Applying to Eton, Harrow, and Winchester

[DeTamble]

I am considering applying to Eton, Harrow, and Winchester.

My son has not yet reached the registration cut-off dates, he has a December birthday, and is in the state system. Without making this long, he's a bit of a chameleon and would be okay in any of them. It's too late for us to go the Prep route, as I can't seem to find any schools which accept boys late and also give out the necessary bursary we would need.

Has any one got any experience about applying to those three schools? Yes, I know I can call the schools, but I want to hear from 'real' people and their experiences. Also, do people even apply to that many schools, and what happens if you get conditional places to each? Any other details? Any knowledge of the realities of coming from the state system?

OP - you might find that prep schools would be a bit more forthcoming with bursaries if your DS has a conditional place at one of these schools. At my DS's prep a couple of boys joined at 11 already with places, and just did the last 2 years.

It may well be worth looking again if your son gets a place.

To answer another of your questions, you can hold conditional places at more than one school, but there comes a point when you have to pay a deposit (I think it's about a year to 18 months before they start). We had to pay £1500, so it can add up to several thousand pounds to hold places at two or three schools!

Win Coll I think asked for £500 when you were offered a place at yr 6 and I think (although I would be the first admit the memory isn't always good on these type of things and it seems like a million years ago) about £2000 once you'd passed the entrance exam. I've got in in my mind that you pay more now but again could be wrong.

I would have thought the OP would know before the requirement of paying a deposit whether her DS had a place and sufficient bursary. If they were in the enviable position of having both those from Winchester and / or Eton but wanted to keep Harrow in the mix, that would be an interesting situation. Also, do parents who are offered substantial bursaries have to pay those big deposits? Logically the deposit should be reduced pro rata according to ability to pay.

I think it depends on what percentage bursary you qualify for. If it's 50% for example, I would imagine you would have to find the deposit money yourself; if it's 100% then it may well be covered.

I should think it would get very complicated holding on to conditional places at more than one school if you are applying for a bursary as well - I'm not sure that it would work at all in fact.

There is another thread here about bursaries at Eton BTW.

My experience is that your son will need a scholarship before being awarded a bursary, OP. You probably already know this and believe he is of that calibre.

As regards holding more than one conditional place, these schools don't test at the same time - Eton (and Winchester) test earlier than Harrow so that, in theory, if you're not successful at the Eton test, you can still apply to Harrow in Year 7.

Win Coll definitely offer bursaries to non scholars this is from their website:
"Bursaries are available on entry to the School and to existing pupils in cases of financial hardship. Whilst bursaries can be available for up to 100% of fees in extreme cases, it is more likely that they are used as a ‘top-up’ either to support an Award already gained or in their own right.
Eton ditto as far as I'm aware.

Tonbridge also has a scholarship scheme where they test and interview in year 6 and then cover the cost of prep school for years 7 & 8 for the boys they are giving 100% funding to. I haven't posted anything else re Winchester as we didn't do the scholarship route so not sure if my experience would be relevant.

Supposed to be learning about state school children getting into these three schools, and other things, not learning about my son's interests and personality.

This is interesting. For so many reasons. Most people I know who are going along this route would have a strong preference for two (any two) of these schools and feel that at least one simply wouldn't be right for their particular child. You say your child is a chameleon - but surely by 13 he will have a fairly well defined personality - with strong likes and dislikes? Most importantly - I would have said that for any boy, but perhaps even more for one coming from a state school, interests and personality are exactly what distinguishes one extra-clever boy from another.

For any 13 year old boy starting at a full on, full boarding school is a pretty unusual and demanding challenge. If they've gone to a boarding prep they at least have some idea of what to expect - and even then a fair proportion might struggle. But it takes a very particular child to manage that straight from a day school and even more from a state school. Personality is key - both to convincing schools that one could cope, and to actually living with the reality.

I agree Something most parents when looking at the three school favour two out of the three.
"Chameleon's" are probably going to struggle at boarding school, full boarding in particular is as Something says is exceedingly demanding and challenging especially to a teenager not used to it. IME those who truly thrive are the ones who can be themselves and not feel they have to change to become like everyone else or fit the box.

