The Taft School

The Taft School is a coeducational boarding school in Watertown, in western Connecticut. Horace Dutton Taft opened it in 1890 in Pelham Manor, New York; it moved to Watertown in 1893, took the name The Taft School in 1898, and welcomed its first girls in 1971. It enrolls grades 9 through 12 and PG (post-graduate, an extra year after high school graduation). The school’s Taft by the Numbers page reports 592 students, 495 boarding and 97 day, from 29 states and 56 countries, with international students making up about 25 percent; the campus covers 226 acres, about 95 miles from New York City and 125 miles from Boston. Facilities include a library with 55,000 print volumes, a 45,000 square foot science and mathematics building, two theaters, two ice hockey rinks and an 18-hole golf course. The school motto is “Not to be served but to serve.” Head of School Peter Becker, class of 1995, became the school’s sixth head in 2023.

The Taft School offers about 200 courses each semester and reports an average class size of 11, a 4:1 student-to-faculty ratio and 133 faculty members. Its 2026-27 school profile states that the most advanced course in each discipline is an Honors course, followed in rigor by Accelerated courses; in mathematics and computer science these include Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Graph Theory and Cybersecurity. Honors grades are weighted on the transcript (five points added), only courses taken at Taft count toward the GPA, and students are not ranked. The 36-unit graduation requirement includes English every semester, four semesters of history (a full year of U.S. history and two semesters of non-U.S. history), four semesters of laboratory science, level III of Chinese, French, Latin or Spanish, Algebra II and Trigonometry, and one semester of arts each year. The school describes its Independent Study Program as the first of its kind in the nation more than 50 years ago; students can also pursue the Global Studies and Service Diploma or study off campus through programs such as School Year Abroad. A new daily schedule introduced in fall 2026 has each class meet three times a week for 70 minutes.

The school reports that graduates from 2020 through 2024 enrolled at 191 colleges. The most attended in that period include Georgetown University (34), Cornell University (22), Southern Methodist University (21), Brown University (19), Bucknell University and the University of Richmond (18 each), New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Miami (17 each), and Yale University (16). Among California schools, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California enrolled 9 each and the University of California, Los Angeles 5.

The Taft School application begins with the online inquiry form, which every prospective student must complete and which sets up the Taft admissions account; applicants must be at least 13 and must turn 14 during their ninth grade year. Families then use the account to schedule a campus visit, an online interview or an off-campus interview, and apply through either the Standard Application Online (SAO) or Gateway to Prep Schools; the school has no preference between them. Standardized testing is required of all applicants: grades 9 and 10 submit the SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) or the ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam), and international applicants take the SSAT; grade 11 applicants may submit the SSAT, PSAT, SAT or ACT; and grade 12 and PG applicants may submit the PSAT, SAT or ACT. The school states that the median SSAT score for students admitted last year was the 87th percentile, and the paper SSAT dates for the 2026-27 season are October 10, November 14 and December 12, 2026, and January 9, 2027. The school strongly recommends the TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English Test for applicants whose primary language is not English, and it does not offer ESL (English as a Second Language) courses.

Recommendations come from the principal or guidance counselor and the English and math teachers; they can be sent through the application platform after November 15 and are due January 15. Portfolios are optional. Applications are due January 15, decisions are released through the admissions portal on March 10, and admitted students confirm enrollment with a contract and deposit by April 10. Taft prefers to admit students entering grades 9, 10 or 11, sometimes admits PG students, and does not admit students mid-year. The Taft by the Numbers page lists 1,650 new student applications and 189 new students enrolled without naming the year; the school does not publish an acceptance rate or the application fee amount. Domestic families facing financial hardship may request application and SSAT fee waivers beginning August 1.

The Taft School publishes 2026-27 boarding tuition of $81,400, including room and board, and day tuition of $60,050, with books and spending money estimated at $2,000. The school charges no additional fees such as technology or graduation fees; a deposit is due on enrollment, and families choose among three payment plans. Aid is awarded on demonstrated need only, with no merit awards, and Taft commits to meeting 100 percent of a family’s need according to its methodology. The financial aid FAQ states that 36 percent of students receive aid from a $13.45 million budget. Admission review begins need-blind, meaning a family’s aid application is not considered at first; if total applicant need exceeds the budget, need may become one of several factors in admission decisions.

The school’s published 2026-27 boarding aid data show 52 awards with a median grant of $81,400 and median tuition paid of $0 for family incomes up to $100,000; 44 awards with a median grant of $71,000 for $100,000 to $200,000; 29 awards with a median grant of $60,400 for $200,000 to $300,000; and 22 awards with a median grant of $40,000 above $300,000. Families apply through Clarity, which charges a $65 submission fee; it opens September 1, 2026, new families submit by February 1, 2027, tax returns are due March 1, and awards arrive with the admission letter on March 10. Families who do not apply for aid at admission can be considered later only after a significant change in financial circumstances. Limited aid is available to non-U.S. citizens.

The Taft School’s January 15 deadline falls only days after the last paper SSAT on January 9, so plan around the October through December dates and book a seat about two months ahead. Campus visits and interviews are both scheduled through the admissions portal after the inquiry form is complete; a family flying east should combine the visit and interview into one fall trip, or otherwise book an online interview early. Connecticut is three hours ahead of California and about 2,480 miles from Irvine in a straight line, and Bradley International Airport is about an hour’s drive from campus. Taft requires every student to have a parent or guardian who can collect the student, healthy or ill, within 48 hours of a request; a family with no relatives on the East Coast should contact the guardianship services the school lists and evaluate them directly. EDUBUS is based in Irvine and works on school selection, SSAT preparation and high school planning around this school’s published dates.