The Westminster School (Atl. GA) -

포브스지 선정 '엘리트 사립고교'에 뽑혀

애틀랜타에 위치한 사립학교 웨스트민스터 고교가 동남부에서는 유일하게 '포브스 선정 엘리트 학교'로 뽑혔다.

9일 경제전문지 포브스는 아이비리그 진학생 수(2004~2008년), 교육의 질, 미국내 유력 동문, 학교 부지와 시설 등을 기준으로 '미국 엘리트 고교'(America's Elite Prep Schools)명단을 발표했다.

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이 잡지는애틀랜타의 웨스트민스터 스쿨이 1951년 설립됐으며 180에이커의 캠퍼스에 1819명의 학생이 재학중이라고 소개했다.

 

지난해 다트머스대 6명, 하버드대 3명, 프린스턴대 3명, 펜실베이니아대 3명을 입학시키는 성과를 거뒀다. 졸업생 가운데는 '바람과 함께 사라지다'의 마거릿 미첼, 영화배우 브라이언 바움가트너, 언론인 에드 헬름스, 작가 롭 커트너 등의 유명인사가 있다.

 

학비는 킨더가튼~5학년까지 1만6450달러, 6학년부터 12학년까지 1년에 1만9080달러이다.

 

또한 매년 2억4240만달러의 기부를 받고 있다. 포브스는 웨스트민스터 스쿨에 대해 "명문 학교에 입학하려 북동부로 이사할 필요가 없다. 이 학교는 튼튼한 재정과 뛰어난 선배들을 갖추고 있다"고 소개했다.

 

이밖에도 케네디 대통령의 모교인 코네티컷주 초우트 로즈메리 홀, 시인 TS엘리어트를 배출한 것으로 잘 알려진 매사추세츠주 밀턴 아카데미가 명문교로 뽑혔다. 그러나 밀턴 아카데미는 연간 수업료가 4만395달러로 명문교 가운데 가장 비싼 학교이기도 하다.

 

'다빈치 코드'의 작가 댄 브라운을 배출한 뉴햄프셔주 필립스 엑시터 아카데미, 조지 부시 전 대통령의 모교인 매사추세츠주 필립스 아카데미, 오바마 대통령의 딸과 바이든 부통령의 손자가 재학중인 워싱턴DC의 시드웰 프렌즈 스쿨도 명문교 명단이 이름을 올렸다.

 

Forbes-

America's Elite Prep Schools

Where to get the most exclusive high-school education.

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President John F. Kennedy attended Choate Rosemary Hall. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is a graduate of Groton.

These aren't the names of obscure colleges. They are high schools, or, rather, preparatory schools, and there is a distinction. While it may be true that you can receive excellent schooling from any given high school, there will always be value in a name. The Ivy League is still the Ivy League. Reputation matters, and for many of the children of America's elite where you go to prep schools is just as important, if not more, than where you go to college.

 

The top prep schools look the part. Manicured quads, majestic brick buildings and endless athletic fields are mandatory. Consider the St. Paul's School, in Concord, N.H., which is nestled on 2,000 acres. Founded in 1856, it has four ponds, two ice rinks, 15 tennis courts, 10 squash courts and an eight-lane indoor swimming pool. Also in New Hampshire, Phillips Exeter Academy, founded in 1781, boasts 619 acres and the largest independent school library in the world. The Lawrenceville School, in New Jersey, is set on 700 acres and has a nine-hole golf course.

 

Some institutions revel in old age, like the all-boys Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Mass., which was founded in 1645, during the reign of King Charles I. Others, like the elite schools of Manhattan, thrive off close-quarter's competition. Depending on your parents, background and wallets, young women may find themselves at the Brearley, Spence or Chapin Schools, and young men at the Collegiate and Buckley schools. The Dalton, Horace Mann and Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools are among the coed gems.

Cultivating a list of distinguished alumni is a prep-school bragging right. St. Paul's turned out three presidential candidates, six senators or congressmen and 12 U.S. ambassadors. Milton Academy, in Massachusetts, educated Kennedys, author T.S. Elliot and musician James Taylor.

The latest distinguished darling for political parents is the Sidwell Friends School, in Washington, D.C., and Bethesda, Md. The Quaker school now counts Sasha and Malia Obama among its current students. Chelsea Clinton went there too.

It's not all about looks and famous alumni. These schools want to meet a parent's quest for a quality education--and at that they overachieve. Academics, teachers, extracurricular activities and exchange programs are unparalleled at prep schools. Rather than memorization, prep schools pride themselves on teaching ideas and critical thinking in pint-sized classrooms.

Prep schools pride themselves in what students accomplish after graduation. Admission to top colleges and universities is increasingly selective. Elite prep schools offer an extra edge. It's not uncommon for schools such as Exeter or Milton to see 20 to 40 students separately attending Ivy League schools like Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown and University of Pennsylvania.

 

You don't have to stay in the Northeast for an exclusive education. The Westminster Schools in Atlanta have a $242.4 million endowment and an impressive list of graduates. In Houston, the St. John's School inspired alum Wes Anderson's film Rushmore. St. John's also famously rejected President George W. Bush, who then attended Andover. The Harvard-Westlake School, in Los Angeles, has sent many of Hollywood's high society packing east to colleges like Princeton and Cornell.

Preparatory schools are not always as exclusive as they appear. Many have deep pockets for financial aid and accept students from diverse income levels. And public schools can also take pride in prestigious alumni. Alumni from Scarsdale High School, in New York, include Time editor Richard Stengel and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. President Obama's political consultant David Axelrod and Attorney General Eric Holder went to Stuyvesant High School in New York City.

But at the end of the day, writing Harvard or Princeton on your résumé really does mean something. So does what prep school you attended.