What changed our mind about Harrow was when went the second time, with the idea we were going to scrub it off our list for good. We met a boy who is so much like our son (and whom our son got along with) and he said he was very happy there. We were worried that perhaps the Harrow boys were too rambunctious, or something along those lines, but after seeing that a quieter, nerdier, less of a sport-head was happy there and seemed well-enough liked we revised our view.

@Something: That chameleon aspect is why I'm thinking of those three schools, and not just two of them. I assume the interviewers will know who will fit their school. Not coming from a prep we don't have that input of teachers and heads who are familiar with placing the right boy in the right school. I don't want to not apply and then have his personality 'settle' and realise we knocked off the wrong school from the list. I also worry about him having to 'fit' in a place he doesn't really

He's done weekly boarding in Uganda and has coped well enough for his age, I assume by 13 (almost 14) he would also cope in full boarding.

I'd never thought of asking for a large bursary from a prep if he by some miracle got a conditional place at one of the schools, it's a really good idea!

Also, I found out Harrow does not charge entrance fee for scholarship applicants, which is nice of them, and there's no harm in trying.

Thanks every one for your replies, food for thought. Keep them coming if you've got anything you want to add. :-)

OP I think you're right about Harrow it's probably has a much broader intake. The ones from my DS's prep who went there ranged from the very bright (although I hesitate to say nerdy) through to those who failed to get a place at Eton and then those who were advised to not even try for Eton (not considered brought enough) but who are now very happy at Harrow. Something for every boy perhaps?

But no/few/little bursaries for non scholars at Harrow which is a bit of a shame.

Ok. The fact that he's already weekly boarded in Uganda is great. Firstly because it's a distinguishing feature - which is helpful to admissions people - and secondly simply because he wouldn't be coming "cold" to boarding. It sounds as if you are satisfied that his Ugandan school has been helpful in his prospective public school development.

Please take what Happygardening said seriously - it may be that the emphasis is different elsewhere but your DS will be more attractive to schools if he is his own person". It's what used to be called leadership potential," nowadays it's a bit more subtle - and easily recognized by other boys, not just staff. (I've heard them say things like "He is clever and always gets high marks but he doesn't have much to him. He was never going to get in!") Perhaps focus more on his individuality and much less on his ability to go with whatever the group dynamic requires.....

I wonder where you have been looking - prep school wise? It is certainly possible to achieve entry to a prep school outside the most obvious entry points - and to be offered substantial bursaries. But you may have been unlucky with the former and not qualify for the latter. I would say it's not great for a boy or for those teaching him to join after Yr 6. Even if he's a genius you need to be doing things the way they do them. And it would be brutal to throw someone into a Yr 7 scholarship form. (Unless he's simply transferring from a similar school for not too disruptive reasons....)

And unless he's a genius, I would say, going from a state school, CE is certainly do-able but scholarship? Remember most prep school kids who are being prepared for it do not get scholarships to these three schools. Preps themselves acknowledge the vast chasm between the two exams. To do it outside a prep would require either a worryingly high level of compliance (oh!) or an exceptional level of drive in the boy himself.

I wouldn't overlook the importance of being adaptable as a useful quality to possess in order to be happy and settled at boarding school. One is surrounded by many different sorts in a boarding house, and you have to find the best ways to live well together. It is perfectly possible for a child to adapt to fit in with the others in their year group, without subsuming their own personality into something it isn't.

My DS seems to have 'adapted' a much louder voice, which I take is a result of him learning that you have to speak up in order to hold your own . His personality has not changed, but he has definitely become easier in his skin and a lot more self-confident.

Regarding the scholarships, the Eton New Horizon Scholarships (mentioned upthread) are designed especially for state school boys and recognise that they may not know as much 'stuff' as children who have been at expensive prep schools; it is designed to find out their potential, not what they have been taught.

However, if I was OP (and had decided to try for Eton) I would be inclined to go for the pre-test at 11 + bursary as the numbers are so much more in your favour. She would still have the New Horizon scholarship at 13 as a back up (so long as her DS stayed in the state system).

