I believe the school works very hard at ensuring that students entering the school will be a good fit and will be successful there. As such, the admissions process for the upper school is multi-faceted. It includes a detailed application form, an entrance exam and an interview. While this might sound somewhat daunting, the admissions directors and their staff are all very well suited for their roles, and go to great lengths to help ease the stress of the process as much as possible. This was particularly evident during our interview and our daughter's interview with Ms. Houston-White. She made all of us feel quite comfortable and she was able to answer any questions we had about the school, its values, the student body and the curriculum. Ms. Houston-White and her staff were particularly helpful at providing us with any information we required when it came time for us to make the difficult decision of which school to select of the ones which made admission offers to our daughter. I would advise anyone planning to apply for admission to go to the open house, go tour the school separately to see classes in session and the facilities, and try to speak to parents of current students to get a good understanding of what one can expect if their daughter goes to Havergal. As well, don't hesitate to contact the admissions personnel at the school with any questions you have, as they are very approachable and very responsive to any inquiries.
The only stress in the application process surrounded writing the SSATs. These standardizes tests are very difficult for many young children and I believe it to be unnecessarily so. I am not sure if Havergal still requires the SSATs but if so, I would encourage parents to seek tutoring well in advance of the application process to minimize stress on those students applying. Otherwise, it was all very smooth. We came in for a tour which was led by a Senior School student who clearly loved her experience. There were parents who volunteered to meet with new families and called to help familiarize us and answer any questions. Maggie Houston-White who is the head of admissions is really attentive to new families and organizes events and communications to help with the transition.
