<p>This is a great thread, and I heartily thank the original poster. My family has been trying to size up my son’s chances at different schools, and we have largely based our informal ranking system on average SSAT scores and acceptance rates. After that, we are looking at the curricula in the areas of specific interest to our son. After that we are looking at the percentage of boarders, diversity of extra curricular options, and location. Because we live outside the country, we have only one week (maybe 10 days) to visit as many schools as we reasonably can this December. And we will not have an opportunity to do revisits. I ask myself, how are we going to get enough of a feel for each school in that short amount of time to know which is the best fit? In addition, we have to cast our net fairly wide as well, as admittance is a necessity, not a luxury. As such, we will surely be applying to schools we will not have a chance to visit, so I am doing my damnedest to learn everything I can about each of the schools on our list. I value this forum immensely, as it has allowed me to hear varying points of view, and contact individuals with specific questions about different schools. It’s also helped me not to feel as isolated as I did when I started this journey in January.</p>