There are some who think that all will thrive at Eton and maybe that's true it's certainly large enough to cater for most types of personality.
We didn't personally like it and felt my DS would thrive at Win Coll and we've found that he has really feels free to be "his own person" and unsurprisingly this has had an huge impact on every aspect of his school life. I'm sure he would have been happy and done well at other schools but the freedom to be yourself we feel is so important at this age.
OP you can register for all three and you might be lucky and get all three, we got offers from two completely contrasting schools. When it came to making the final decision we chose the one we felt was likely to be the best fit for his personality. It's a bit of a leap of faith and as parents we do make the wrong decisions but we feel that we did get it right this time.

Indrid IME and opinion boarders are very good at adapting, accepting and living along side different personalities which is a very useful life skill. But I personally wouldn't want my DS to have to adapt his personality to be happy at school and listening to my DS give advise to a new boarder he said the most important thing is to "be yourself".

Errr. . . never heard of The New Horizon Scholarships at Eton. The only Horizon scholarship there would be the single Horizon Foundation Scholarship offered to a boy from the Middle East each year. Unfortunately, coming from Uganda don’t qualify.

Try instead The New Foundation Scholarships if your DS has been educated in the UK maintained (state) sector for at least years 6, 7 and 8 of their schooling up to age 13.

peteneras my bad! I mean New Foundation of course, slip of the tongue (or whatever the computer equivalent is).

happygardening here was me thinking that I had managed to convey quite clearly the difference between 'adapting' and 'undergoing a complete personality transplant', but evidently not.

I was at a girls' school in Winchester. Knew a lot of wykhamists. I hope it has changed in the past 15 years as when I was there: the headmaster at the time had a son at the school who developed an alcohol problem, started making it and selling it to younger boys. Left the school in a literal blaze of ingloriousness by torching a teacher's car. The top public schools are very good at keeping such stories out of the media (anybody else know of the riot at Milton abbey for example??)
Definitely go to the schools, ask lots of questions and talk to pastoral staff and current students. Past students (recent) would be even better but not sure how you would contact them...

Indrid probably my misunderstanding of what you

FWIW, my DS (Eton) recently had two friends over from prep school days (one Win Coll and one Harrow). They all agreed that each of them would have fitted in well at each other's schools.

OP, just wondering why it is so important for you to send your DS to one of these three schools as for your DS it is quite an emotional investment for what seems slim odds ( unless we are missing something that makes a bursary more likely).
Have you considered high performing state schools such as Reading Grammar (which also has boarding if you need to move abroad again) or Tonbridge ( as mentioned above) or Whitgift or MCS (if as you say you can move anywhere. It sounds as though your DS would thrive in most schools.

@summerends DS has a place at a non-academically selective school and they said they can give us a bursary, simply by virtue of him being registered so young and being talented enough for them to consider him a useful addition to their school (this is a small, rural school, don't get excited). However, DH and I feel that he would do really well in the kind of environment which E, H, and W provide and we'd like to try. There are plenty of other schools which are fantastic too, but there's a limit to the amount of examination, stress and scrutiny we're willing to go through. DS is happy to give it a go, and likes the schools, the worst that can happen is he doesn't get in, but the bright side to that is he'll be academically much further ahead than if he hadn't tried at all. We looked at quite a few schools, and Charterhouse and Malvern were on the list for a while, but Charterhouse is too, erm, ahhh, something, hmmm, possibly too...I don't know where I'm going with this...if we went co-ed like Malvern then I'd rather go with the school he's already got a place in and not go through any of the stress. We'll be back in the UK in time for him to be pre-tested, if he gets a conditional place we'll try for a prep bursary. His current school in Uganda are going out of their way to help him prepare. Depending on the timing of our return he may or may not qualify for the New Foundation Scholarship at Eton, we're probably better off getting tuition and trying for CE. I wrote to Eton and got a reply back within a few hours, apparently you can sit CE even if not coming from a CE school. If you get through the pre-selection Eton will help arrange a temporary place in a prep school, so that your child can sit CE with that school. The place at that school would last a few days, maybe a week, just long enough to take the exam.

You know, I really think I should just have got a cat, instead of having children, you don't even have to take a cat to agility school or to the park like a dog, and there are no schools entrance requirements either. Do pounds do swaps, child for cat?

Btw really enjoying every one's postings, thanks for taking the time.

The last three in that list are of course private schools but also apparently offer large bursaries.
I am not saying that E, H and W don't offer a great education but so do other schools.