High Schools

In most American cities, families send their children to the public high school in their neighborhood. Boston is different. All Boston parents have to apply to be accepted to a public or private Boston high school.

Fortunately, there are more than 400 public and private high schools in the metropolitan area, and many provide an excellent education. The traditional public and private high school admissions process begins in September of your child’s 7th or 8th grade year. The public school system asks you to list up to 5 high schools to which you want to apply. If you are interested in attending a private high school, we encourage people to apply to 6 to 8 schools. Thus, you may have to start visiting schools during your child’s 7th grade year to allow your family sufficient time to check out enough high schools and decide to which schools you want to apply.

The Admissions Process

If you are applying to private schools, the admissions process is similar across schools, and applicants will be asked to tour the school, complete an application, write an essay, be tested, send your child’s middle school transcript, and be interviewed.

In contrast, the application process for public schools varies by type of school. Selective high schools assess students on the basis of one or more of the following items:

Application
Writing sample
Recommendations from a former middle school teacher
Student and parent interviews
Middle school transcripts
Standardized test scores
Audition
High school entrance exam

Most private, Catholic and selective public high schools require their applicants to submit their scores from a standardized test. The three public exam schools and most private day high schools require applicants to take the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) administered by the Education Records Bureau (ERB), while most boarding high school applicants need to take the Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT). Please see the handout in the last section to learn more about the ISEE and SSAT exams. Most Catholic high schools require applicants to take one of three entrance exams - the Test for Admissions into Catholic High Schools (TACHS), the Cooperative Entrance Exam (COOP), and the High School Placement Test (HSPT). Please see the handout in the Our Services section to learn more about the TACHS, COOP and HSPT exams.

More Information about the Admissions Process

To obtain more detailed information about applying to private schools, please click on the Private High School Admissions Process link.

To learn more about the registration rules and requirements of the Boston public school system, please click on the Boston Public School Education Process link.

To learn more about the registration rules and requirements of the Cambridge public school system, please click on the Cambridge Public School Education Process link.

Please see the handout section near the bottom of the parent guide for tips regarding the school tours, writing a compelling essay for the application, reference letters, entrance exams, admissions officers' pet peeves, admissions decisions as well as financial aid and scholarships.

Your Child's and Family's Educational Profile

To identify which high schools meet your child’s and family’s needs, you will first have to consider your child’s educational profile as well as your family’s educational goals and practical concerns.

Your Child's Educational Profile

Your child's educational profile focuses on these areas:

Basic learning ability
Skill development
Special interests
Learning style
Motivation to learn
Social issues
Disabilities

Please click on the following link to learn more about these aspects of your child's educational profile.

Your Family's Educational Goals And Practical Considerations

Regardless of your child’s skill development and interests, parents may also have academic goals and/or practical considerations that are important. Some educational issues that you may want to consider are:

What content is emphasized
Teaching methods
School community

Moreover, there may be some practical considerations that are important, including:

Location
Cost

Please click here to learn more about your family's educational profile and practical concerns.

Selecting Schools

School Characteristics

Once you have a clear understanding of your goals as well as your child’s academic and social profile, you are ready to identify the schools that would be a good fit. The following are some characteristics you will want to consider:

Public versus private school
For public schools: What type of school
For private schools: Prestigious or lesser known schools
Educational philosophy of school
Location
Large versus small schools
School structure
School culture
Coeducational versus single sex schools
Feeder schools

Please click on the following link to obtain more detailed information regarding high school characteristics.

Resources and Our Services

School Finder and Comparison Tool

To help parents navigate the high school admissions process, the website has a school finder as well as a school comparison tool that will allow parents to identify a set of schools that meet their needs and to compare these schools on characteristics such as school type, cost, test scores, and graduation rates. To learn more about this service, please click on the School Finder Tab above.

Handouts

Moreover, the website has handouts that help parents prepare for the school tour, child interviews and entrance exams.

Please click on the following links to download the handouts:

We also provide more personal services to help parents navigate the high school admissions process, including eduprofile, workshops and individual consulting. The remaining section describes each of these services in greater detail. To learn how to purchase these services, please click on the Our Services tab.

Eduprofile

We have created a survey that will help us determine your child’s educational profile as well as your family’s educational goals and practical concerns. More specifically, the questionnaire asks you about your child’s basic learning capacity, skill development, special interests, learning styles, motivation to learn, social temperament and disabilities. In addition, the survey asks parents questions regarding the importance of various educational characteristics (e.g., what content is emphasized, teaching methods, and school community) as well as any practical considerations that are important, including the school’s type, location, educational approach, schedule, and cost. Once we have reviewed the survey, we will send you information about your child’s educational profile as well as a list of schools that we think will meet your child’s and family’s needs.

Workshops

We offer two 2-hour high school workshops:

1. Navigating the high school admissions process

2. Preparing children for the entrance exams

The high school admissions process workshop provides parents with tips regarding 1) how to identify the private and public high schools that meet your family’s needs, 2) the logistics of the admissions process, 3) touring schools, 4) preparing your child for interviews, 5) writing a compelling essay, and 6) juggling acceptances and wait-list offers.

The second workshop, preparing students for the high school entrance exams, explains the rationale behind the admissions tests required by many high schools. Parents will also learn how to prepare their children for the exams as well as how to ensure that they are as comfortable as possible on the date of the test.

Individual Consulting Services

We provide individual consulting services to parents who would like help navigating the public and private high school admissions process. More specifically, we can help parents with any one or all of the following steps:

Step 1) Develop your child's and family's educational profile

Step 2) Identify the high schools that meet your child’s and family’s needs

Step 3) Understand the logistics of the admissions process

Step 4) Prepare for the school tours as well as the student interviews

Step 5) Complete the applications and write a compelling essay

Step 6) Select the best school for your child and family

To learn more about our workshops, individual consulting services or EduProfile, please click on the Our Services tab.

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