Best private schools in Greater Boston?

camilli
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:07:48 +0000

Another thing to think about-- because the Ivy matriculation rate is easy to calculate and compare, it gets a lot of unhealthy attention. I know of one school where there literally were faculty meetings held to discuss ways of making their kids more attractive to Ivies. Not good colleges, not good fits for their students, but Ivies. So people would share gossip about the admissions at Penn and Cornell, et al. Forget Chicago and Cal Tech! Some kids want to do that, and others will sleep-walk past that whole problem, but it’s a bit bizarre.

Another school I know of was similarly impressed by its placement stats-- the down side was that they tended to be best for the upper third of their class. Y’know-- the ones who’d make them look good in the rankings. The bottom tiers were often left to fend for themselves, and I’ve heard some real crazy stories about that.

Anyway, check the culture, and make sure that the parents won’t ruin what can otherwise be a great place.