St. Albans School

St. Albans School is an Episcopal school for boys in grades 4 through 12, located on the 59-acre Cathedral Close of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. It opened in 1909 with 34 students, funded by a bequest from Harriet Lane Johnston, the niece of President James Buchanan who served as his first lady, and it began as a school that also provided for the Cathedral’s choirboys. The school reports 597 students, a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and 43 percent students of color. Headmaster Jason Robinson became the school’s eighth headmaster on July 1, 2018; the school has announced his departure in June 2027, and the Governing Board is conducting a national search for his successor.

Boarding at St. Albans School is open only to Upper School students in grades 9 through 12; there is no boarding in the Lower School. The 2026-27 school profile lists 323 Upper School students, 25 of them boarders, and the admissions viewbook likewise describes a dorm of about 25 students in grades 9 through 12, while the boarding web page refers to thirty students. The school calls it the only boarding program in Washington, DC, serving international and out-of-state students as well as local families facing long commutes. The dorm occupies the top two floors of the historic Lane-Johnston Building, next to the dining hall and the Upper School, with single and double rooms; five dorm faculty and their families supervise it, the boarding booklet lists a 5:1 faculty ratio and three meals a day, and a supervised study hall is held every night.

St. Albans School’s 2026-27 school profile reports 13 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and students take an average of three AP courses by graduation (one in junior year and two in senior year); US History and upper-level English courses are not labeled AP but prepare students for the AP exams. The average Upper School class has 13 students. GPAs are on an unweighted 100-point scale, and the school does not rank. The diploma requires 17 credits, including four years of English, three of math, lab science in two disciplines and religion, along with 60 hours of community service and 11 seasons of athletics; language options are Chinese, French, Latin and Spanish, with electives in ancient Greek. A small cohort of seniors may take the Honors History Thesis course, which includes a major research paper and an oral defense before faculty.

St. Albans School is a boys’ school with a coordinate program with National Cathedral School for girls, a short walk across the Cathedral grounds: all elective courses are coeducational, as are the musical and theater groups and teams such as crew, cross-country, track and field, and swimming. Students attend chapel twice a week and eat family-style lunches at assigned tables with faculty. The school lists the colleges enrolling the most graduates over the last five years: the University of Chicago (33), the University of Virginia (18), Boston College and Georgetown University (17 each), Princeton University (13) and Yale University (11).

St. Albans School takes ninth-grade applications through Ravenna, and the application form and $80 fee ($120 for international applicants) are due January 5, 2027. The applicant questionnaire (seven questions, typed by the student without outside sources), the transcript, recommendations from the current math and English teachers, and test scores are due January 13. Every ninth-grade applicant submits one of the SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test), the ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam) or the HSPT (High School Placement Test), and applicants for whom English is not a native language are strongly encouraged to add the TOEFL. International applicants may also apply through the SSAT Standard Application Online (SAO) but must still create a Ravenna account.

St. Albans School holds its interviews during the shadow visit: scheduling opens in Ravenna on September 8, 2026, and visits run on select days from October through early February, from 9:10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with meetings in the Admissions Office, a campus tour, and classes and lunch alongside a current ninth-grade student. Out-of-state and international applicants who cannot attend a regular date and need special scheduling or a virtual interview must first submit their application by December 1. Decisions are posted in Ravenna on February 26, 2027, and families respond by March 12. Ninth grade is the main entry point; grades 10 and 11 are not main entry years, average 0 to 3 openings a year, and do not offer visits.

St. Albans School’s tuition page lists boarding tuition of $84,497 (grades 9 through 12) and day tuition of $59,938 (grades 4 through 12). Admission is need-blind, the school works to meet the full demonstrated need of every admitted student, and aid is strictly need-based, the only exception being a stipend for Cathedral choristers and acolytes. For 2026-27 the school granted more than $6,400,000 in need-based aid, about 30 percent of students receive aid, grants range from 5 to 99 percent of tuition, and the average grant covers about 69 percent of tuition. The school states that families with household incomes from $25,000 to more than $350,000 have been eligible in recent years, and that day, boarding, out-of-state and international students may all apply.

Families apply for aid at St. Albans School through Clarity, which opens October 1, 2026, with a $60 application fee; applicant families submit materials by January 20, 2027. When the application is complete by the deadlines, the aid decision arrives together with the admission decision. Aid must be renewed every year and continues while the student stays in good academic and disciplinary standing and the family continues to demonstrate need.

St. Albans School’s application deadline is January 5, and test scores must arrive by January 13, so finish the SSAT before December and book a seat about two months ahead. An out-of-state family that cannot fly in for a regular shadow visit must submit the application by December 1 before it can request a special date or a virtual interview, which means essays and recommendations should be ready in November. Washington, DC is three hours ahead of California and about 2,280 miles from Irvine in a straight line. Boarders are a small share of the Upper School, and the dorm closes over Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break, so an Irvine family needs to plan break travel and identify a trusted adult in the Washington area. EDUBUS is based in Irvine and works on school selection, SSAT preparation and high school planning around this school’s published dates.