Winchester College Entry 2025 - results

[SW1Pmum]

Anyone knows when do we expect results to be sent out?
My son had an interview in mid January and I’m excited to hear from them.
Don’t want to chase the school 😉 so I was wondering for any advice here
Thank you

@SW1Pmum, not until late April/early May in our experience.

You may already be aware, but there are 4 possible outcomes - an offer of a place in the house your DS applied to, an offer of a place at the school but not yet allocated to a house (called a General Place), waiting list, or a no.

General Place holders are offered a place in a specific house as and when a space become available, and they only go to WL if there are unfilled spaces after all General Place holders have been allocated to a house (which sometimes isn't until after Election and entrance exams in the summer term of Y8).

I was told this would be in May.

Thank you for your quick respond! Much appreciated.
That's what I thought (early May) but my husband says end of Feb or early March.
Eton is week commencing 20th March so I hoped DH was right.

On another topic:
Did they give you any indication of how it went at the end of the interview?
We got a really nice feedback and hint that DC will not be a "no" case.
So I'm hoping this was not just a courtesy from the housemaster as Winchester is our first choice.

Wishing all of you who are waiting for their results all the best

That’s a really positive sign that the house master gave you a positive hint. Ours In fact he told us boarding isn’t for everyone which I’ve now dissected it to mean he is trying to tell us to prepare ourselves for a rejection. I don’t think they would tell you positive things out of courtesy.

Hi everyone. I am wondering why Winchester is your top choice? It is ours too among the boarding schools but recently I have pretty much only read negative comments here given the transition, new head, girls, day students, that I am starting to wonder if we are not crazy to have this as our favourite school.

Winchester is our first choice too.
I wonder how anyone can spread bad comments about the changes that haven't happened yet? Sad 😢 how people just like to rock the boat.
Truly that makes us question our choices.
I'm trying to tell myself - everything changes in life. Even boys who join change characters over years and therefore the school vibe changes. There is no guarantee ever that this will work for us but that's the risk we are willing to take 🤞

there is no perfect school, and 2 students going to the same school and even in the same class can have such different experiences. It’s helpful to hear both positive and negative stories for a balanced view of any school.

@WilsonGick do you know how the GPs are allocated to a house? Is it a random order? I found it very confusing to choose a house so early on and my son has interviewed for a GP. And how do you know if you get a "good house"? I understand that it makes all the difference but I have no idea on what basis to make an ex ante assessment.

I heard that it will be the registrar who allocates the house places for general place holders

@RaspberryCake, General Place holders seem to be offered spaces as and when they become available. There are a few crunch points where spaces tend to come up, e.g. when the deposit becomes due in the autumn of Y8, or after Election when some boys give up house places to be in College. The registrar did warn GP holders that it can take until the end of the Y8 summer term to find everyone a place, though luckily we didn't have to wait that long. My understanding is that when a space comes up in a house, the registrar recommends boys that might be a good fit to the housemaster, but it is the housemaster who then decides whether to offer the space or not.

We made a point of chatting to different housemasters at open events, as we didn't know which house DS might eventually be offered. All the housemasters we spoke to seemed really nice, which reassured DS (and us!) that wherever he ended up would be fine. In the end, a space came up in the house DS had originally applied to. We met with the housemaster again and it was clear that it wasn't a case of being allocated that house with no option but to take it - we could have turned it down and waited for a space in a different house if we had decided it wasn't a good fit.

@WilsonGick thank you for that explanation. Particularly reassuring to hear that all the house masters seemed nice.

We are going to decline our offer at Winchester. DS is in year 7 was allocated a place in the house he applied for, I presume the place will be given to a boy from the general list. I would imagine most families will want to make a firm decision by the end of year 7.

Amazing HMs and camaraderie amongst the boarders are some of the best things about WinColl. It was our first choice too ahead of all the others. Boys seemed polite and engaged, which was a relief and a contrast with some other schools (usual suspects) we considered but declined at the end. There is this relaxed and easy going attitude about the boys, but you can always feel a sense of purpose without any sign of anxiety, which was important to us.

What are the statistics for WinColl 2nd round? How many applicants are interviewed Vs offers? Do they over offer?

Also are your chances typically worse if you interview for a General Place with "only" the Registrar rather than for a specific Boarding House with a House master.

Hi Parent
heard on the grapevine there were about 800 applicants and under half were interviewed.

Thanks @Roses81 normally 400 applicants for 140 places according to Google/Keystone Tutors. Does this mean double the applicant's this year?😢

I think 400 sounds closer to the number they have interviewed …..keep the faith …. Not long now to find out x

We are also waiting on Winchester, has anyone also applied to Eton?

I suspect every boy that applies/d to Winchester also applies/d to Eton, but not the other way around.

Yes, you’re probably right.

Really ? I thought everyone who tends to apply to Eton would apply to Winchester too…..
we have not heard back from Eton… has anyone else ?

We are also waiting @Roses81 to hear back from both.

Hi all,

We applied both to Eton and Winchester.

Re Winchester
@parent1709
I asked HM directly: in our particular house 28 boys were interviewed in total and 5 will get rejected. Some will go on the wait list, some will have offered a general place, some in the house.
Say 20% will be rejected straight away in round 2.

@Underthelavender & @ Roses81
Re Eton:
DS was interviewed in Tranche1 (Born Sep-Mid Dec)
Eton sent an update 4-5 weeks prior the outcome.
We received 13Feb to expect the results by 24th Mar.
DS was put on the wait list at Eton

Each house at Winchester will take around 12 kids per year, apart from college which takes around 14. So if 28 were interviewed for a house then 14 (or 15, not 5?) will be rejected for that particular house?

Some houses are more popular, some less so it varies depending on location, housemaster and ethos of the house. But I think the rule of thumb is halving: they used to get rid of around half at ISEB, and another half at interview stage.

For WinColl I understand that last year saw +50% more applications than usual, maybe even more this year, so maybe a bit more rejections at each stage now.

I understand that WinColl operates a longer than usual waiting list now to prepare for any contingencies [ due to recent changes, which were both internal (girls & day pupils) and external (inflation & cost-of-living crisis) ]