Welcome to Eastside Prep!

Thank you for your interest in Eastside Preparatory School!

We inspire students to create a better world through Critical Thinking, Responsible Action, Compassionate Leadership, and Wise Innovation.

Eastside Prep is a come-as-you-are community, from students and parents to faculty and staff. We celebrate each other’s strengths and areas of growth, focusing on the balance of well-being and academic exploration. Class discussions are student-led, allowing learners to support each other’s ideas and help expand one another’s thoughts.

Eastside Prep is a community with diverse interests, including disciplines such as Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities, and Sciences. Students are encouraged to try new experiences in a safe environment, where we celebrate mistakes and failures as much as successes. Discovering and creating ways to better the world, whether locally or globally, is woven into every part of EPS life. We prepare our students not only for college but for many personal and professional horizons beyond EPS.

EPS – An Introduction:

This PDF guide will help you get to know EPS. It includes:

Fast Facts
Curriculum Information
Student Life: Clubs, Sports, Activities
College Counseling
Alumni Stories

Frequently Asked Questions

What are your application deadlines?

Into what grades do you enroll students? How many openings do you have in those grades?

What are the key dates I need to know in the 2023-2024 school year admissions process?

Applications open in Ravenna on September 1, 2022
Application Deadline is January 12, 2023
Financial Aid Application Deadline for Existing EPS Families is December 5, 2022
Financial Aid Application Deadline for Prospective Families is February 2, 2023
Upper School Decisions communicated on February 24, 2023, at Noon, via Ravenna
Upper School Family Responses due to EPS on March 3, 2023
Middle School Decisions communicated on March 17, 2023, at Noon, via Ravenna
Middle School Family Responses due to EPS on March 24, 2023

Do you admit students to a wait list/pool?

We have many students who are a great fit for Eastside Prep whom we would like to offer them admission, yet we may lack sufficient available spaces in their grade of application. When this occurs, we will offer students and their families the opportunity to join our waitpool of candidates. Typically if we have the opportunity to offer admission to a waitpool applicant, it will happen within a week of decision notification. Sometimes, offers can come later in the year. We encourage these families to be in touch with us regarding their enrollment intentions. 

Do you have a sibling admissions policy?

In an effort to establish the most equitable admissions process possible, EPS has discontinued communicating early (December) admissions decisions to siblings of current students. Through reviewing siblings in the full context of their applicant peers, we are confident that we make the most informed, mission-centered decisions possible as an admissions committee. Currently enrolled families with siblings applying for admission should review the Sibling Admissions page on the Current Families section of the EPS website for more information. 

What is Eastside Prep’s Nondiscriminatory Policy?

Eastside Preparatory School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, disability, national or ethnic origin, or other legally protected status in admission of otherwise qualified students or in providing access to the rights, privileges, programs, or activities generally available to all students and their families, including educational policies, scholarship and other financial aid programs, or athletic, extra-curricular, and other school-administered programs and activities.

How does Eastside Prep utilize tuition?

The largest portion of our annual operating budget (over 70%) goes to attracting and retaining the best teachers by compensating them well. Additionally, we have a campus that has grown as our student body has expanded and we continue to develop our facilities as needed. Eastside Prep’s tuition is comparable to that of other Seattle area independent schools, and, as is the case in all of our schools, tuition covers only a portion of actual operating costs each year. Independent schools make up that difference and fund programs like financial aid though generous voluntary annual giving. For more information, we invite you to visit the Giving page.

How does Eastside Prep handle fundraising?

As is true for other independent schools in the Seattle area, tuition covers only a portion of actual operating costs each year at Eastside Prep. Together with tuition, the Annual Fund helps to support the programs and people that make Eastside Prep a unique and thriving community. Everything from faculty professional development to financial aid is supported by the Annual Fund. At Eastside Prep, we promise that there will not be an auction or walkathon or cookie sale to support the school! Our hope is that every EPS family will support the Annual Fund because each gift, no matter the size, helps make our vision and mission possible: To inspire students to create a better world through critical thinking, responsible action, compassionate leadership, and wise innovation.

Contributions to the Annual Fund and/or in support of any capital fundraising effort is welcome from currently enrolled families, past parents, alumni/ae, current and past grandparents, friends and community. EPS will not accept cash, property, or any item of value in exchange for consideration of a student application for admission. The admissions and donation processes are separate activities at EPS. Members of the Admissions Committee are not aware of any gifts that may have been made or pledged to the school.

