By Alice Phillips and Allegra Tepper
Forbes magazine published a list ranking the 20 “Best Prep Schools” in America. Harvard-Westlake was twelfth on the list.
Fifty-five âcandidate schoolsâ were evaluated to create teh top 20 list. To decide the top 20 rankings, Forbes considered four factors: percentage of students who matriculate to the Ivy League, MIT, and Stanford, student-to-faculty ratio, percentage of faculty members who hold advanced degrees and the schoolâs endowment.
Here is how Harvard-Westlake compared to the top 20:
Ivy League, MIT and Stanford matriculation: 10th (30%)
Forbes weighed the Ivy League, MIT and Stanford matriculation percentages from the past five years as 50 percent of its rankings calculation. Among the top 20 schools, the average was 30.9 percent. Trinity in Manhattan (first overall) placed first with 41 percent.
Faculty holding advanced degrees: 3rd (84%)
The fraction of faculty holding advanced degrees was worth one sixth of the calculation. Among the top 20 schools, the average was 76.3 percent. Horace Mann (second overall) placed first with 94 percent.
Schoolâs endowment: 16th ($45 million)
Endowment was worth one sixth of the calculation. The average endowment among the 20 schools is $204 million. Two of the schools that were ranked in the top 20 declined to state their endowments. Phillips Exeter (eighth overall) placed first with $854 million.
Student : faculty ratio: 16th (8:1)
The student to faculty ratio was worth one sixth of Forbesâ calculation. The average ratio was 6.6:1. Six of the 20 schools tied for first with 5:1 ratios.
