Thoughts on school rankings

Princess_Dad
Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:11:12 +0000

For those of you looking at schools. As people have said, don’t just look at the beautiful buildings of school A vs B. Yes it is nice to have air conditioning, etc - but look at the teachers. Look at how many of the students in AP French (for example) get 4s or 5s on the AP exam. If your student plays football, look at the football program. My D danced and we looked at the dance programs (and asked the dance teachers at schools what they thought about other programs). If music is a big thing for your child, does the school have a marching band. If he is a boy scout, can he continue to get his Eagle (which has more pull for colleges, than which school).

Finally, have him/her spend some time there without you and see if he/she is comfortable. Some schools are “designer clothes” and some are levis and some are uniforms.

Your child’s chance of getting into college x or graduate school y are more dependent on his/her getting good grades and being an “active” student which is more likely at a school they enjoy.