Harvard-Westlake Middle School Admissions Consulting
Independent guidance for families applying to grades 7 and 9 at the Holmby Hills campus, where nearly every Harvard-Westlake seat is filled.
Cardinal Education is an independent educational consulting company. We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with any private or public school, including Harvard-Westlake School.
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About the School
About Harvard-Westlake Middle School
Harvard-Westlake Middle School enrolls 743 students in grades 7 through 9 at 700 North Faring Road in Holmby Hills, on the former Westlake School for Girls campus. It is the front door to Harvard-Westlake. Roughly 215 students enter in seventh grade and another 90 join in ninth, which together account for almost every seat the school will ever offer, since only five to ten students are admitted at the Upper School in tenth grade. Founded through the 1991 merger of the Harvard School for Boys, established 1900, and the Westlake School for Girls, established 1904, the school runs on a 16-student average class and an 8 to 1 student-teacher ratio. For most Los Angeles families, the Middle School is not an alternative to the Upper School. It is the way in.
Harvard-Westlake Middle School Fast Facts
Campus
700 North Faring Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077 (Holmby Hills)
Grades Served
7 through 9
Middle School Enrollment
743 students, of 1,627 across both campuses
School Type
Private, coeducational, college preparatory day school
Average Class Size
16 students
Student-Teacher Ratio
8 to 1
Student Body
67% identify as students of color
Primary Entry Points
Grade 7 (~215 spaces) and Grade 9 (~90 new students)
Nightly Homework
1.5 to 2.5 hours on average
Applications Open
August 2026
Testing
Test-optional; only the most recent ISEE scores are accepted if submitted
Transportation
School bus service
Academic Profile
Harvard-Westlake stopped designating AP courses in the 2025–26 school year while continuing to offer the exams themselves, and now carries 58 Honors courses instead. Middle School students are not taking those courses yet, but the change matters at application time because it tells you what the school is optimizing for: depth over label-collecting. The score data below describes graduating seniors, not applicants.
Academic Profile: 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
Academic departments span English, history, interdisciplinary studies and independent research, library and information literacy, mathematics, performing arts, physical education, science, visual arts, and world languages.
How Many Get Accepted Each Year?
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 Offered
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
Accreditation
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
For the full picture of curriculum, student life, athletics, and admissions strategy across both campuses, read our complete Harvard-Westlake admissions guide.
Harvard-Westlake Middle School Admissions Timeline and Events
Applications Open
August 2026 (Begin with the online admission inquiry form)
Information Sessions and Campus Visits
Visit the school website for updates (Sessions are typically held separately for grade 7 and grade 9 applicants)
Application Deadline
Visit the school website for updates (Historically falls in the late fall to early winter window)
Interviews and Timed Writing Exercise
Late fall through winter (Scheduled through the admission office)
Admissions Decisions Released
March (Consistent with prior cycles)
What Makes Harvard-Westlake Middle School Admissions Unique?
There are two entry points, two very different competitions. Grade 7 draws from Los Angeles elementary schools and turns on a ten-year-old’s classroom presence, curiosity, and teacher recommendations, with no meaningful track record to point at. Grade 9 draws from families whose children have two more years of grades, activities, and self-possession, competing for fewer than half as many seats. The school is test-optional at both, which sounds relaxing and is not: removing the score removes the one place a strong applicant could compensate for a thin interview. The 30-minute timed writing exercise and the 40-minute interview carry the weight instead.
Top Tips for Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Apply at grade 7 if your child is age-eligible. It offers more than twice the seats of grade 9 and is the least competitive door Harvard-Westlake has.
- Prepare your child for the timed writing exercise as a thinking task, not a grammar test. Thirty minutes rewards a clear position, not decoration.
- Ask teachers for recommendations early and give them something specific to write about, since a detailed letter outweighs a glowing generic one.
- Only submit ISEE scores if they are genuinely strong. Test-optional cuts both ways.
- Treat grade 8 as effectively closed. It admits on attrition, which is rare, so it is not a fallback plan.
Best Practices for Families Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Start in fifth or sixth grade if you are aiming at grade 7. The application rewards habits, not a season of preparation.
- Let your child answer their own questionnaire. Admissions readers see hundreds of these and can tell when a parent held the pen.
- Visit the Holmby Hills campus specifically. It is a different place from Studio City, and your child should be able to say why they want this one.
- Be honest about the homework load. At 1.5 to 2.5 hours a night, Harvard-Westlake asks a lot of a twelve-year-old, and that suits some children and not others.
- Have a real second choice. With this few seats, a strong applicant can be turned down for reasons that have nothing to do with merit.
What the Harvard-Westlake Middle School Application Requires
- 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 is test-optional and does not require standardized test results. If you do submit, only the most recent ISEE scores are accepted. Test-optional means what it says: a genuinely strong score can help distinguish an applicant in a pool where nearly everyone has strong grades, and a middling one gives the committee a reason to hesitate. Decide based on the score your child actually has, not on the assumption that submitting something is always better than submitting nothing.
- 03Interview and Timed Writing
The interview runs for approximately 40 minutes and covers academic interests, activities, values, and how your child handles difficulty. The timed writing exercise runs 30 minutes and is completed without assistance. Both are weighted heavily in a test-optional process.
How Cardinal Education Helps Middle School Applicants
Preparing a sixth grader is different work from preparing a ninth grader, and we do not run the same playbook on both. For grade 7 applicants the job is largely developmental: helping a child become someone who can hold a real conversation with an adult stranger and write a clear paragraph under time pressure. For grade 9 applicants there is an actual record to shape, and the work shifts toward positioning and interview precision. We also tell families plainly when the odds are long, because at 215 and 90 seats they frequently are, and a family who understands that applies better and copes better. Applying to tenth grade instead? See our Upper School 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
Frequently Asked Questions About Harvard-Westlake Middle School Admissions
How many students does Harvard-Westlake admit in seventh grade?
Should we apply in grade 7 or grade 9?
Does Harvard-Westlake Middle School require the ISEE?
How big is the Asian American population at Harvard-Westlake?
Which campus is the Middle School on?
How much homework should we expect?
A Final Word on Fit
The families who do best here start early and stay honest with themselves about fit. Harvard-Westlake is an extraordinary school and it is not the right one for every strong student, and knowing the difference is worth more than any application tactic.
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