4 CT Schools In Top 50 Sending Students To 3 Elite Universities

There are all kinds of rankings of high schools in the United States, with Connecticut schools usually making a strong showing.

A new website, called PolarisList, now offers a new way to rank high schools, by the number of students the school sent to Harvard, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between the years 2015 to 2017.

PolarisList, founded by Harvard College and Norwalk High School alumnus Sai To Yeung, is his attempt "to demystify the education planning process for families across the country, and across all socioeconomic levels."

In the site's methodology, Yeung explains why those three universities were selected to anchor the ranking:

We decided to focus on Harvard, Princeton, and MIT based on a combination of their selectivity and their accessibility to lower income students.

Selectivity is important to us because it means these schools have their pick of the lot when it comes to applicants. If a high school is able to send students to one of these three schools, it means that the school has created an environment to support high achieving students, whether it's in academics or extracurriculars.

Accessibility is just as important to us because we believe a college is only as good as its student body, and a student body is at its strongest when it encompasses a diversity of experiences. According to U.S. News and World Report, these three schools are among the colleges with the highest percentage of students receiving Pell Grants, which are most often given to undergrads with family incomes below $20,000. This means that these schools all offer generous financial aid that make it possible for all students to attend without significant burden.

The four Connecticut schools - all private - that cracked the top 50 in the U.S. are Choate Rosemary Hall (#1 in CT, #21 overall), which sent 27 students to those three institutions during the period; The Hotchkiss School (#23 overall), which sent 23 students; Hopkins School (#31), 21 students; and Greenwich Academy (tied at #40), 18 students.

At the top of the national list was Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, VA, which sent 79 students to Harvard, Princeton and MIT during the period, followed by Stuyvesant High School in New York, which sent 71 students, and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH, at #3, which sent 70 students. Rounding out the top five were The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, 63 students, and Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, 62.

Top 10 Connecticut High Schools (Private and Public) based on how many it sent to Harvard, Princeton and MIT:

1. Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford) - Sent 27 to those three institutions

2. The Hotchkiss School (Lakeville) - 23

3. Hopkins School (New Haven) - 21

4. Greenwich Academy (Greenwich) - 18

5. Greenwich High School (Greenwich) - 17

6. Staples High School (Westport) - 16

7. Brunswick School (Greenwich) - 13

8. The Loomis Chaffee School (Windsor) - 12

9. The Taft School (Watertown) - 11

10. Darien High School (Darien) - 9

Click here to visit PolarisList.

Also contributing to this story was Rich Kirby, Patch Staff.

Image via Shutterstock

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