Weekend Journal looked at the freshman classes at eight top colleges — Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins — and compiled a list of the students’ high-school alma maters. The survey ranked the high schools based on the number of students sent to those eight colleges, divided by the high school’s number of graduates in 2007 (*the last time this study was carried out), limiting the scope to schools that had senior classes of at least 50 (see below). The “success rate” column represents the percentage of students in each high-school’s graduating class that attended one of our chosen colleges. (see related story) — Compiled by Ellen Gamerman, Juliet Chung, SungHa Park and Candace Jackson

Correction
The Nov. 30 chart “How the Schools Stack Up” that ranked high schools with the best record of graduates attending eight top universities incorrectly omitted 20 high schools. The methodology called for determining the high schools attended by the current freshman classes at eight top colleges and then ranking the schools based on the percentage of their senior classes that attended those colleges. However, data from some of the colleges’ freshman facebooks and admissions offices were incomplete, and the Journal didn’t confirm the data with enough high schools. The rankings have been re-calculated after broadening the number of high schools. Some omissions remain possible.

From the top of the chart down, are the schools with the highest number of students sent to lowest.

High School	City	State/ Country	Class Size	Students Sent in 2007*  ↑	Success Rate
Stuyvesant High School	New York	N.Y.	674	67	9.9%
Phillips Academy	Andover	Mass.	327	52	15.9%
Phillips Exeter Academy	Exeter	N.H.	317	47	14.8%
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology	Alexandria	Va.	428	39	9.1%
Lawrenceville School	Lawrenceville	N.J.	239	33	13.8%
Boston Latin School	Boston	Mass.	381	33	8.7%
Princeton High School	Princeton	N.J.	299	31	10.4%
Milton Academy	Milton	Mass.	184	27	14.7%
Hunter College High School	New York	N.Y.	177	24	13.6%
University of Chicago Lab Schools	Chicago	Ill.	113	22	19.5%
Trinity School	New York	N.Y.	116	20	17.2%
Harker School	San Jose	Calif.	167	20	12.0%
St. Paul’s School	Concord	N.H.	150	19	12.7%
Choate Rosemary Hall	Wallingford	Conn.	230	19	8.3%
Illinois Math and Science Academy	Aurora	Ill.	203	19	9.4%
Delbarton School	Morristown	N.J.	116	18	15.5%
Menlo School	Atherton	Calif.	139	18	12.9%
Polytechnic School	Pasadena	Calif.	87	17	19.5%
Deerfield Academy	Deerfield	Mass.	188	17	9.0%
Hotchkiss School	Lakeville	Conn.	172	16	9.3%
College Preparatory School	Oakland	Calif.	86	15	17.4%
Horace Mann School	Riverdale	N.Y.	177	14	7.9%
Korean Minjok Leadership Academy	South Korea	South Korea	133	14	10.5%
United World College-USA	Montezuma	N.M.	99	13	13.1%
Chapin School	New York	N.Y.	58	13	22.4%
Collegiate School	New York	N.Y.	50	13	26.0%
Regis High School	New York	N.Y.	125	12	9.6%
Brearley School	New York	N.Y.	51	12	23.5%
Pingry School	Martinsville	N.J.	121	12	9.9%
San Francisco University High School	San Francisco	Calif.	92	12	13.0%
Groton School	Groton	Mass.	83	12	14.5%
Buckingham Browne & Nichols	Cambridge	Mass.	115	12	10.4%
Lakeside School	Seattle	Wash.	132	12	9.1%
Blake School	Hopkins	Minn.	127	12	9.4%
John Burroughs School	St. Louis	Mo.	97	11	11.3%
St. John’s School	Houston	Texas	122	11	9.0%
Bishop’s School	La Jolla	Calif.	120	11	9.2%
Li Po Chun United World College	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	121	10	8.3%
Rivers School	Weston	Mass.	74	10	13.5%
Saint Ann’s School	Brooklyn	N.Y.	76	10	13.2%
Rye Country Day	Rye	N.Y.	92	10	10.9%
Webb Schools	Claremont	Calif.	90	10	11.1%
Bard High School Early College	New York	N.Y.	128	10	7.8%
Ramaz Upper School	New York	N.Y.	100	10	10.0%
Sidwell Friends School	Washington	D.C.	118	10	8.5%
Tabor Academy	Marion	Mass.	105	9	8.6%
Dalton School	New York	N.Y.	112	9	8.0%
Francis Parker School	San Diego	Calif.	108	9	8.3%
Episcopal Academy	Merion	Pa.	105	9	8.6%
Kent Place School	Summit	N.J.	59	8	13.6%
Winsor School	Boston	Mass.	57	8	14.0%
Holton-Arms School	Bethesda	Md.	74	8	10.8%
Head-Royce School	Oakland	Calif.	81	8	9.9%
St. Mark’s School of Texas	Dallas	Texas	87	8	9.2%
Crystal Springs Uplands School	Hillsborough	Calif.	59	8	13.6%
St. Andrews School	Middletown	Del.	65	7	10.8%
Tower Hill School	Wilmington	Del.	58	7	12.1%
Park School	Baltimore	Md.	78	7	9.0%
University Laboratory High School	Urbana	Ill.	59	7	11.9%
University School of Nashville	Nashville	Tenn.	88	7	8.0%
Branson School	Ross	Calif.	75	7	9.3%
Princeton Day School	Princeton	N.J.	88	7	8.0%
Sewickley Academy	Sewickley	Pa.	75	6	8.0%
National Cathedral School	Washington	D.C.	76	6	7.9%
Castilleja School	Palo Alto	Calif.	57	5	8.8%

Behind the Numbers:

Our survey looked at enrolled students, not the number of students accepted. In some cases, college admissions offices shared the list of high schools for their freshman classes. In others, we looked at the printed “facebooks” distributed by colleges, which were either loaned to us or purchased on our behalf by students or alumni.

We worked with high schools and colleges to verify our numbers, which sometimes differed when students had been accepted to college but deferred enrollment for a year or when college facebooks offered incomplete information. In cases where the high school and college’s numbers diverged, we worked with both to try to resolve the discrepancy.

We relied only on official school information, not outside sources such as Facebook.com. We omitted some universities that otherwise would have met our criteria because they either didn’t print facebooks or those facebooks didn’t list high-school alma maters, and the colleges wouldn’t supply the data on their students independently.

Of course, college placement is only one measure of a high school’s success, and varies from year to year. Many high schools emphasized to us that they strive to find the right match for each student, not the college with the most cachet.

(you may see the original article here)