Best High Schools in America for Top Universities

[Anonymous]

Rank 1
THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ALEXANDRIA, VA
Class Size:423Free/Reduced Lunch:2%Student/Teacher Ratio:17/1 Asian:60%White:29%American Indian:2%Hispanic:2%Black:1%Hawaiian:1%
Harvard 11 Princeton 33 MIT 35
Total 79

Rank 2
STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL NEW YORK, NY
Class Size:805Free/Reduced Lunch:45%Student/Teacher Ratio:21/1 Asian:73%White:20%Hispanic:3%Black:1%American Indian:<1%
Harvard26 Princeton 23 MIT 22
Total 71

Rank 3
PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY EXETER, NH
Class Size:320Student/Teacher Ratio:7/1Boarding Tuition:$49,880Day Tuition:$38,740Financial Aid:Yes hite:56%Asian:23%Black:11%Hispanic:9%American Indian:1%
Harvard 23 Princeton 25 MIT 22
Total 70

Rank 4
THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ
Class Size:221Student/Teacher Ratio:7/1Boarding Tuition:$62,190Day Tuition:$51,440Financial Aid:Yes White:55%Asian:21%Black:10%Hispanic:6%
Harvard 8 Princeton 47 MIT 8
Total 63

Rank 5
PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER, MA
Class Size:319Student/Teacher Ratio:5/1Boarding Tuition:$53,900Day Tuition:$41,900Financial Aid:Yes White:54%Asian:26%Hispanic:6%Black:6%
Harvard 33 Princeton 17 MIT 12
Total 62

Rank 6
BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL BOSTON, MA
Class Size:363Free/Reduced Lunch:26%Student/Teacher Ratio:21/1 White:47%Asian:28%Hispanic:12%Black:9%Hawaiian:<1%
Harvard 53 Princeton 2 MIT 5
Total 60

Rank 7
PRINCETON HIGH SCHOOL PRINCETON, NJ
Class Size:359Free/Reduced Lunch:9%Student/Teacher Ratio:12/1 White:60%Asian:21%Hispanic:8%Black:5%American Indian:<1%
Harvard 5 Princeton 46 MIT 6
Total 57

Rank 8
BERGEN COUNTY ACADEMIES HACKENSACK, NJ
Class Size:271Free/Reduced Lunch:5%Student/Teacher Ratio:11/1 Asian:50%White:38%Hispanic:6%Black:1%Hawaiian:<1%
Harvard 5 Princeton 30 MIT 13
Total 48

Rank 9
DEERFIELD ACADEMY DEERFIELD, MA
Boarding Tuition:$58,050Day Tuition:$41,610Financial Aid:Yes
Harvard 19 Princeton 20 MIT 4
Total 43

Rank 10
LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL LEXINGTON, MA
Class Size:489Free/Reduced Lunch:8%Student/Teacher Ratio:13/1 White:56%Asian:31%Black:5%Hispanic:4%American Indian:<1%
Harvard 18 Princeton 3 MIT 17
Total 38

Rank 11
HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL STUDIO CITY, CA
Class Size:286Student/Teacher Ratio:8/1Day Tuition:$37,100Financial Aid:Yes White:56%Asian:21%Hispanic:8%Black:8%American Indian:1%
Harvard 16 Princeton 15 MIT 6
Total 37

https://www.polarislist.com/

[Anonymous]

It’s funny. TJ competes with Stuy on college admissions like UNC and Duke do in basketball (but maybe friendlier). They’ll be glad to be ahead this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny. TJ competes with Stuy on college admissions like UNC and Duke do in basketball (but maybe friendlier). They’ll be glad to be ahead this year.

Well, TJ is about half the size of Stuy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny. TJ competes with Stuy on college admissions like UNC and Duke do in basketball (but maybe friendlier). They’ll be glad to be ahead this year.

Well, TJ is about half the size of Stuy.

And people say that some of these schools are half the size of TJ. But the fact is only the top X number of kids stand a real shot at elite Us. Whether there are 400 or 700 kids below them is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

My HS made the top ten!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My HS made the top ten!

It’s like college basketball rankings for nerds. says the mom of two little nerds.

[Anonymous]

Cheers for TJ. But these numbers are plain wrong. TJ has lots of great students and offers a fantastic STEM education. But, it's admission rates to the top colleges are only a couple percentage points better than the schools' overall admission rates.

In the class of 2018, 94 TJ students applied to Harvard, 10 were accepted for an admit rate of 11%. 89 students applied to MIT and 11 were accepted for a rate of 12%. 129 students applied to Princeton and 12 or 9% were accepted. (Source: https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJProfile1819.pdf)

[Anonymous]

Stuy is a high-FARMS school, technically. Stuy kids typically have a different set of challenges and a different set of considerations when applying to college compared to TJ kids.

[Anonymous]

I am surprised there are boarding schools on this list, but they are more academic than people give them credit for. A lot of Harvard professors who live in Lexington same with Princeton high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stuy is a high-FARMS school, technically. Stuy kids typically have a different set of challenges and a different set of considerations when applying to college compared to TJ kids.

Stuy does great work and you are right. But for TJ and Stuy kids consider themselves peer schools and have a mostly friendly rivalry around Siemens winners and Math Olympiad and Polaris.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheers for TJ. But these numbers are plain wrong. TJ has lots of great students and offers a fantastic STEM education. But, it's admission rates to the top colleges are only a couple percentage points better than the schools' overall admission rates.

In the class of 2018, 94 TJ students applied to Harvard, 10 were accepted for an admit rate of 11%. 89 students applied to MIT and 11 were accepted for a rate of 12%. 129 students applied to Princeton and 12 or 9% were accepted. (Source: https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJProfile1819.pdf)

Did any school in the country do better than this? (I have seen some years when they got an even higher number admitted).

[Anonymous]

Since when do people not consider top boarding schools "academic"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised there are boarding schools on this list, but they are more academic than people give them credit for. A lot of Harvard professors who live in Lexington same with Princeton high.

That used to be the case (and not just Harvard- many Universities in the area), but most profs are priced of out Lexington now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since when do people not consider top boarding schools "academic"?

I know what you mean. I think its actually more a reflection of DC area private schools not being particularly academic and then local people going on to incorrectly assume that of *all* privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised there are boarding schools on this list, but they are more academic than people give them credit for. A lot of Harvard professors who live in Lexington same with Princeton high.

That used to be the case (and not just Harvard- many Universities in the area), but most profs are priced of out Lexington now.

The average full professor at Harvard makes 200,000 and often has additional income from consulting gigs. Also many have spouses that are lawyers and doctors.

https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-has-highest-paid-professors-2012-4