the same year, Newsweek ranked BCA fifth out of the top 500 public schools in America in 2015 and fourth in New Jersey. Inside Jersey magazine ranked BCA first in its 2014 ranking of New Jersey's Top Performing High Schools. In the same year, The Daily Beast ranked BCA 15th in the nation among over 700 magnet and charter schools, second among the 25 Best High Schools in the Northeast, and first among schools in New Jersey. The Washington Post designated BCA as one of 23 top-performing schools with elite students intentionally excluded from its list of America's Most Challenging High Schools "because, despite their exceptional quality, their admission rules and standardized test scores indicate they have few or no average students." In October 2020, Niche ranked the school as the #1 public high school in the nation, as well as the #1 magnet school, #3 college prep public high school, #5 teachers in a public high school, and #7 STEM high school (all for America). It swept all of these categories on the state, county, and New York City area level, with the exception of STEM school, which it came in second for with NJ and NYC area, and college prep, which it came in second for with the NYC area. During the 2019-2020 school year, Bergen County Academies had the best graduation rate and SAT scores in the state of New Jersey. Notable alumni Harry Altman (class of 2005), featured in the 2002 documentary film Spellbound about the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Shakira Barrera (born 1990, class of 2008), dancer and actor who has appeared in the Netflix series GLOW. George Hotz (born 1989, class of 2007), known for computer and device hacking. Sachin H. Jain (born 1980, class of 1998), CEO of CareMore and former Chief Medical Information Officer of Merck. Sarah-Nicole Robles (born 1991), actress and voice actress, best known for providing the voice of Luz Noceda in the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House. Kaavya Viswanathan (class of 2004), author of the controversial 2006 novel entitled How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, since withdrawn due to accusations of plagiarism. References External links Bergen County Academies website Bergen County Academies PPO website National Center for Education Statistics website 1991 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1991 Hackensack, New Jersey International Baccalaureate schools in New Jersey Magnet schools in