How many schools to apply to?

[Anonymous]

I’ve looked through a bunch of old posts to try to understand this but I haven’t been able to so far. Apologies if this is frequently discussed and I have somehow missed it.

My DS will be applying to high schools next year. We haven’t worked out exactly which ones yet, though we have some ideas. The school websites tell you what you need to submit and do to apply, but there isn’t really anywhere that states what the criteria for admissions are (for example, we are from another country where admissions at high school are all about test scores, and that doesn’t seem to be the case here). Since it seems a bit unclear how the school will decide, I don’t know to rate his chances at admission, and therefore how many schools he should apply to. Do most people apply to 3 schools? 6 schools? 12 schools? Just looking for a ballpark and a way to try to understand the process. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

You might be a good candidate for an admissions consultant.

[Anonymous]

I’d say 3-6 schools is pretty standard for high school. Private schools don’t really post admissions data so it is a bit of a guessing game and based on reputation (those in private school when graduating 8th grade get a lot of guidance from their current school). Each school may have their own application requirements, including essays and teacher recommendations. Many DC area schools use an application portal called Ravenna. Testing requirements can also vary widely (none/optional, HSPT for Catholic schools, ISEE/SSAT for some independents schools, and in-house testing has become more common post-pandemic).

If you’re new to all this, start doing your online research now, and plan on attending Open Houses in the fall. That will give you a better lay of the land, sense for the different schools, and an idea of the admissions process.

Hope this helps! It can be overwhelming but there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions along the way.

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in a private school, I would take the reach, target, safety school into consideration that many use for the college application process.

For the Catholic schools most will apply to their local diocesan high school and then 1-2 independent Catholic schools.

No personal experience, but it seems that many poster select 4-6 non-Catholic independent schools for applications. I’m sure there’s a very broad distribution though.

Good luck- it can be a difficult and strenuous process for those who lived here all our lives!

[Anonymous]

Same as others have said — around 5 schools, give or take.

You are correct that you generally will not find clear criteria. It’s pretty subjective at most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anything more than 5 becomes really unwieldy. The vast majority of people at our independent K-8 applied to either 4 or 5 schools.

[Anonymous]

It takes a lot of work to apply to schools and it depends on how many competitive schools you are considering. For our children we applied to 4 highly competitive schools and then had a less competitive option for the 5th (public for one child, an additional private for the other). We were coming from a private k-8 who felt comfortable with our choice of the less competitive as a backup for the one DC (I was a little nervous, wondering if we should have added a 6th to have two less competitive to consider)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve looked through a bunch of old posts to try to understand this but I haven’t been able to so far. Apologies if this is frequently discussed and I have somehow missed it.

My DS will be applying to high schools next year. We haven’t worked out exactly which ones yet, though we have some ideas. The school websites tell you what you need to submit and do to apply, but there isn’t really anywhere that states what the criteria for admissions are (for example, we are from another country where admissions at high school are all about test scores, and that doesn’t seem to be the case here). Since it seems a bit unclear how the school will decide, I don’t know to rate his chances at admission, and therefore how many schools he should apply to. Do most people apply to 3 schools? 6 schools? 12 schools? Just looking for a ballpark and a way to try to understand the process. Thank you!

I've heard to apply to 5.

[Anonymous]

12–15

[Anonymous]

PS - too late for OP - but for future applicants - we always found it helpful to attend open houses and tours in the admissions cycle that was one year prior to applying. This allowed us to visit/consider a lot of schools and then pare it down to the 4-5 we'd apply to. We brought our "future applicant" to these events too - but I know others' who did these first visits without their child (usually if they felt it would cause anxiety too early - this wasn't an issue for our kids - it's a case by case decision).

This strategy also allowed us to get to know schools we applied to better - because it was at least our second time visiting when we participated in the open houses and tours for our selected schools again in the admissions cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12–15

I don't think there are that many private high schools in the area.

[Anonymous]

Yeah around 5 is what most people do. Testing doesn’t play a big role right now for most schools because many (but not all) of the more competitive independent schools either won’t accept test scores or are test optional. At the catholic schools, testing plays a much bigger role.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone! So in the absence of test scores or similar, are the letters of recommendation from current school the most important thing?

[Anonymous]

five or six

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you everyone! So in the absence of test scores or similar, are the letters of recommendation from current school the most important thing?

There is no one thing that matters most as frustrating as that is. The schools are trying to create a balanced class with enough kids to support activities, have diversity, be academically strong, and gender-balanced if a coed school. So it’s really the whole package - grades, recommendations, interviews, whether your kid is a strong athlete, whether your kid is strong in another activity (art, performing arts, music, robotics, etc.), whether you are a URM, whether you otherwise have a compelling story. That is why people spread applications around several schools. It is really difficult to predict admissions at any one school because there aren’t test scores or grade cutoffs.

So if you have an otherwise strong student (strong grades and recs) the typical pattern is to apply to 2-4 schools with competitive admissions and then 1-2 that you are pretty sure you’d get into so you have a choice.