Many congratulations to you and DS, Gho, for securing a conditional Eton offer. For now, this is as good as gold because in the past few years all 100 percent of conditional offer holders had gone on to secure their places permanently. A testament to Eton’s selection skill and accuracy - a quick computer test and a short interview and all’s done and over with. No messing about and wasting both the school’s and the boys/parents’ time.
This is quite unlike a certain school on the hill in north London now requiring new boys to sit three, four or maybe five tests over a period of time before the school can make their mind up who to offer. It is not as if this particular school is the greatest school on earth.
Or another school in a cathedral town somewhere in the south of England requiring boys to spend three days and two nights with the housemaster so that he can size the boy up from head to toe before he decides whether the boy is allowed into his house or not. And apparently, if all goes ‘well’, the boy is then betrothed to this one single individual of a housemaster who would then have a substantial influence over your lad for the rest of his career at the school and quite possibly for the rest of his life. And you are paying up to a £¼ million for this ‘privilege’. Besides being utterly ridiculous, in my mind this selection process is also most unhealthy - your vulnerable 13-year-old boy being indoctrinated by just one individual!
I can confirm Eton housemasters do take in more than one boy from the same prep school in the same cohort. I’m not sure they even know or care which prep school(s) their boys come from. An Eton housemaster is more interested in the character and personality of the boy that he wants to admit and not the character of the prep school. So which prep school a boy comes from is totally irrelevant.
But really, OP, you shouldn’t be losing sleep over which house your son may or may not go to. Just rejoice in the fact that your son is going to Eton and the whole world envies his good fortune. According to my son (who left Eton four years ago), the Oppidan houses are “all the same” and I would tend to agree with him. Paying parents i.e. non-scholarship boys and non-bursary holders, pay exactly the same money and therefore, Eton in its established wisdom goes out of its way to make absolutely sure that all boys at the school enjoy the same facilities and services offered by the school with the exception of College and its 70 King’s Scholars which is the core of the foundation.
Talking of which, consider my son’s case when he first entered Eton. There was no option for him in choosing a house/housemaster of preference. It’s College, take it or leave it. The Master-in-College (housemaster) at the time was a newly appointed woman! - the first and only female housemaster in Eton’s 5¾ century history. The contrast between my son and his housemaster couldn’t be more to the extreme. It’s chalk and cheese!
My son is a natural sportsman, a big lad and already a six-footer on first entering Eton. Interested in science and medicine (though he’s equally good at the humanities e.g. a dozen A*s I/GCSE including modern and ancient languages), plays the piano and guitar besides sports and swimming, loves the outdoor life and travels widely.
Lady Housemaster on the other hand, is petite, not known to be musical or play any sports. A young mother with small kids and therefore, homely. A professor in American History at Eton and non-scientific. All told, a far cry from DS’s dashing outdoor activities and academic/career interest. The last housemaster to suit DS, one might add.
And, did this spell disaster for DS? Well, it would be if DS was in that cathedral town school south of England where the housemaster and his pupil are inseparable.
But seriously, No! this unusual association between housemaster and my son, Eton style, did not prevent DS from achieving everything that he had set out to achieve. In spite of the glaring differences in their career paths and academic interests, it did not scupper DS’s chances of entering medical school. On the contrary, the whole experience at Eton has helped him breeze through four years at med school and hopefully in a couple of years time he would graduate a fully qualified doctor.
Because it is Eton, all doors throughout the school’s vast network of human and material resources remained open and accessible almost 24/7! . What Lady Housemaster was unable to help, there was always in the first instance, the Deputy Housemaster (male) on stand-by. And whatever Deputy couldn’t help, there would be another 150 or so professionals of all disciplines on Eton’s payroll in the vicinity. Within 24 hours (or less) your son would be in consultation with the appropriate expert(s) talking about his problems and more often than not, getting a solution.
In summary, except for College, there is really no difference between the 24 Oppidan houses. If your son is sporty it may make sense to opt for a house nearer to the playing fields because after a tiring match (and there would be many) a short walk back to your house/room is most welcome. The nearest one other than College is The Timbralls.
Then there is the question of whether your son prefers eating his meals at Bekynton (school canteen) or in-house. Generally speaking, houses located near Bekynton eat at Bekynton e.g. Keate, Hawtrey, Waynflete, Mustians but not Walpole which is literally next to Bekynton.
In my opinion, the best Oppidan houses would be those situated along the front end of Common Lane e.g. Manor, Common Lane, The Hopgarden, Warre but no further than Penn. These houses are located by the side of the road - ideal for a quick getaway during half-term etc. and are also near to the various study schools and obviously great for attending divs and other lessons. They are also close to the school library and relatively near to the playing fields.
However, there is a brand new block, the Bekynton Field Complex consisting of 40 or so classrooms that opened a few months ago and I believe many lessons would now take place there.
I hope this helps in your final decision in selecting a house and whichever house you select would not be a wrong one and your son’s five years at Eton will be one of the very best periods and most enjoyable in his life and probably yours too. Good luck!