Cardinal Education is an independent educational consulting company. We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with any public or private school.
Both campuses, all five entry points, and an honest account of what each one actually requires.
Speak with an Admissions Expert
Quick Answer for Busy Parents
Harvard-Westlake is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school enrolling 1,627 students in grades 7 through 12 across two Los Angeles campuses: the Middle School in Holmby Hills for grades 7 through 9, and the Upper School in Studio City for grades 10 through 12. Admission is concentrated at grade 7, with roughly 215 spaces, and grade 9, with roughly 90. Grade 10 admits about five to ten students, and grades 8, 11, and 12 open only on attrition or relocation. The school is test-optional and accepts only the most recent ISEE scores. Every applicant completes an online application, a student questionnaire, a 40-minute interview, and a 30-minute timed writing exercise. Apply as early as your child is eligible.
Why Do Families Choose Harvard-Westlake?
Harvard-Westlake is the product of a 1991 merger between the Harvard School for Boys, founded in 1900, and the Westlake School for Girls, established in 1904, and it has spent the decades since becoming the default answer to what the best college preparatory school in Los Angeles is. Niche ranked it first among 165 college preparatory private high schools in the Los Angeles area for 2026 and first for STEM among 512 area high schools, second among 389 college prep private schools statewide. Families come for the academic ceiling, the 16-student average class, and an alumni list that runs from Shirley Temple to Jake Gyllenhaal. They stay because the school takes character formation as seriously as it takes calculus, which is the part that outlasts the transcript.
Harvard-Westlake at a Glance
| Measure | Figure |
| Total enrollment | 1,627 (743 Middle School, 884 Upper School) |
| Grades served | 7–9 in Holmby Hills; 10–12 in Studio City |
| Average class size | 16 students |
| Student-teacher ratio | 8 to 1 |
| Student body | 67% identify as students of color |
| Accreditation | Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) |
| Transportation | School bus service |
| Applications open | August 2026 |
Academic Profile
| Measure | Figure |
| 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 span English, history, interdisciplinary studies and independent research, library and information literacy, mathematics, performing arts, physical education, science, visual arts, and world languages. The Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research department works alongside the others to give students research and immersion opportunities outside the standard catalogue.
How Hard Is It to Get Into Harvard-Westlake?
Harvard-Westlake does not publish an acceptance rate, so any figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate. What the school does publish is more useful: the number of seats at each entry point. Those numbers, rather than a rate, are what should shape your strategy.
| Entry Point | Approximate Openings | Notes |
| 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 |
The pattern is unambiguous. Grade 7 offers more places than every other entry point combined, and each subsequent door narrows sharply. Families weighing whether to apply now or later are almost always better served by applying now. Peer schools Los Angeles families typically consider alongside Harvard-Westlake include Marlborough, Polytechnic, Flintridge Preparatory, and Sierra Canyon.
Top Tips for Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Apply at the earliest entry point your child is eligible for, since the seats shrink at every subsequent one.
- Build the application around one clear intellectual or creative through-line rather than breadth.
- Prepare deliberately for the interview and the timed writing exercise, which carry disproportionate weight in a test-optional process.
- Submit ISEE scores only when they are genuinely strong.
- Ask recommenders for specifics, since a detailed letter beats an enthusiastic vague one.
Best Practices for Families Applying to Harvard-Westlake
- Begin a year or more before you apply, because the qualities this application rewards are habits rather than preparation.
- Let your child write their own materials, in their own register.
- Visit the specific campus your child would attend, since Holmby Hills and Studio City are different places.
- Discuss the 1.5 to 2.5 hour nightly homework load honestly before applying.
- Build a real list of second choices, because strong applicants are turned away here for reasons of capacity.
Questions About Selectivity
What is the Harvard-Westlake acceptance rate?
The school does not disclose it. Rather than rely on an estimate, work from the published seat counts: roughly 215 at grade 7, 90 at grade 9, and 5 to 10 at grade 10.
Does Harvard-Westlake rank its students?
No. The school does not rank students, which is consistent with its 2025–26 decision to retire AP course designations while continuing to offer the exams.
The Harvard-Westlake Admission Process, Step by Step
- 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
Harvard-Westlake Admissions Calendar and Key Dates
Applications open in August 2026. Harvard-Westlake has not yet published this cycle’s deadline or its fall information session dates, so the table below marks those as pending rather than guessing at them. Check the admission office calendar once applications open.
| Milestone | Timing | Notes |
| Applications open | August 2026 | Begin with the online admission inquiry form |
| Information sessions | Visit the school website for updates | Typically held separately for grade 7 and grade 9 applicants |
| Campus visits and interviews | Fall through winter | Scheduled through the admission office |
| Timed writing exercise | Fall through winter | 30 minutes, completed independently |
| Application deadline | Visit the school website for updates | Historically late fall to early winter |
| Admissions decisions released | March | Consistent with prior cycles |
Harvard-Westlake Application Requirements
Standardized 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.
