Andover ranks as the Number 1 Best Private High School in America for 2027 on Niche, an online platform that provides information about K-12 schools, colleges, and neighborhoods for students and families. However, questions remain about the significance of this metric to Andover and whether it can accurately capture an institution’s overall quality.
In an email to The Phillipian on behalf of the Admissions Office, Katie Kreider, Assistant Director of Admissions, and Sarah Carroll, Associate Director of Admissions, shared that while the information they provide reflects the categories Niche uses each year, they do not actively try to improve this ranking.
“Each year, Niche.com adjusts their methodology to improve accuracy around this grading and ranking system. Their methodology is complex, so it is hard for us to pinpoint which exact factors may have moved the needle in a given year… We do not make decisions to improve our ranking on Niche.com, but we do update the information we share each year based on the categories they provide,” wrote Kreider and Carroll.
Celeste Hung ’30 explained how Niche rankings did not influence her school search process, describing the ways she chose schools to apply to.
“I heard some students talking about [Andover’s ranking] on campus, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool’… Personally, Niche rankings did not influence my decision to apply to Andover. I mainly researched the schools using their websites and also with the help of my mom… I also already knew someone who was going [to Andover] already. So, I had a little bit of a peek of what the school life was like here.” said Hung.
Kreider and Carroll clarified the lack of influence of Niche rankings on admissions, expressing their hopes for Niche’s role in the application process.
“[Niche] is a research tool that is created to drive families into the application process. We do hear how powerful the reviews of our school can be when a family is considering applying, but there is no concrete data to suggest that anything we do on Niche impacts our admission statistics from year to year… Ultimately, we want families to choose Andover because it feels like the right fit for them, not because we have a certain ranking on Niche.com,” wrote Kreider and Carroll.
Johannah Huang ’29 observed that while Niche assigns a concrete ranking to each school, the differences between higher-ranked preparatory schools can be less noticeable and more subjective.
“When you get to the point of [being] near the top to the very first seat, [the schools are] very similar in academics and sports… For example, I don’t think just because Andover is number one, that means that Choate or Exeter are inherently worse this year versus last year. When you get to such close rankings, it’s hard to place,” said Huang.
In addition to the overall ranking, Niche provides data on specific aspects of each school. Hung noted the benefits of these factors and offered suggestions for expanding them.
“Anyone can get a surface-level review of a school [on Niche], but oftentimes, there’s much more going on… When they factor in multiple things, like college prep, academics, reviews, resources, and sports, that helps build the overall profile of the school… [The factor of] student wellbeing is important, and boarding houses would be interesting,” said Hung.
