Parents of students enrolled in high-performing high schools take a lot of flak for being too focused on elite colleges. But for me, these numbers hint at why. I do the calculations and except for a few of the schools highest on this list (UChicago etc.) the % of National Merit students is lower than at my kid’s high school. Obviously a lot of factors go into the rigor of any college, but I think that quality of peers is one of the biggest factors. At my kid’s public hs, nearly 5% of students are National Merit, and many more are National Merit commended, or just below that. Yes, I know that standardized test scores are only one way, and an imperfect way at that, to measure students but still I do worry college is going to be a step down in rigor due to lower performing peers on average.
1 Like