Is Short Hills, NJ a Good Place for College Admissions?

Short Hills, NJ and the College Admissions Landscape

A Neighborhood, Not a District

Short Hills is an unincorporated neighborhood inside Millburn Township, in Essex County, New Jersey. Families exploring the area’s schools quickly discover one fact. Short Hills shares its public school system with the rest of the township. In other words, Millburn High School is the sole comprehensive public high school serving the community. Is Short Hills a good place for college admissions? For families willing to work within that single-school structure, the answer leans favorable. Millburn High School ranks 12th in New Jersey and 244th nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report. Its AP participation rate sits at 79%. Consequently, it counts among the state’s strongest traditional public options.

Private Alternatives Close By

Families who prefer an independent school route have real choices nearby. Newark Academy sits in neighboring Livingston and enrolls students in grades 6 through 12. It was the first New Jersey school to offer the International Baccalaureate. Similarly, Kent Place School in Summit is the state’s only nonsectarian, all-girls independent day school. Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child, also in Summit, runs a Catholic lower school for both sexes, alongside an all-girls upper school. Its Infinity Project introduces students to pre-engineering coursework. None of these three schools administers New Jersey’s state assessments. As a result, none carries a U.S. News state rank. That does not diminish their academic reputations; it simply means the comparison below focuses on ranked public options.

How the Region Stacks Up

Short Hills families rarely limit their search to Millburn High School alone. Nearby Essex, Union, and Morris county schools offer useful points of comparison. This holds true for families weighing a move or a private school application. The table below lists the highest-ranked public high schools within a reasonable commute of Short Hills.

What Works in Short Hills’ Favor

Short Hills sits on New Jersey Transit’s Midtown Direct line. This route runs straight into Penn Station in Manhattan, with no transfer required. That short train ride opens access to internships, museums, and cultural institutions. By contrast, students in more remote suburbs cannot reach these as easily. Beyond that, the line puts Newark within a twenty-minute drive. Newark is home to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Newark Museum of Art. For a student building interests around the arts, public service, or urban studies, that geography matters. Consequently, admissions essays from Short Hills applicants can draw on genuine access, not a single school trip.

Several opportunities sit within easy reach, too. New Jersey’s Governor’s School of the Sciences runs each summer at Drew University in nearby Madison. It offers a free, three-week residential research program for rising seniors nominated by their schools. For students drawn to public policy, American Legion Jersey Boys State and ALA Jersey Girls State are open to any New Jersey high school junior. Eligibility does not depend on hometown; students apply through their school guidance office. Delegates spend a week each June building a mock state government from the ground up. Together, these programs give Short Hills applicants concrete, verifiable activities, rather than vague claims of interest.

The Honest Tradeoffs

The same strength that makes Millburn High School attractive also creates its central challenge. Selective colleges see dozens of similarly strong applicants from Millburn every year. They rarely admit large numbers from any single school. As a result, a strong SAT score and a rigorous AP course load do not automatically stand out from this one address. In fact, guidance counselors at Millburn manage large caseloads. Consequently, families often supplement school-based advising with outside consultants, a pattern common across affluent New Jersey suburbs. That added support helps. At the same time, it means differentiation has to come from specific interests and real accomplishments, not resume length alone.

Short Hills applicants also face a version of the affluent-suburb problem that admissions officers know well. Specifically, many students share similar profiles: strong grades, family resources, and a comparable range of extracurriculars. Essays that lean on generic achievement tend to blend together in a reader’s memory. Furthermore, the pressure to apply Early Decision to a small list of highly selective schools can narrow a student’s options too early. In other words, chasing prestige before researching fit can backfire. Addressing both issues early makes a measurable difference by senior fall.

Building a Strategy That Fits

AP Rigor and Testing

Millburn High School offers 35 AP course sections. The school earned Platinum distinction on the College Board’s 2025 AP School Honor Roll, and 81% of seniors took at least one AP exam before graduation. Most Short Hills applicants take the SAT, often more than once, to build a score that reflects steady improvement.

The College Essay

Admissions readers see hundreds of applications from towns like Short Hills every cycle. The essays that stand out name a specific moment, not a generic ambition. A closely observed detail, a real setback, or an unusual hobby carries more weight than a polished list of accomplishments.

Early Decision Planning

Early Decision can raise admission odds at many selective schools. However, it also locks a student into one binding choice each cycle. Families should reserve ED for a genuine first-choice school. It should not become a reflex the whole grade seems to follow.

Building a National List

Many Short Hills families default to a familiar set of Northeastern names. By contrast, a genuinely national list can widen the odds of both admission and financial aid. Students who research strong programs in the Midwest, South, or West often find better fit. In turn, they also face less competition from their own classmates.

Starting Early

Sophomore year is not too soon to begin visiting campuses and drafting a target list. Starting early gives students time to strengthen weaker parts of their application. That might mean test preparation, a deeper extracurricular commitment, or a stronger transcript, well before senior year deadlines arrive.

The Bottom Line

Short Hills gives college-bound students genuine advantages. These include a strong single public high school, quick access to New York City, and a handful of verified, resume-worthy programs close to home. At the same time, families should not assume that strong grades and a well-known zip code guarantee an outcome at the most selective schools. The applicant pool from Millburn High School runs deep, and admissions officers know it. Ultimately, students who build a specific, well-researched application, rather than one that leans on the town’s reputation, put themselves in the strongest position.

College Transitions works with students from Short Hills and Millburn High School, along with neighboring Livingston, Summit, Glen Ridge, and Chatham, to build college lists and application strategies grounded in genuine fit rather than local assumptions.

Additional Resources

• Top High Schools in the Short Hills, NJ Area: How They Compare for College Admissions
• Case Study: How One Short Hills, NJ Student Turned Suburban Planning History into a College Admissions Edge
• Short Hills’ Hidden Curriculum: The Programs and Local Resources That Build a Competitive College Application
• New Jersey College Admissions Counseling