Prep school rankings have seen a significant shake-up recently when looking at Niche 2025. Some schools have experienced dramatic shifts in their positions. For example, Peddie School(#61 behind Cushing) has fallen dramatically . Other noticeable shifts include Hill School (#129), Holderness School (#198), and Governors School (#195) .
Do you have any insights into these changes? What factors might be influencing these shifts in rankings?
Niche rankings are the worst among the many flawed ranking sources. I can’t comment on YoY changes, but know that a lot of their data comes from surveys. It is unfortunate that private schools have no reliable source.
Are they ? As opposed to US News top department ratings - based on the opinions of deals from other schools and nothing else.
It’s why departmental rankings rarely change.
I can’t comment on department ratings because that is research I would only trust if I did it myself.
Niche college and high school ratings seem to change annually (around now) based upon whether people surveyed gave the education institution a B+ or an A- in diversity - based on star ratings. About as useful as the smiley faces used to measure the cleanliness of an airport bathroom.
Niche is pretty straightforward that they weigh reviews on the niche site, which many many people claim opens them up to bots and review bombing. Whatever. Are there really people who are going to decide where to go because one school is ranked 15 and the other 10?
In us news. Yes
Sadly, yes there are. The bigger issue, however is that discrepancies among like-schools can be far greater than 5 spots.
Somebody (or likely multiple somebodies) must have been pissed off at Deerfield.
The usual HADES schools are all in the top 15, but Deerfield has sunk to a 38!
Deerfield is 14 out of 438
We must be looking at different rankings.
I saw Best Private High Schools where it comes #39
Best College Prep High Schools where it comes #38
It is #14 under Best Boarding Schools
After a few initial years of publication , nobody takes Niche " rankings " seriously for a long time .
For better or for worse, many international families and those with fewer information sources use these Niche boarding school and private school rankings. The ranking of the top 7 boarding schools seems to fairly represent the conventionally best-known and most applied to schools (rank order notwithstanding) and is fairly consistent year to year. The Niche boarding school ranking gets fuzzier the further one goes down the list.
I also noticed these distinct patterns with respect to the above-mentioned schools.
For all its weaknesses, Niche does highlight the varieties of the American boarding school experience (e.g., single-sex, military, for-profit, outwardly religious, sports academy, STEM, learning differences) outside the tippy-top WASP New England acronym bubble. Which is helpful (as noted above) to international families and those without prior knowledge.
Ultimately, does Niche draw conclusions that meaningfully differ from canonical (and equally unscientific) lists from 1958 (Baltzell) or 2009 (Gaztambide-Fernández)?
Check out the last nine Niche surveys (2017-2025) smoothed by a median filter (which reduces noise spikes, i.e. outliers):
1 Andover
2 Exeter
3 Choate
4 (tie) Lawrenceville & Hotchkiss
6 (tie) St. Paul’s & Groton
8 Deerfield
9 Milton
10 Middlesex
Which looks curiously like GLADCHEMMS by another name. 
Does anybody seriously believe Groton is better than Andover, Exeter and Choate? Or, Pingry is better than Lawrenceville in NJ? Just based on facilities alone it’s easy to tell the difference
I wonder how US News would rank the prep schools?
A rank is an opinion - maybe based on metrics but made up metrics.
Every kid likely has a best for them. They just need to find it.
There is no official best. This is not the Olympics.
You’re 100% correct. Every kid should attend a school that’s best for them.
However, I happen to disagree with certain aspects of the Niche opinion rankings.
Show me a ranking and methodology and I’ll give you a reason why it’s wrong.
10 best nfl QBs?
Best guitarists ?
Rock stars ?
Colleges ?
You don’t like it? Make up your own ahd I can find fault with yours too.
Ok so you think niche rankings are faulty. It’s fine.
And……are you going to re arrange your life over this ?
They made it. It’s their rank, not yours.
I think the answer may actually surprise you. While all these schools are fantastic, Groton is the only one that offers a small community feel. It has a reputation for academic rigor but also has the ability to support every student individually. If Niche is accurate, it is also the only school that is still under $60k annually and fully need blind.
@LocalPops Completely agree on Groton, and I can confirm that admissions are need-blind and tuition is deliberately held at that reduced “below market” rate.
Also agree with others that rankings in general and Niche in particular are absurd, except in their broadest strokes. But the poster who compares Groton unfavorably to the two Phillips and Choate misunderstands and greatly underestimates the school.
Groton offers a wholly different experience from most other well-regarded independent schools because of its small size – and that is by design, not for want of applicants or resources. The size allows the school to focus on community and leadership to an extent that is not possible at a larger institution.
This is clearly not for everyone.
And the school is the first to admit that. “Turn up or transfer” is common refrain among students and faculty/admin alike. If you’re not prepared to contribute in all aspects of school life – academics, athletics, music/arts and extra-currics – and to support your classmates as they do the same, the school affirmatively does not want you there. It’s not a place for kids who want to just be a jock or a scholar or any other one-dimensional identity.
I have to admit, however, that the facilities are not the school’s most compelling feature when compared to some of its peers. This is a school that within living memory (and again by design) had kids sleeping in curtained cubbyholes and taking cold showers. But this, again, is deliberate. The parent and alumni community prefer to raise funds for and spend on Groton’s peerless financial aid program instead of building or rehab-ing the physical plant.