Harrow and Charterhouse

[plea77]

Hi all,

Have you had any experience with the entrance procedure for Harrow or Charterhouse?

I've just registered my son (who I would say is average academically) and I was wondering if they're really difficult to get into.

His current prep school gave us a list of schools that we could apply to and these two schools were mentioned. I was surprised as I didn't think my son was strong enough academically.

What are your experiences?

Also, does a really good reference make a huge difference if the pre tests don't go too well?

Your prep gave you a list of schools you could apply for?How odd,what other schools were on it?What schools did it not want you to apply to?
Both of those schools are oversubscribed .

No direct experience of applying to either - but in a suggested list from our (outstanding) prep Harrow was grouped with E and Win. as possibles. So ... I wouldn't say it was a safe bet at all for an academically average boy. But I daresay your HM had strong reasons (in your DS's favour) for suggesting it.

Charterhouse was not usually on the list for top set boys. It seemed to be a fallback for those who didn't get through pre-tests for the schools already mentioned. Or a first choice for boys in lower sets.

If those are your aspirational and safe bet choices what was the third?

Oh, in my experience the HM's ref is part and parcel of the pre-test business rather than being seen in isolation - but obviously I only know about the pre test selection process for one senior school.

When DS was a prep (now year 12 so info might be a bit out of date) Harrow was the 1st choice for those who wanted single sex and traditional full boarding but were not considered to quite bright to try for Eton. But this does not mean it's easy to get into, it was then as competitive to get into as Eton.
Charterhouse was seem as one of the fall backs for those who despite being bright didn't get into Eton. But few went there as it is a primarily weekly boarding school especially in the lower years and was slightly out of the area for most of the parents.

Harrow have just changed their entry requirements to apply to those boys entering from 2018. This is from the Harrow website:

REVISED ADMISSIONS PROCESS FOR YEAR 9 ENTRY

Due to the high number of applications received for places at Harrow, we have revised our Admissions process, with implications for boys applying for 2018 entry onwards. All boys at school in the UK who are registered for entry to Harrow are now required to sit the ISEB Pre-Test at their schools during the Autumn Term of Year 6. Boys at school overseas will also sit the ISEB Pre-Test in the Autumn term, but at an authorised test centre (typically the British Council).

We must receive a boy’s reference from his school before he can take the ISEB Pre-Test for Harrow (or, should he have already sat the test for another school, before we download his results). If it is not possible for a boy to sit the ISEB Pre-Test at his school, then arrangements may be made for him to sit it here at Harrow.

The ISEB Pre-Test is a standardised measure of ability and attainment; it takes the form of an online assessment and is age-adaptive. The Pre-Test involves assessment in Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English and Mathematics, with the questions being in multiple-choice format. The assessments take about two-and-a-half hours to complete and can be taken together or at separate times. Further information about the Pre-Test can be found on the ISEB website.

Boys who do not perform well in the ISEB Pre-Test and who look unlikely to achieve a 65% average at Common Entrance in Year 8, will not be invited to sit The Harrow Test in the Autumn of Year 7. We expect to invite the majority of the boys who sit the Pre-Test to sit The Harrow Test in the Autumn of Year 7.

Hope this helps.

Carnage!

And throws the onus onto schools to only allow realistic candidates to take the pre-pre-test.

I imagine such a change was inevitable following the increased TV fame.

But three hurdles?! ISEB, Harrow Test and then CE? Poor little boys. And poor frazzled parents.

”I was surprised as I didn't think my son was strong enough academically. . . Also, does a really good reference make a huge difference if the pre tests don't go too well?”

OP, you remind me very much of one of my friends whose sons attended the same prep as my son (the youngest was in the same year as my son). Dad was very proud of the two older sons, both went to Eton, one as a KS and the other an OS. At prep school, dad was always telling me how “stupid” the youngest boy was and had no hope of him going anywhere decent senior school let alone Eton like his two older sons went. Each time I told him not to write young Robbie off as boys can suddenly spring a surprise at you.

Well, not only did Robbie also succeed in going to Eton as an OS but he has also graduated from Oxford recently where both the older boys had failed to get in.

The moral of the story, OP, is not to write your son off as not academically strong and therefore, refrain from applying to schools like Eton or Win Coll. In my opinion, Harrow is just trying to play catch-up with all that new admissions process nonsense. What kind of school is this that requires a young child to take three or four pre-tests before making up their mind who to admit? Harrow will admit who they want to admit anyway so don’t buy their “high number of applications received for places at Harrow” crap. All schools worth their salt have high numbers of applications. And it’s been like this for years and years. WTF!

Frankly, if Charterhouse and Harrow are your only two schools, I’d look seriously at Charterhouse.