Episcopal High School

Episcopal High School is a coeducational boarding school in Alexandria, Virginia, enrolling grades 9 through 12. It was founded in 1839 by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, became an independent institution in 1923, and began admitting girls in 1991. Every student boards, and about 90 percent of faculty live on campus. The school states that it enrolls roughly 440 students each year, half of them girls; NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) data for 2023-24 report 466 students. Students come from 25 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 22 countries, and the five most represented states are Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, New York and Georgia. The campus covers 130 acres and sits seven miles from the White House. There are 10 dorms, five for boys and five for girls, with a resident faculty member on every floor; all ninth graders live together in the Freshmen Village in Henderson Hall, with separate boys’ and girls’ dorms. The Honor Code first appears on an 1857 exam and is still upheld by a committee of students and faculty. The whole community attends Chapel three times a week, and the school states that students do not need to be Christian. Charles M. Stillwell is Head of School.

Episcopal High School reports more than 150 courses, 75 honors or advanced options, an average class size of 11 and eight academic departments. The school does not label courses AP (Advanced Placement); instead it offers Advanced courses, which it describes as more dynamic and in-depth than traditional AP courses while still preparing students for AP exams, and the 2026-27 course catalog notes in the course description when an Advanced course prepares students for an AP exam. Graduation requires at least 23 credits over four years: English every year, mathematics through any Precalculus course, and three years of the same language. The language department teaches Chinese, French, German, Greek, Latin and Spanish, with Arabic and Japanese available through Global Online Academy (GOA), a consortium of independent schools offering online courses. The school’s signature is using Washington as a classroom: a 2.5-hour midday Flex Block lets teachers take classes into the Washington area, and the school reports more than 650 Washington experiences each year. Seniors finish coursework at the beginning of May and then complete a four-week externship in the D.C. area, hosted by more than 85 partner organizations.

The school reports that graduates of the classes of 2022 through 2026 enrolled at 180 colleges and universities. The most attended were the University of Virginia (27), Wake Forest University (26), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (25), Southern Methodist University (19), Washington and Lee University (18), Texas Christian University and the University of the South (17 each), and the University of St Andrews in Scotland (16). In California, five graduates in that period enrolled at Stanford University, five at UCLA, four at the University of Southern California, three at UC Berkeley and one at UC Irvine.

Episcopal High School admits students entering grades 9, 10 and 11. The process begins with the online inquiry form. Families then apply through either the Standard Application Online (SAO) or Gateway to Prep Schools, which include a student questionnaire with a personal essay and a parent questionnaire; the application fee is $60, or $120 for international applicants. Transcripts cover the current year and the previous two years, and recommendations come from the current English teacher, the current math teacher and the principal or counselor. Every applicant submits standardized test scores: ninth and tenth grade applicants submit the SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) or the ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam), or PSAT scores instead, and eleventh grade applicants may submit the PSAT, SAT or ACT. Applicants whose first language is not English also submit the TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English Test, which may be waived for those who have attended an English-medium school for the past three years. The interview is an essential part of the process: campus visits usually run Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and take about two hours, parents may also speak with the admissions officer, and virtual interviews are available for applicants who cannot travel.

The published admission timeline runs as follows: schedule a visit and interview between September and January, request teacher recommendations from October through December, and plan testing between October and January. Application materials are due January 15, interviews must be completed by January 31, decisions are released March 10, and enrollment contracts are due April 10. Scores from a February test date are accepted only if every other requirement is met by January 15. In fall 2026 the school also holds a Discovery Day on October 31 and the Explore Episcopal Open House on December 12. The school does not publish an acceptance rate or a minimum score.

Episcopal High School publishes a 2026-27 comprehensive fee of $77,700. Because every student boards, there is a single rate, covering tuition, room and board, basic health center expenses and most school-sponsored academic, athletic and recreational activities. Textbooks and academic materials (about $400 a year) and a laptop (a one-time cost of about $1,500) are not included, and the school estimates miscellaneous expenses such as laundry, local transportation and weekend outings at about $200 or more a month. The enrollment deposit is $7,800, and the fee is payable in two or six installments. The school reports that about 35 percent of students receive aid in 2026-27, that about $9.6 million in aid is awarded annually, and that the average need-based grant is about $59,000. It also publishes average family contributions by income band for 2026-27; for example, the 24 aided families with gross income over $300,000 contribute an average of $37,904 a year.

Families apply for aid through Clarity, which charges a $65 submission fee; new families submit by January 15, 2027, along with a 2026 pay stub. Aid decisions arrive with the admission letter in March, parents reply within 30 days, and families reapply each year. Admission is not need-blind: the school states that because the collective need of admissible aid applicants exceeds the resources available to new students, applying for financial aid may affect the admission decision. Each year the school also awards five to 10 merit scholarships to new students for academic and extracurricular merit, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 and renewable annually, with all applicants considered automatically. International students may receive aid in special situations, but priority goes to United States citizens.

Episcopal High School’s January 15 deadline means the SSAT or ISEE is best finished by December; a February score is accepted only if everything else is already in. The interview deadline is January 31 and campus visits run on weekday school hours, so a family flying east should pair the visit and interview with the October 31 Discovery Day or the December 12 open house in a single fall trip, or book a virtual interview early. Virginia is three hours ahead of California and about 2,280 miles from Irvine in a straight line, which means several cross-country flights a year. An all-boarding campus, Chapel three times a week, no phones during the academic day and an academic dress code (boys wear dress shirts with ties) are a real change for a child used to an Irvine public school routine, so talk it through as a family before applying. Because the school states that applying for aid may affect admission, families who need aid should weigh that before submitting. EDUBUS is based in Irvine and works on school selection, SSAT preparation and high school planning around this school’s published dates.