<p>I would argue that the only “tiering” worth engaging in for prospective students is selectivity (what percentage of applicants gets admitted every year).</p>
<p>Here’s why…you are absolutely correct that you don’t see MPS mentioned on here as much as some of the other schools. Mostly that’s because it’s a single-sex school. But it’s also because so many applicants are downright myopic in their view of boarding schools. They have heard of Exeter, Andover, and all the other “famous” ones, and think those are the only “good” ones.</p>
<p>According to Wiki, here are just two of the notable MPS alum: Alice Hamilton (first female faculty member of Harvard Medical School) and Polly Mellen (editor of Vogue). Not too shabby. Then you go to Emma Willard and you have none other than Elizabeth Cady Stanton (suffragette) and Kirsten Gillibrand (current US Senator).</p>
<p>My point is, that, sure JFK went to Choate and Mark Zuckerberg went to Andover, but if you look at many other schools, (have you looked at Groton’s distinguished alum list?!?) you’ll see lots of people who have gone on to great things. And of course, this is hardly the only measure of quality one should be looking at…</p>
<p>Sorry for the lecture. I will now go back to work.</p>
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<p>I lied, my meeting starts in 5 minutes.</p>
<p>Here’s something I’ve posted before that I think is true…ANY of the 20 or so BS mentioned on this site with any frequency will do a stand up job of giving 95% of applicants a great high school education and prepare you for college/position you well to apply to colleges. The other 5% may be better at either dedicated arts schools, science charters/magnets like TJ, or the larger ultra-rigorous BS that are more like mini-colleges.</p>