Admission Process

To get started, please complete the admission inquiry form at your earliest convenience. The admission inquiry form is required before visiting Harvard-Westlake.

Log in to your online application by entering your username and password. If you do not yet have a username and password, please submit an admission inquiry form. You will then receive a PIN code, beginning August 24, 2023 for applicants applying for the 2024-2025 school year, that will allow you to create a username and password.

Visit our Visit Harvard-Westlake page for information on ways to visit, on campus and virtual events, and interviews.

We use the Harvard-Westlake Writing Exercise to learn more about applicants and their ability to write clearly. It is a required, 30-minute timed response to a question or prompt to be completed by all applicants within the online application. Please note that the writing exercise is meant to represent the applicant’s writing proficiency and should be completed exclusively by the applicant without help from parents, guardians, or other adults.

Once an applicant submits their Application for Admission and application fee, or fee waiver, students will have access to the exercise to complete when they choose. No preparation is needed. Applicants will have access to complete the exercise one time only, and must be completed by the application deadline on January 12, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. PST. 

As a reminder, regardless of whether an applicant chooses to submit ISEE scores, the writing exercise is a requirement for all applicants to Harvard-Westlake.

Harvard-Westlake has always been committed to a holistic admission process, with the Admission Committee considering all aspects of an application file. With that in mind, Harvard-Westlake is continuing our test-optional policy for applicants applying in the 2023-2024 admission cycle for Fall entry 2024. This means that standardized test scores are not required, though applicants may still choose to submit them. Test scores have always been just one of the factors we consider in gaining a clearer academic picture of each applicant. They provide an opportunity to present a student’s academic potential and preparedness, but this potential can also be represented in other parts of the application. We will not make any assumptions as to why some students may choose to submit a test score and some don't. There will be no penalty for choosing not to submit scores, and applicants who do not submit scores will not be disadvantaged in any way in our admission process. 

For students who choose to submit ISEE scores as part of their application, score reports must be submitted from tests taken between August 1, 2023 and January 12, 2024. You can register on the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) website, www.erblearn.org, and list Harvard-Westlake as a score recipient. Our school code is 052135.

For students who do take the ISEE, we recommend taking it only once. Per our policy, we will accept and review only one score report as part of the application. If the ISEE has been taken more than once, please be in contact with our office to share which test date score report you would like the committee to consider. If we do not hear from you by the application deadline, we will evaluate the score report with the test date closest to our application deadline.

We do not recommend special preparation or tutoring for the ISEE.

Students can take the test at any test site, or ISEE Online At Home. ERB will provide test results directly to parents/guardians after the test is taken. The cost for the test and information about fee waivers are available on the ERB website.

Important ISEE Information

Harvard-Westlake has historically hosted a sitting of the ISEE on campus. However, we will not be offering an on-campus test during the 2023-2024 admission cycle.

For information regarding alternative test sites, please contact ERB directly at:
800-446-0320
www.erblearn.org

You may have scores sent from any test site to Harvard-Westlake via our school code: 052135

To learn more or apply for Financial Aid, please visit Financial Aid.