4 Steps to Applying to Boston Exam Schools

If you’re hoping to send your child to one of the Boston Exam Schools, then it’s already time to start preparing their applications. There are four parts of the application process you should make sure to follow:

1. Confirm that you live in Boston.

This step is ONLY NECESSARY IF your child is enrolled in a school outside of the Boston Public School system.

2. Take the ISEE.

The biggest part of the application for your child to take care of asap is to take the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE). The full ISEE includes an essay section that is NOT necessary if your child will only be applying to the three Boston Latin schools, but IS necessary if they will be applying to other schools as well.

Boston Exam School applicants must take the November ISEE test, and must register for the test no later than September. You can pick up registration materials the second week of September from any Boston area school, BPS Welcome Center, or Boston Public Library.

Boston Tutoring Services offers tutoring lessons for the ISEE. Our students typically score between the 80th and 99th percentiles on their exams, making vast improvements over the initial practice test. Click here to learn more about the lessons we offer.

3. Rank the Boston Exam Schools by your preference.

As part of the Candidate Release Form described above, you will need to submit a preference ranking for admittance into the three schools. The three Boston Exam Schools (Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, and John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science) accept students in the 7th and 9th grades. Of the three, only the John D. O’Bryant School accepts 10th graders as well. You can apply your child for just one, two, or all three of the schools.

4. Submit your grades. 

It’s not just your child’s performance on the ISEE that counts.

In addition to their scores on the ISEE, the Boston Exam School Admissions Office will evaluate applicants based on their grades. They will share a Candidate Release Form in early January through which schools will report student grades and ranking of Exam School choices. Your child’s school must return this form to the admissions office by February 1st.

Now’s as good a time as any to be thinking about where your child should attend school. Click on the links below to help your child decide which schools will be best for them:

• Boston Latin Academy
• Boston Latin School 
• John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science 

If you need more information about the Boston Exam School application process, you can visit their website.

Best of luck to you and your child!