Harvard-Westlake Middle School Admissions for Asian American Families
Grade 7 and grade 9 entry at the Holmby Hills campus, and why the usual Los Angeles preparation strategy misfires here.
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As Seen On
Asian American Students at Harvard-Westlake Middle School
At Harvard-Westlake the Asian American Culture Club, known campus-wide as AACC, meets at the Holmby Hills campus, and current students describe it as the first club many of them ever joined, announced to the whole seventh grade in their opening weeks. That detail says something a demographic figure cannot: the community here is not a senior-year discovery, it is available to a twelve-year-old in month one. Sixty-seven percent of Harvard-Westlake students identify as students of color across a school of 1,627. The Middle School enrolls 743 of them in grades 7 through 9 at 700 North Faring Road, taking roughly 215 students into seventh grade and 90 into ninth. Those two doors hold nearly every seat the school will ever offer.
The Middle School Campus at a Glance
Student Body
67% identify as students of color
Affinity Community
The Asian American Culture Club (AACC) runs at the Middle School, alongside SASA, BLACC, LAHSO, MENASA, JCAAC, and GSA; clubs meet in a 25-minute morning period, most of them weekly
Campus
700 North Faring Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077 (Holmby Hills)
Grades and Enrollment
7 through 9, with 743 students of 1,627 school-wide
Entry Points Here
Grade 7 with roughly 215 spaces, grade 9 with roughly 90
Average Class Size
16 students, at an 8 to 1 student-teacher ratio
School Type
Private, coeducational, college preparatory day school
Testing
Test-optional; only the most recent ISEE scores are considered
Nightly Homework
1.5 to 2.5 hours on average
Applications Open
August 2026
Getting There
School bus service
Academic Context for Applying Families
Harvard-Westlake retired its AP designations in 2025–26 and now lists 58 Honors courses while still offering the AP exams. For families who have been counting AP availability when comparing Los Angeles schools, that metric no longer exists here. The figures below describe graduating seniors, not the bar an applicant must clear.
Academic Context: By the Numbers
Average of Highest ACT Composite
32
Average of Highest SAT Critical Reading
717
Average of Highest SAT Math
726
Honors Courses Offered
58
AP-Designated Courses
None as of 2025–26; AP exams still offered
Faculty Holding Advanced Degrees
76%
Average Nightly Homework
1.5 to 2.5 hours
Departments run across English, history, interdisciplinary studies and independent research, library and information literacy, mathematics, performing arts, physical education, science, visual arts, and world languages.
Openings Across Both Campuses
Grade 7 (Middle School)
Approximately 215 spaces (Primary entry point)
Grade 8 (Middle School)
Attrition only (Rare)
Grade 9 (Middle School)
Approximately 90 new students (Second major entry point)
Grade 10 (Upper School)
Approximately 5 to 10 students (Depends on total school enrollment)
Grades 11 and 12 (Upper School)
Special circumstances only (Such as a family relocating to Los Angeles)
Sports
Baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, cheerleading, cross country, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling
Accredited By
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
Our full guide walks both campuses, every entry point, and the strategy behind each: Harvard-Westlake School Profile.
Middle School Admissions Timeline and Events
Applications Open
August 2026 (Start with the online admission inquiry form)
Information Sessions
Visit the school website for updates (Grade 7 and grade 9 sessions typically run separately)
Campus Visit and Interview
Fall through winter (Roughly 40 minutes, arranged by the admission office)
Timed Writing Exercise
Fall through winter (30 minutes, completed independently)
Application Deadline
Not yet published (Historically late fall to early winter)
Decisions Released
March (Consistent with prior cycles)
Why the Standard Preparation Playbook Misfires at Harvard-Westlake
Across Los Angeles, many Asian American families run a well-established sequence: build the ISEE score, stack the activities, secure the tutoring. Most of it does not transfer here. Harvard-Westlake is test-optional, so the score is no longer the lever it is elsewhere, and a merely decent one submitted anyway can weaken rather than strengthen an application. Activity volume reads poorly against activity depth. What remains is a 40-minute conversation and 30 minutes of unaided writing, both of which measure a child rather than a preparation program. The harder truth in a school that is 67% students of color is that being a strong Asian American student is not a distinguishing profile at Harvard-Westlake. It is the median one.
Top Tips for Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Apply at grade 7 if your child is eligible. It offers more than twice the seats of grade 9 and is the widest door this school has.
- Shift preparation from score-building toward conversation. Your child needs to hold forty minutes with an adult stranger without rehearsing.
- Let one genuine interest run deep rather than assembling six shallow ones, since depth is what the committee reads as real.
- Withhold ISEE scores unless they are a genuine strength. Optional means optional in both directions.
- Do not plan around grade 8. It fills on attrition only, and attrition here is rare.
Best Practices for Families Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Begin in fifth or sixth grade, because the qualities that win a seat are habits rather than a season of coaching.
- Let your child write the student questionnaire unedited. Readers see hundreds and recognise a parent’s sentences immediately.
- Answer parent materials in your own voice, including in imperfect English. A polished uniform tone is more suspicious than an accent.
- Ask about AACC and the affinity groups when you visit, and ask current families rather than the admission office.
- Talk honestly about the homework load with your child before applying, since 1.5 to 2.5 hours a night is a real ask of a seventh grader.
What the Application Asks of Grade 7 and Grade 9 Candidates
- 01Application Steps
- Complete the online admission inquiry form and application
- Complete the student questionnaire
- Schedule a campus visit and interview
- Sit the timed 30-minute writing exercise
- Submit standardized test scores if you choose to (optional)
- Submit teacher recommendation letters
- Submit the administrative recommendation and transcript
- 02Standardized Testing
Harvard-Westlake does not require test results, and if you opt in it will look only at the most recent ISEE. Families used to schools where a high score functions as a gate often submit reflexively. Resist that. Send the score when it is genuinely strong for this applicant pool, and leave it out when it is not, because a modest number gives a committee an easy way to narrow a long list.
- 03Interview and Timed Writing
The interview runs about 40 minutes across academic interests, activities, values, and how your child handles difficulty. The writing exercise gives them 30 minutes and no assistance. In a test-optional process these two carry the decision.
How Cardinal Education Supports Asian American Families
Most of our early work with Asian American families applying to Harvard-Westlake is redirection. The instinct to convert effort into a measurable number is a good instinct that this particular school does not reward, so we move that energy into interview fluency, timed writing under real conditions, and helping a child articulate one interest they actually hold. We also say plainly when a family should be applying at grade 7 rather than waiting, and when the honest answer is that another Los Angeles school is the better fit. For the general Middle School overview, see our main page.
“Thanks to their personalized approach, my daughter gained admission to Harvard-Westlake. I highly recommend Cardinal Education to any student aiming for top-tier schools. When my daughter starts preparing for college admissions, we will definitely work with them again.”— Harvard-Westlake Parent, Cardinal Education Client
Questions Asian American Families Ask About the Middle School
Is there an Asian American community at the Middle School campus?
What percentage of Harvard-Westlake students are Asian American?
Will a high ISEE score get my child into Harvard-Westlake?
Should we apply in grade 7 or wait for grade 9?
Does Harvard-Westlake still offer AP courses?
How demanding is the workload for a seventh grader?
A Final Thought
The families who do best here stop treating admission as a problem to be solved and start treating it as a description of their child to be told accurately. That is a harder discipline than test prep, and at Harvard-Westlake it is the one that counts.
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