Blair Academy

Blair Academy is a coeducational boarding school in Blairstown, in northwestern New Jersey, founded in 1848. It enrolls grades 9 through 12 and PG (post-graduate) students. The school has been associated with the Presbyterian Church since its founding; it became an all-boys school in 1915 and returned to coeducation in 1970. The 463-acre campus was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 and lies about 65 miles from New York City. The Class of 2027 school profile reports 484 students, including nine postgraduates, a Class of 2027 of 123, and students from 27 states and 27 countries. The school reports that 85 percent of students board and 15 percent are day students, that 17 percent are international, and that it has a 5:1 student-faculty ratio, 12 dormitories and 90 percent of faculty living on campus. Head of School Peter G. Curran took office in January 2021 as the school’s 17th head.

Blair Academy stopped offering Advanced Placement courses in 2024-25 and replaced them with two kinds of faculty-designed courses. Advanced survey (AdvSur) courses align with introductory college courses such as calculus, economics, Java, biology and U.S. history, and advanced seminar (AdvSem) courses explore a theme or skill in depth; both require department approval. The school says an advisory board of eight colleges and universities guided the change, including Brown University, the University of California, Berkeley, Chapman University and Northeastern University. Blair reports 160 course offerings and an average class size of 12. Grades use a 6.0 scale, and the school profile notes that only 3 percent of semester-end grades are 6.0. Signature programs include the multi-year Integrated Science Research (ISR) program and the three-semester Advanced Literary Writing (ALW) program.

Blair Academy uses a dual-advisor system: each student has an assigned academic monitor and a faculty advisor of their own choosing, and the full faculty meets four times a year to review each student’s progress. Each year before spring break, students take an eight-day Intersession course graded pass/fail, and some courses include off-campus or international travel. The school lists the most attended colleges for the classes of 2022 through 2026: New York University (30), Lehigh University (23), the United States Naval Academy (20), the University of Miami and the University of Pennsylvania (18 each), Northeastern University (17) and Princeton University (16). Over the same period, 10 graduates enrolled at the University of Southern California and five each at UC Berkeley and UCLA. The school profile reports that 8 percent of the Class of 2026 enrolled at colleges in the West.

The Blair Academy application begins with the online inquiry form, which must be completed before an interview can be scheduled. Applications for the 2027-28 school year opened on August 1, 2026, through either the Standard Application Online (SAO) or Gateway to Prep Schools, and the school asks applicants to choose one and not submit both. The application fee is $75 for students living in the United States and $140 for students living internationally. Recommendations come from the current English and mathematics teachers, and the school suggests asking teachers after November 1; a personal recommendation is optional. Transcripts must cover the current year and the past two years, including first quarter or trimester grades. Standardized testing is not required but preferred: ninth-grade applicants may submit the SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) or the ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam), and/or state, county or district test scores. Applicants whose native language is not English and who have not studied in an English-speaking school for the past two years submit the TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English Test, and Blair offers no ESL program.

An interview is required of all applicants. On-campus visits pair a student-led tour with an interview with an admission officer and last about two hours; this season they run from September 10, 2026 through January 15, 2027, and families who cannot travel may book a virtual interview, with all times in Eastern time. All materials are due January 15, decisions are emailed on March 10, and admitted students return enrollment contracts and deposits by April 10. Applications completed after January 15 are considered on a rolling basis as space allows, without a guarantee of full consideration. The school lists a 16 percent acceptance rate and publishes no score cutoff.

Blair Academy publishes 2026-27 boarding tuition of $81,950, covering tuition, room and board, and day tuition of $57,000, covering tuition, study rooms and meals Monday through Saturday. Art courses, music lessons, driver’s education, special testing, class trips and other items cost extra, and the Tuition Refund Plan is required, with its fee depending on the payment plan and net tuition. The school meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for admitted students with grants, not loans, and offers no merit, athletic or arts scholarships. It reports that 36 percent of students receive aid, that $9.9 million is awarded annually, and that the average award is $58,361 for boarding students and $38,049 for day students.

Families apply for aid through Clarity and also mark the aid request on the SAO or Gateway application. Clarity opens September 1, the new student deadline is February 1, and awards arrive with the March 10 admission decision; the school does not reserve funds for late applicants. Aid must be renewed each year, and students who did not apply for or receive aid at enrollment are highly unlikely to receive it later. International students may also apply, and families who do not file U.S. taxes complete the same Clarity application and upload proof of income.

Blair Academy does not require test scores but states that it prefers them, so a competitive Irvine applicant should still prepare for the SSAT or ISEE. The school prefers tests taken within a year of the deadline, and the January 15 deadline pushes the last usable sitting into December, so book a seat about two months ahead. On-campus interviews end on January 15, so a family flying east should combine the visit and interview into one fall trip; otherwise, book a virtual interview and remember that Eastern time is three hours ahead of California. New Jersey is about 2,380 miles from Irvine in a straight line, which means several cross-country flights a year, so identify a trusted adult on the East Coast. The financial aid deadline of February 1 falls after the application deadline, but funds are not held for late applicants, so families seeking aid should prepare tax documents at the same time. EDUBUS is based in Irvine and works on school selection, SSAT preparation and high school planning around this school’s published dates.