easilly if their family has donated significant money to the school. Also, some of these schools more or less 'recruit' for athletics. The numbers do not tell the whole story, as averages are brought down because of these cases. Show me the top 20% figures from these schools and I could guarantee you that Andover comes out on top. And it is NOT all about test scores. Like I said, this is about the BEST SCHOOL. Take resources, faculty, curriculum, diversity of student body (not just racially, but geographically/ culturally as well) into account and I think the prep schools blow anything else away. No doubt TJ is a great school that exemplifies excellence in a lot of these areas, but it's not quite up to par with an Andover or Exeter.</p>
<p>Also, you mentioned strictly quantitative things like NMSF even though schools like TJ are significantly bigger than top prep schools</p>
<p>What's wrong with Wiki?</p>
<p>"Show me the top 20% figures from these schools and I could guarantee you that Andover comes out on top. And it is NOT all about test scores."</p>
<p>How about you find such numbers if you are so sure, I found the numbers to back my case up, now you find yours. How could you guarantee that if you haven't even seen the numbers? Also, that just goes to show, Andover lets less qualified students in which lowers the standard. So, once again, EVERYONE at TJ is SMART and they get in because of their intellect, nothing else. </p>
<p>"Take resources, faculty, curriculum, diversity of student body (not just racially, but geographically/ culturally as well) into account and I think the prep schools blow anything else away."</p>
<p>TJ offers way more classes, they have a super computer (among other things), and people come from everywhere to come to TJ. The only thing is it's about 55% white (I'm not sure about Andover), but that's because they don't let people who aren't smart in just because they are a URM. TJ offfers many other things prep schools don't have. So, you see, you just supported my point by saying, "It is obvious that the prep schools all let in an amount of unqualified candidates. They are private institutions, a lot like Ivy League colleges, that rely on alumni funding. Legacies can get in quite easilly if their family has donated significant money to the school. Also, some of these schools more or less 'recruit' for athletics." In short, Andover is no better than a prestgious college when it comes to admissions, it's good if your smart, but it's better if your daddy went there/ donates money. Just face the facts that TJ is an academic power house second to none, they focus solely on academics, and there is no way any other school has better labs/ equipment.</p>
<p>Exeter, Deerfield, Andover, St. Pauls</p>
<p>George W. Bush got into Andover.</p>
<p>George W. Bush would NOT have gotten into TJ. </p>
<p>Enough said!</p>
<p>I attend TJ.</p>
<p>Trying to name "the best" will only get you into an endless debate about criteria. I'm satisfied with calling TJ "one of the best", along with Andover and the rest.</p>
<p>I apologize for essentially saying "why can't we all just get along", but even if TJ blew Andover out of the water on, say, APs, or vice-versa, all that proves is that the kids from one school, on average, do better on APs. To synthesize information like that into a term like "good" is impossible; the target term is too ambiguous. You might be able to separate TJ from its non-magnet counterparts, but certainly not from other top high schools.</p>