美国《新闻周刊》在对美国公立高中进行评选时，有一个名单，叫做“另类高中”(In A Different Class)，是"best of the best" 最佳中的最佳，在这些公立高中里“没有一般能力的学生”，全部是优秀生。这才是华人眼中的顶级高中，上了就意味着进入常青藤学校的机会大大增加。
这16所“另类”的美国公立高中是(没有高低顺序，按字母顺序排列)：
新泽西州的 Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, N.J.: A collection of seven career-focused academies where students have an extended school day.
纽约市的 Bronx High School of Science, New York: One of the most famous schools in America for many years. It has a richly talented, ethnically diverse student body.
肯塔基州的 Gatton Academy of Math and Science, Bowling Green, Ky.: Juniors and seniors from all over the state are selected by scores, grades and essays to live in their own Western Kentucky University residence hall, earning college credit as well as completing high school.
新泽西州的 High Technology High, Lincroft, N.J.: The highest-scoring of the growing number of schools with this name across the country. This is a new species of high school, with a great emphasis on modern equipment and hands-on learning.
纽约市的 Hunter College High School, New York:Another one of the city's greats, with a seventh- through 12th-grade program administered by Hunter College. It was an all-girls school until it went coed in 1972.
伊利诺州的 IllinoisMathematics and Science Academy, Aurora: "Wayne's World," the Mike Myers "Saturday Night Live" sketch and film, is not the only cool thing associated with Aurora. IMSA is also a state-funded boarding school. It takes 10th through 12th graders and has a strong mentoring program.
华盛顿州的 International Community School, Kirkland, Wash.: Students are selected through a lottery to attend this school, which focuses on international awareness. It is one of the few public elite schools without a selective admissions systems. Instead, as happens sometimes, the lottery participants self-select into an academic powerhouse.
弗基尼亚州的 Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies, Richmond, Va.: Unlike the science-math orientation of most of the public elites, the focus of this school is on world cultures and building students' leadership skills.
北卡州的 North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham: This school, established in 1980 in an abandoned hospital, started the small but interesting trend of state-created boarding schools drawing bright and ambitious high-schoolers from all over the state.
俄克勒何马州的 Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City: A state-funded boarding school that teaches all courses at the university level.
南卡州的 South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, Hartsville: Another state boarding school, this one is for 11th and 12th graders across the state.
纽约州的 Stuyvesant High School, New York: Along with Bronx Science, probably the most famous on this list. It has been teaching the city's most academically ambitious students for several generations. It offers about 55 AP courses every semester, and has plenty of courses above that level.
弗吉尼亚州的 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Fairfax County, Va.: The most selective public high school in America, drawing mostly from the affluent households of northern Virginia and with one of the most talented faculties in the area.
新泽西州的 Union County Magnet High School, Scotch Plains, N.J.: This selective-admission school also focuses on science, math and technology.
伊利诺州的 University Laboratory High School, Urbana, Ill.: There is competitive admission for this day school on the campus of the University of Illinois. It makes good use of its higher-education environment. -- 我们伊利诺大学附中
加利福尼亚州的 Whitney High School, Cerritos, Calif.: Like Jefferson and High Tech High, a suburban version of the New York superschools, with very competitive admission, but unlike students at the state boarding schools, those at Whitney go home at night.
《新闻周刊》选出的这16所“另类”的美国公立高中，都是要经过严格的入学考试挑选数学、科学专长的学生的学校，一般都依托一所著名高校。这些 公立高中出来的学生，以后是美国的"technocrats"，科技新贵，而美国的著名私立高中出来的学生，基本上都是 WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant), 是美国未来的法律和金融掌权者。