Harrow/Eton/Winchester Entry 2027

[Num1]

Hi all,

Just thought I would start a thread for Entry 2027 for the above.

My DS has had the invite for the Harrow Test in Jan 2025, has anyone heard back for Eton or Winchester?

i appreciate its just a waiting game, but am asking out of curiosity.

@vjceqgub just to add to what @easternenergizer says, don't worry too much and focus on what's right for your son. A few years ago I remember one parent of my older son's year group who got rejected from Cranleigh, to their shock as they had been seeing that as a "safety school". Cranleigh, however, rightly thought that this boy wouldn't be a good fit for them as he was very academic so they turned him down, but he got into Westminster and Winchester! It's more about best fit and whether it's the right school for the boy I think.

@Xiaoxiong Thank you for sharing. Your story is a huge relief for us. I won't give up hope and believe the right school will find him. Good luck to everyone!

WC in some respects is harder to get into than Eton or Winchester because there are far fewer places on offer for boy boarders. Half the places go to girls, and then of the other half, maybe 15% will go to day boys. Then subtract places for siblings, foundationers, Eagle House, sports, music, drama and art scholars, and there are not that many places left for everyone else who wants one.

The other factor is that Wellington’s assessment day is very different in style and what they are looking for than the Winchester interview or the Eton Test. It is fairly unlikely that the same child would excel at all three.

Yes totally. They know what they are looking for and what vibes with their school and what doesn't, even if that means turning away candidates for E and W - I really wouldn't say it would be an indicator of likelihood of entry to anywhere else. Good luck. 😊

@Ziegfeld @easternenergizer
Thank you for your insights. That's a huge relief to me.

Re numbers, Wellington says:
We have only 79 boy and 77 girl boarding places and around 20 girl and boy day places. We had over 550 candidates still in the process at this stage.
So actually, it's more fierce than what I expected.

Re vibes, I think Wellington basically wants true all-rounders, and the alpha type pupils would be a mainstream and tend to thrive there.
DS is extravert and chatty, loves learning, and works hard on every subject, but things are he is extremely non sporty and a bit geeky about coding and languages. So, maybe they have had the right decision on him.

By the way, may I ask how much sports are important in Eton/Winchester? Could such a non sporty boy as him thrive or survive there? He doesn't like sports with physical contact such as rugby, but cricket is fine for him and rather likes swimming (of course, less intermediate level, though).
Thank you for your advice!

Hi, i agree that all of these popular boarding schools are looking for the right fit and not to forget that they’re extremely oversubscribed. There aren’t many IB boarding schools and Wellington being one of them is hugely in demand. If your child is sociable and not too much of an introvert, he’s most likely to get a place in one of the boardings on your list.

Your DS can have his own interest as long as he’s able to talk about it passionately. If he has some interest outside his books, its enough for them to gauge a well rounded personality. These colleges are doing wonderful things with olympiads and societies and I’m certain that they need all types of boys. I have friends who are non sporty in WinCol/Eton and they’re absolutely thriving and enjoying their time.

Thank you for your comment.
We've got
CLS - Waitlisted
Eton/Winchester - Interviewed
Wellington - Waitlisted
Charterhouse - Offered
but maybe no hope for CLS.
So, we really need E/W since I think he'll be better at boy's school.
Good luck to everyone!

Congratulations on getting charterhouse. They are amazing at sports. Waitlisted spots move quite quickly. Parents tend to hold offers from more than one college and eventually have to make up their mind on one.
We are also awaiting to hear back from Wincoll/harrow/Eton

Good Luck to you and your DS.

Absolutely. Good luck to us.

Hi,

We have now got a slightly better picture as well:

Eton - waiting final decision w/c 24th March
Harrow - Waiting final decision end of April
Radley - offer
Tonbridge - offer
Marlborough - awaiting decision maybe end of March.

DS is hoping for Eton/Harrow, but lets see. WinColl and Westminster were rejections at ISEB stage, so each school seems to have different approaches to what type of boy they want.

best of luck everyone.

Hi, there are some great options there already. What does awaiting final offer for Harrow mean? We were under the impression that all offers from Harrow will be sent out early May or end April, so not updates as yet since the Harrow Test date?

Congratulations to you and your DS for multiple offers from all excellent schools! Re Eton, we might be in the same tranche. Fingers crossed to have good news for both of us!

Hi All,

Best of luck for your DS Eton results for everyone in this tranche and beyond!

Also, Marlborough have now offered a place for DS.

I note that Radley have given a deadline of 4th April 2025 for the acceptance of offer, despite Harrow’s deadline of end of April beginning of May. A way of earning some income, maybe?

Anyways, best of luck!

hi there,

I haven't heard anything yet, have you?

I'm sorry but I had a wrong idea about tranche and dates. My DS is in tranche 2 and the results will be announced after Easter Holidays, w/c 5th May. Best of luck to you and your DS!

No probs. Thank you and best of luck as well!

Eton tranche 1 results are out, good news for us. The anxious wait is finally over, and I hope everyone else on here in tranche 1 had a yes too. Finally time to stop checking the inbox

Congratulations! Is Eton your first choice?

Thank you! We didn’t want to think too much in terms of first or second choice when we toured and later applied to schools, as we didn’t want to get too attached to any of them. We tried to apply only to schools where we would be happy to receive an offer. That still stands but this is the first result for us, with the other schools to follow later this spring, so we are really happy. We had a lot of bad luck around the time of the ISEB and later the school interviews/exams (severe illness, death of a beloved family pet) so we honestly thought we’d be lucky if he got a place on some of the waitlists. He is not a consistent test taker so to speak so we never knew what to expect.

Congratulation KItKat,

This is fantastic news!

BTW when do the Harrow & Winchester results come out?

Thanks

Re Winchester, usually after May Bank Holiday, I think.
Not sure about Harrow because we didn't apply. Good luck!

Harrow is beginning of May, poss end April.

Hi please can i contact you privately ?

Harrow positive results are out.