Hotchkiss School Shines As The Best Private High School In America

Here is where the term 'Preppie' was born, it's an abbreviation of 'Preparatory' and it's used to describe alumni of college-preparatory schools in New England. We have many private, college-preparatory schools in Connecticut, including the newly #1-ranked private high school in the US for 2026.

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The Hotchkiss School was founded in 1891 in Lakeville, Connecticut, and it's just been ranked as the #1 Best Private High School in America for 2026 by niche.com.

In order to arrive at their rankings niche.com analyzed key statistics and millions of reviews by students and parents, other ranking factors included: Quality of Colleges Students Consider, Student-Teacher Ratio, Private School Ratings, and a general de-emphasis on test-scores in the college admissions process. Niche awarded Hotchkiss straight A's across the board, receiving an A or A+ in regard to Hotchkiss' Teachers, Academics, Clubs & Activities, Diversity, College Prep, and Sports.

Hotchkiss has an enrollment of 611 students in grades 9-12, and the student-teacher ratio is 4-1. Tuition for the 2025-2026 school year is $71,170, and the most impressive stat? 100% of Hotchkiss students go on to attend a 4-year college.

Notable alumni of Hotchkiss are Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, Howard Stanley of Morgan Stanley, Henry Ford II, Phillip Pillsbury (Yes, that one), Allison Janney, Fay Vincent, and Chris Wallace.

My first encounter with this wonderful school happened three years ago when my wife took a job at the Hotchkiss book store, it's an incredibly beautiful campus in the very Northwest corner of the tri-state area of CT/NY/and Mass. I could not imagine a more picture-perfect setting to receive an education, good call Niche.