WES graduates are accepted, attend, and seamlessly transition to a wide variety of secondary schools including private, public, single-sex, religiously affiliated, and boarding schools. There are 138 graduates at 34 secondary schools in the US:
Three or more alumni currently attend the following independent area secondary schools (in alphabetical order):
Finding the best fit school for our graduates is the number one priority for the secondary school admission process. Of the WES graduates currently in secondary schools in the United States, only two students have changed high schools for reasons other than moving.
Not only do our students find the right school but they excel in the secondary school of their choice. For example, WES graduates routinely rank as National Merit Semifinalists and are top academic seniors at their secondary schools—one was relatively recently listed as a Bethesda Magazine Top Teen!
This success is a result of being at WES, a religiously affiliated Nursery to Grade 8 school. WES allows each student to try new things, take risks, and to discover what works for them academically and socially in a nurturing and supportive environment.
By the time our graduates select the best high school for themselves, they are confident in who they are and prepared academically, socially, and emotionally to achieve in that setting.
"WES truly prepared me for the challenges of high school. Whether it was algebra packets or labs in biology and chemistry, the WES curriculum helped me to excel in Honors and AP classes. Extracurricular clubs and activities at WES were great examples of the many new choices I discovered at high school. Even though my high school is much bigger in comparison, I was able to adapt and succeed."
— Aidan, Class of 2016
The supportive and extensive placement process at WES serves all of these options and makes it as stress-free as possible. The Head of School, Middle School Division Director, and Middle School faculty work diligently to find the best-fit secondary school for each student. Activities include one-to-one counseling, self-evaluation forms, Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT) preparation, mock-interviews, secondary schools fairs, and personal visits by the Head of School and Middle School Director on behalf of WES students to their preferred secondary schools’ admission offices. It is the WES administration’s promise to personally support each student and their families in this process.
The WES team that supports families during the secondary application process includes:
A Sample of the Top-tier Collegiate Schools WES Graduates Attend:
American University
Amherst College
Auburn University
Bates College
Boston College
Brandeis University
Brigham Young University
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Clemson University
Colby College
Colgate University
College of Charleston
College of William & Mary
Cornell University
Denison University
Drexel University
Emory University
Franklin & Marshall
Georgetown University
George Washington University
Hamilton College
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Lehigh University
Loyola Marymount University
Macalester College
McDaniel College
McGill University
Miami University
Middlebury College
New York University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Ohio State University
Princeton University
Rice University
Santa Clara University
Sewanee: The University of the South
Spelman College
St. Mary’s College
St. John’s University
Swarthmore University
Syracuse University
Towson University
Tulane University
Trinity College (CT)
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Indiana
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Michigan
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Scotland (Edinburgh)
University of Southern California
University of South Carolina
University of St. Andrew’s (Scotland)
University of Utah
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Virginia Tech
Washington & Lee University
Washington University in St. Louis
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University