Harvard-Westlake Upper School Admissions for Asian American Families
Tenth grade entry in Studio City, where roughly five to ten outside students join a class that has been together since seventh grade.
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As Seen On
About the School
Asian American Students at Harvard-Westlake Upper School
Asian Students in Action, known as ASiA, is the Upper School’s Asian American affinity organization, and it functions as more than a social space. Its student leaders sit in biweekly diversity and inclusion leadership meetings, help plan all-school discussions on race and identity, and have produced school-wide programming on cultural traditions across Asia. The South Asian Student Alliance operates beside it with its own elected leadership. For a family weighing a tenth grade transfer, this matters practically: your child would be joining an existing student-run structure rather than founding one. The Upper School enrolls 884 students in grades 10 through 12 at 3700 Coldwater Canyon Avenue, and 67% of Harvard-Westlake students school-wide identify as students of color.
The Upper School Campus at a Glance
Affinity Community
Asian Students in Action (ASiA) and the South Asian Student Alliance (SASA), both student-led, with leaders represented in school diversity and inclusion governance
Student Body
67% identify as students of color
Campus
3700 Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604
Grades and Enrollment
10 through 12, with 884 students of 1,627 school-wide
External Entry
Grade 10 only, roughly 5 to 10 students annually
Average Class Size
16 students
Student-Teacher Ratio
8 to 1
Curriculum
58 Honors courses; AP designations retired in 2025–26, AP exams still offered
Average of Highest ACT Composite
32
Average of Highest SAT Critical Reading
717
Average of Highest SAT Math
726
Testing Policy
Test-optional; most recent ISEE scores only
Applications Open
August 2026
Getting There
School bus service
Academic Context
A transferring tenth grader arrives into a curriculum with no AP labels on it. Harvard-Westlake dropped those designations in 2025–26 in favor of 58 Honors courses and still administers the exams. Families who have been tracking AP counts as a proxy for rigor will need a different frame, and so will your child in the interview.
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 cover 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 at Each Entry Point?
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)
Athletics and Accreditation
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)
The complete guide covers both campuses, all entry points, and student life in depth.
Upper School Admissions Timeline and Events
Applications open in August 2026.
Applications Open
August 2026 (Begin with the online admission inquiry form)
Information Sessions
Visit the school website for updates (Studio City campus)
Campus Visit and Interview
Fall through winter (Approximately 40 minutes)
Timed Writing Exercise
Fall through winter (30 minutes, unassisted)
Application Deadline
Not yet published (Historically late fall to early winter)
Decisions Released
March (Consistent with prior cycles)
What a Tenth Grade Transfer Actually Requires
Start with the arithmetic, because it governs everything else. Five to ten outside places against applicants drawn from every strong school in Los Angeles, plus relocating families from across the country and abroad. At that ratio the committee is not filtering out weak candidates. Every serious applicant is qualified. It is choosing which one or two additions a cohesive class that has been together since seventh grade actually needs. Academic excellence answers none of that, and in a student body where 67% identify as students of color, neither does a strong Asian American academic profile on its own. What can answer it is a specific, evidenced thing your child does that this class does not currently have.
The Grade 10 Application, Component by Component
Top Tips for Applying to Harvard-Westlake as Asian American
- Name your child’s distinguishing strength in the first thirty seconds of the interview and evidence it for the rest.
- If you are relocating to Los Angeles, state that plainly and early, since it is the circumstance the school explicitly recognizes for later grades.
- Have your current school explain its grading in the administrative recommendation, which matters especially for transcripts from outside the United States.
- Submit ISEE scores only when exceptional. At this seat count a respectable score changes nothing and a soft one costs you.
- Apply seriously elsewhere. Making Harvard-Westlake the plan rather than one option is a strategic mistake at these odds.
Best Practices for Asian American Families Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Tell your child the real numbers before they invest emotionally, so a rejection reads as capacity rather than judgment.
- Think carefully about the social reality of joining an established cohort in tenth grade, and expect the committee to raise it.
- Visit Studio City in person rather than relying on reputation, so your child can name what they want from this campus specifically.
- Ask ASiA or SASA students about the community if affinity structure matters to your family, rather than relying on the admission office’s summary.
- If your child is younger than tenth grade, redirect entirely and apply at grade 7 or 9 instead.
- 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
Testing is optional and only the latest ISEE results are read. The calculation is tighter for a transfer applicant than for a seventh grader. With a handful of places available, an adequate score contributes nothing the rest of your application does not already establish, while a weak one gives a committee working through a long list an efficient reason to stop reading.
- 03Interview and Timed Writing
A roughly 40-minute interview and a 30-minute independent writing exercise. For transfer candidates the interview does the heaviest lifting of any component, because the question the school is answering is one only a conversation can settle.
How Cardinal Education Supports Asian American Families
At Cardinal Education, we start by telling you the odds, which some families find unwelcome and all of them deserve. Where an application is genuinely worth making, our work narrows to one question: what does your child bring that this class does not already contain, and how does a 40-minute interview make that undeniable. We work often with families relocating to Los Angeles, including from overseas, where the additional task is translating an unfamiliar transcript and school context into terms an American admission committee reads correctly. When the answer is that another Los Angeles school is the better outcome, we say so. Families of younger children should read our Middle School guidance instead, since grades 7 and 9 hold nearly all the seats.
“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
What Asian American affinity groups exist at the Upper School?
How many outside students join the Upper School each year?
What proportion of Harvard-Westlake students are Asian American?
We are relocating to Los Angeles. Does that help our application?
Is a strong academic record enough to transfer in?
Should we wait and apply in eleventh grade instead?
A tenth grade transfer to Harvard-Westlake is a long shot for nearly every family who attempts one, and it can still be worth attempting. What it should not be is the whole plan. Go in with clear numbers and your child finishes the process intact whichever way it lands.
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