<p>This is boarding school we’re talking about, not college. It’s not some sort of plug and play deal. The idea that you can stick a bright kid in any top ten school and more often than not they’ll come out smelling like roses misses the point. Between the ages of 13-17, kids are forming values, behavior patterns, interpersonal skills, habits, opinions, even basic outlooks on life. This isn’t conceptual conceit; brain chemistry and physical development are changing rapidly and permanently. Making a top boarding school determination primarily or solely on the basis of stats seems like a dangerous role of the dice. Every family is different; we were just as serious about personality match as we were about academic outcomes. I admire the OP and his family because, at the end of the day, they tuned out the HADES white noise (even though the daughter had been admitted to one) and went with SAS because it offered the best fit across all criteria.</p>