What are your school hours and schedule?

Do you have after school supervision available?

Do you have bus transportation available?

Convenient school-provided and public transportation options are available to the EPS community. Before and after school bus routes run from Seattle/Mercer Island, Bellevue/Issaquah, and Woodinville/Redmond. Public bus transportation on METRO is just a two-minute walk from campus and provides access via routes such as the 255 (Downtown Seattle) and 540 (University of Washington/Link light rail). Additionally, we provide transportation to and from all off-campus sports practices and games. 

Do you admit students who are currently studying/living outside the United States?

To qualify as a domestic applicant, a student must have completed at least two years of school in the United States prior to their year of application and must demonstrate strong English proficiency. Applicants applying from other countries who have not previously attended school in the USA or an English immersion environments must demonstrate their English proficiency through the submission of TOEFL scores. For more information, please see our International Application guidelines. 

Does EPS provide learning support and accommodations for learning differences?

EPS teachers support all students’ wide-ranging learning styles. Students with identified learning needs, as well as those for whom needs may be identified while attending EPS, are provided with a variety of modes of  learning support. Accommodations (e.g. additional time for tests, or a separate testing space) are facilitated by Student Support Services for those with documented learning differences.  

Additionally, student self-advocacy is encouraged and cultivated, particularly through our  Guided Study Hall (GSH) program. GSH meets as frequently as other courses in a schedule (2-3 times per week for 70 minutes) and provides a 4:1 student to faculty environment in which learning strategies and executive functioning skills are cultivated.  

Do students feel safe on the EPS campus?

 Our focus on student well-being centers on students feeling safe and supported at EPS. In addition to ensuring students physical safety, we also attend to their social and emotional safety needs.

Regular drills for unforeseen incidents help us to ensure that we can always be prepared in any event.
Safety and security discussions occur in advisory groups; as a preparatory school, we help students to prepare for many potential situations they will encounter in their lives.
Security personnel coverage both during the school day and after hours helps us to bring specialized support in addition to the vigilance of all school employees.
Three full-time school counselors help to ensure that experiencing social and emotional safety is an aspect in which all students are supported.
All employees, as well as substitute teaching staff and volunteers who will not be directly supervised while on campus, have gone through background checks prior to their engagement with our school community.
Key fob access for entry doors on an auto-locking schedule helps us to reduce risk by limiting entry points to campus buildings.

How can parents/guardians be involved at EPS?

It’s not just your student beginning at Eastside Prep—you’re joining a new school community too! Our goal is to make sure you feel as connected and engaged with Eastside Prep as your student. We partner with you through regular communication, volunteer opportunities, and events. These events include our new parent welcome evening, grade level picnics, parent coffees, celebratory events for parents, and parent-teacher advisory conferences. Many parents also choose to volunteer at EPS through our Parent Association. Opportunities include serving as a grade level parent representative, contributing to events such as our faculty-staff appreciation days, and assisting with our athletic teams. We’re happy for parents and guardians to be as involved as their interests and schedules allow. While volunteer opportunities are offered, they are not required.

How do Middle and Upper School students interact with each other?

In addition to sharing campus spaces such as our cafeteria, gymnasium, and arts classrooms, Middle and Upper School students interact regularly both during and after school. Each Middle School advisory group is paired with two to three Peer Mentors from the Upper School, joining them on a regular basis to help lead discussions and activities. Classes collaborate on academic projects, for example, our 7th and 11th graders created historical maps together, and our 6th and 10th graders worked on science labs and presentation skills together. Opportunities for these collaborations vary from year to year. Each year, EPS produces an all-school musical in which all grade levels participate on stage and behind the scenes. Many of our musical ensembles feature a mixture of student grades as well. Additionally, Upper School students assist as leaders in many Middle School sports teams.

Does EPS offer AP or IB classes?

College preparation at EPS does not include AP or IB coursework, because all of our courses are college preparatory in nature. We provide opportunities for students to hone their skills of research, collaboration, and presentation so that they are prepared to maximize their opportunities in college. We value student learning that is rooted in inquiry, experience, and integration, and depth of knowledge rather than focused on teaching to the test. EPS students are evaluated in the college admissions process relative to the opportunities that exist in our curriculum, which we communicate to colleges and universities via our school profile. We do offer AP exam testing on campus each May for students who have studied independently to take the exams. Whenever possible, our faculty provide guidance for students pursuing these testing options when students advocate for assistance.