The Interview
The interview runs approximately 40 minutes and explores academic interests, activities, personal values, and how a student approaches difficulty. Strong interviews are conversational rather than rehearsed. Because the school is test-optional, the interview carries more weight here than it would at a school with a required score.
The Timed Writing Exercise
A 30-minute writing exercise completed without assistance. It measures whether a student can take a position and support it under time pressure, which is a different skill from producing a polished essay over several weeks.
Recommendations and Transcript
| Component | Who Provides It | What Makes It Strong |
| Teacher recommendations | Current subject teachers | Specific classroom evidence of engagement, work ethic, and growth over time |
| Administrative recommendation | A current school administrator | Context on the school’s grading, rigor, and the student’s standing within it |
| Transcript | Current school | A consistent record with appropriately challenging coursework |
Not Sure Which Entry Point Fits Your Family?
A consultant can map your child’s timeline against the grade 7, 9, and 10 openings and tell you honestly where the odds sit.
Questions About the Curriculum Change
Why did Harvard-Westlake drop AP courses?
Beginning in 2025–26 the school stopped designating courses as AP while continuing to offer AP exams, replacing them with 58 Honors courses. Schools making this change generally cite freedom to teach beyond a standardized syllabus. For applicants it means the school will listen for what your child studied and why, not how many AP labels they accumulated.
Will the change affect college admissions for Harvard-Westlake students?
Selective colleges evaluate rigor in the context of what each school offers, and Harvard-Westlake documents its curriculum in the school profile it sends to admissions offices. Students can still sit AP exams. Recent graduating classes have averaged a 32 ACT composite and SAT section averages of 717 and 726.
Student Life at Harvard-Westlake
Academics
Beyond the core departments, the Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research program gives students access to methods and questions outside conventional subject boundaries, working in partnership with other departments on research and extended independent study. Global education programs and experiential learning are built into the curriculum rather than bolted on.
Activities
Students run speech and debate, student government, and a robust student media operation including The Chronicle newspaper and the Vox Populi yearbook. The school maintains affinity groups and diversity programming, sends students on the Civil Rights Trip and to the Pollyanna Conference, and runs the Humans of Harvard-Westlake storytelling project. Traditions include homecoming, Spring Festival, Senior Ceremony, Senior Transition Day, the Senior Walk, and the Upper School’s year-end Big Bear retreat.
Athletics
Harvard-Westlake competes in the CIF Southern Section Mission League as the Wolverines, organizing its program around what it calls B.E.S.T. principles: balance, excellence, sportsmanship, and teamwork. Sports include 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. Niche placed the school 20th of 664 for athletics in the Los Angeles area in 2026.
Arts
The arts program spans dance, music, drama, painting, sculpture, and film, and the Upper School campus includes a glass-blowing studio alongside its performing arts facilities. The department emphasizes technique, cultural awareness, and exploration rather than performance for its own sake.
Summer Programs
Harvard-Westlake runs summer offerings across both campuses. Specific programs and registration dates vary year to year, so check the school’s summer page directly rather than relying on last year’s catalogue.
Notable Harvard-Westlake Alumni
- Jake Gyllenhaal: an award-winning actor nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
- Lily Collins: an actress nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress
- Shirley Temple: the Hollywood child star who later served as US Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and as Chief of Protocol of the United States
- Jason Collins: a retired professional basketball player who played 13 seasons in the NBA
- Ben Sherwood: a writer and journalist who served as co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of ABC News
- Jessica Yellin: Chief White House Correspondent for CNN from 2011 to 2013
- Jason Segel: an actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer
- Mark Harmon: an actor best known for his lead role in NCIS
- Billie Lourd: an actress known for the Fox series Scream Queens
- Danica McKellar: an actress, mathematics writer, and education advocate
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
A Final Word for Harvard-Westlake Families
The single most consequential decision in a Harvard-Westlake application is not how you prepare. It is when you apply. Grade 7 holds more places than every other entry point combined, and each year you wait the door narrows. Everything else, the interview coaching and the writing practice and the recommendation strategy, operates inside that arithmetic. Understand it early and you give your child their best real chance.
Start the Conversation
Speak with a Cardinal Education consultant about your child’s Harvard-Westlake application.
Related Articles
- Private School Admissions: Understanding What Schools Look for in Applicants
- How to Create a Winning Private School Application Portfolio
- When is the Best Time to Start the Private School Admissions Process?
Applying to a specific campus? See our Harvard-Westlake Middle School page for grades 7 and 9, or our Upper School page for grade 10 entry.