Hello, we narrowed our choice down to two schools and are now comparing them on Boarding School Review site.
We are quite inexperienced in the whole BS admission thing, so calling all experts here! Say, one of the schools shows their SAT range (25th - 75th percentile) as 1710 - 2050, and another one - as 1210 - 1450. Should we factor this in when making a decision? Does that mean that the first school is stronger academically, or it only means they have the kids spend more time on the test prep? Thanks a lot!
I would say that both schools are pretty comparable since the 2nd school has posted their stats on the new SAT scoring scale and if you convert them to the old SAT scores, they are pretty similar. I have several friends are various boarding schools and they have told me that SAT scores are not always the best at predicting what school is stronger academically. I would suggest simply choosing the school that suits you better.
Unless, there is a huge difference, which IMO is ~50 points more or less, it’s statistically insignificant Just make sure that you are comparing like data (or convert on your own) where available, since your first example is a 2400 scale and the 2nd is a 1600 scale.
@Frenchfrey @skieurope thanks a lot for your answers! How do you know that the second school uses the 1600 scale? I actually thought they were both referring to the same SAT consisting of three parts with the max of 2400.
^i was going to ask the same question…when we looked at schools (prior to new scoring format) there was such a disparity…and we actually DID feel that was not only a reflection of academic curriculum strength, but also a reflection of the students’ focus. We weeded many of those schools out because DS wanted to be challenged by his peers and courses, alike.
(Not that our assessments were entirely correct, but that is how he viewed the significantly lower scoring schools)
Without knowing the school and seeing the info myself, I don’t - I assumed. But a school would have to be REALLY bad to have a 1450/2400 average.
@skieurope that was Mercersburg with SAT range of 1210 - 1450
Then that was based on 1600.
FYI #1. Always look for primary sources first before relying on secondary sources like prepscholar. So here is the Mercersberg school profile:
https://mercersburg.myschoolapp.com/ftpimages/435/download/MercersburgProfile.pdf
FYI #2: Each school reports the 25th/75th EBRW and the Math scores separately. Prepscholar (and many users here) incorrectly adds those 2 numbers together attempting to give a 25th/75th percentile out of 1600, which one cannot do with accuracy based on info provided.
FWIW, I don’t think we EVER really put much weight in published SAT ranges. I have one NMF-level kid and one slightly below that range…but didn’t really think to use that stat as some factor in deciding.
TBH, I’m unsure what the numbers would tell you. The school with a lower range probably still has a number of kids who are super smart and would provide good company for your child.
@SevenDad as per your last statement…I agree. But it may point to a school that’s more focused on athletics or ECs than academic excellence, also. For us, DS wanted to be surrounded by kids and faculty who pushed him academically–where academic stretch was the norm. He was already in a school where he was at the top and excelling in his coursework…there were 1 or 2 kids up there with him…but he wanted to be in an environment where that was the norm, not the exception. I think that SSAT and SAt scores can be a rough yardstick for those points, if that is what one is looking for.
@skieurope thank you for the link, I haven’t yet got that far at their website!
You should also take into consideration that some academically strong schools accept a small percentage of kids with learning differences. If 1/3 of the school falls into this category, school wide scores may be lower but your child’s individual experience there will likely not be impacted.
In addition to SAT scores, one question to ask is “How do you challenge your strongest students?” or “My son is already 2 years ahead in math, how will XYZ school accommodate him? What classes can he take here?” Scores don’t really tell you how schools keep kids their brightest students engaged or how the schools help encourage kids to stretch.
thank you for your advice @chemmchimney !