What are the most competitive private schools in the U.S.?

Let’s just say these aren’t your average neighborhood schools. We’re talking about elite schools like:

Menlo School

Crystal Springs Uplands School

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Andover

Choate Rosemary Hall

Groton School

Deerfield Academy

Harvard-Westlake

and more!

These are places where the dining hall menus look like a gastropub and the students are juggling robotics clubs, jazz ensembles, and Greek mythology essays. These schools are intensely selective, with acceptance rates that rival top universities. But here’s the good news: they’re not just looking for perfection.

For Swiss families, the idea of sending a child abroad for high school may be unfamiliar, but these schools open doors, especially to top U.S. universities. They value students with unique perspectives, international experience, and intellectual spark. If your child has mastered the Matura, IB, or a demanding local curriculum, that’s a great foundation. But what sets an application apart is the story it tells. We help students from Switzerland position themselves as compelling candidates who will thrive—and lead—in these academically intense, opportunity-rich environments.