Unless Deerfield has gotten bigger in recent years, I don’t think there is much of a size difference between Hotchkiss and Deerfield. Groton seems quite a bit smaller than both especially given it is spread over 5 years instead of 4 –though I realize the 8th grade class is pretty tiny.
Maria Hotchkiss, the school’s founder, would be incredibly proud. George Van Santvoord aka “The Duke” and Head of School at Hotchkiss from 1926 to 1955 deserves a huge amount of credit for helping Hotchkiss become the premier prep school in America.
One point that may hurt some schools (unnecessarily) is the weight that Niche puts on AP classes and student scores. Some schools actively discourage students from taking AP classes, so they are negatively impacted even though the academics are equally rigorous.
Any other weird points that Niche over/underemphasizes?
Well, for their Academics score (which is probably one of the more important scores for readers of CC), 55% of the score is “Self-reported by Niche users”.
I am a big fan of Niche’s new rankings. Especially supportive of Hotchkiss at the 1 and Lville at the 4. Both are sometimes ranked under larger prep schools that feature more style than substance. Obviously the one true ranking is whatever your heart desires but this is a good enough second place. If your school got dropped, then there’s no point litigating. Next year’s might just see a +10 jump.
