The Prep School Superlatives

Best Looking

Noble and Greenough School
The kids we polled picked Nobles, hands down, as the local school with the highest per-capita hottie ratio. “It’s like an Abercrombie ad,” says a Dana Hall senior. “Except, like, no one’s got their shirts off.” In the eyes of one alum, the Dedham school’s ability to consistently attract genetically blessed enrollees comes down to simple demographics: “You do the math: You’ve got an expensive school surrounded by a nice suburban area, a bunch of trophy wives’ kids, and a sick gym. More often than not, the students are going to be pretty damn attractive.”

Best Dressed

Buckingham Browne & Nichols
“Don’t get me wrong—there’s definitely a preppy flavor to BB&N,” says one fashionable alum. “But frankly we have an element of city style that you can’t find on jcrew.com.” The kids from the ’Bridge keep their wardrobes funky by hitting Newbury Street and Harvard Square to scour thrift shops and trendy boutiques. The school’s lax dress code and laid-back environment also help, giving students the opportunity to experiment with style—something rarely possible at BB&N’s more conservative counterparts. “Let’s just say you’re not going to see a BB&N kid browsing the clearance rack at the Gap,” says the alum, laughing. “I mean, Urban Outfitters, maybe. But we would have to be really desperate.”

Most Self-Confident

Groton School
“The kids I know from Groton are infatuated with the school,” says one recent ISL graduate. “To them it’s, like, a religious experience. And I don’t even know if the school is religious.” Technically, it is (Episcopalian), but Groton’s healthy self-regard more than likely stems from the staggering number of graduates it places at Ivy League colleges, a record of achievement that entitles it to a little smugness. Groton also stokes its own ego by famously doing a number of things a distinctly Groton way: Heading to the dining hall for a meal is known as going for a “feed”; the school’s St. John’s Chapel has a special student society to ring its bells; and rather than a quad, as at most of its peers, the campus is centered on the Circle. (“What, are they too good for angles?” the ISL alum asks.) Outsiders may find it all a bit much to take; Groton kids wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’d be cocky if I got into every school I applied to,” says the ISL grad. “Just maybe not that cocky.”

BFFs

Belmont Hill School and the Winsor School
Winsor and Belmont Hill go way past the traditional brother-sister school bonds of shared dances, Facebook messaging, and tentative joint attendance at football games. The two schools share a newspaper and boathouse, and they also work together to put on a holiday concert and several plays over the course of each school year. “It’s like we’re joined at the hip,” says one Belmont Hill alum, who was never one to complain about that. “By the end of six or seven straight hours with all dudes, you’re pretty damn psyched to do pretty much anything with the ladies.”