FAQs

Most families apply to secondary school in eighth or ninth grade. Historically, approximately half the members of our eighth grade class leave after eighth grade and half return to Fenn for their senior year. Students who decide to leave after eighth grade attend independent schools as well as the public high schools.

As soon as you or your son has a question about the secondary school admissions process, please contact the Counseling Office. In the spring, the Counseling Office hosts several events for rising eighth and ninth grade families (a Secondary School Forum with local admissions officers, an Informational Coffee, and "conversations" with ninth graders) to introduce parents and boys to the secondary school admissions process. Any interested families are encouraged to attend these events.

We recommend that students wait until mid-late October to visit, tour, and interview at secondary schools. It is a good idea to settle into the school year in order to have more information to share with admissions officers. Most independent secondary schools offer Open House events in the fall for interested families. Families can find information regarding dates and times on the schools’ websites or by calling the schools’ admissions offices.

Independent schools require the SSAT test as part of their admissions. A student must submit an SSAT score from the school year in which he applies out. We recommend that your son take the SSAT in October, November, or December. It is also important to release SSAT scores to our Counseling Office in order for us to be able to support you during the application process. For more information, please refer to the SSAT section in the Counseling Handbook.

Once you inform the Counseling Office that you are applying out, the office will coordinate the academic recommendations with your son’s English, mathematics, and language teachers. You do not have to provide English, mathematics, and language recommendation forms or links to individual teachers; they access secure recommendation forms online at Fenn.

If the school requires a science recommendation, please let the Counseling Office know.

We will coordinate the completion of this recommendation with the science teacher.

If you would like to submit a “Personal” or “Special Interest” recommendation, please provide the electronic link (or paper form) to the individual who will be writing the recommendation. If you have questions about who should write the personal or special interest recommendation, please feel free to contact the Counseling Office to discuss the matter.