The Best Seattle Private Schools – 2023

Parents in the Emerald City and surrounding suburbs are fortunate to have a number of excellent private school options within commuting distance. Of course, with a bevy of choices comes information overload and a challenging decision-making process ahead. There are a multitude of considerations guiding your selection of which private schools in Seattle will be best for your child. However, College Transitions’ list of the Best Seattle Private Schools will focus primarily on our area of expertise—college admissions. As such, we will highlight the job that each of the schools does at sending their graduates on to the region/nation’s premier 4-year schools.

Please note that inclusion on our Best Seattle Private Schools list is a selective and criteria-based process. However, the order in which the schools appear is not representative of any further ranking; the numbering is solely intended to enhance the ease of navigating this resource. All of the schools profiled below have a history of sending graduates to the top colleges in the country. For each of our highlighted institutions, College Transitions will provide you with—when available—each school’s:

• Location
• Tuition (9-12)
• Enrollment (9-12)
• Average SAT Score
• Average ACT Score
• Senior Class Size
• College Admissions Highlights
• Academic Highlights

Now, let’s dive in and examine the profiled high schools.

The Best Seattle Private Schools

1) Lakeside School

Location: 14050 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125

Tuition (9-12): $40,080

Enrollment (seniors): 144

Average SAT Score: 1540

Average ACT Score: 35

College Admissions Highlights:

The following colleges enrolled 10+ Lakeside grades over the last five years: Bowdoin, Brown, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, Middlebury, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, Tufts, UChicago, Penn, USC, WashU, Williams, and Yale.

Academic Highlights:

• The Class of 2022 included 27 National Merit Semifinalists
• 80% participate in the arts and the same percentage participate in sports.
• There are 130+ courses offered.
• The average class size is 17 students.
• 68% are students of color, the highest figure among the best Seattle private schools.

2) The Overlake School

Location: 20301 NE 108th St, Redmond, WA 98053

Tuition (9-12): $39,962

Enrollment (seniors): 74

Mid-50% SAT Score: 1320-1540

Mid-50% ACT Score: 28-33

College Admissions Highlights:

Colleges attended by graduates over the past 5 years include Amherst, Barnard, Bowdoin, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Harvard, NYU, Northeastern, Northwestern, Pomona, Stanford, Swarthmore, Tufts, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Vanderbilt, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale.

Academic Highlights:

• 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
• 52 of 72 faculty members have master’s degrees and 8 have doctoral degrees.
• 77% of AP test-takers scored a 4 or 5 on their exams.
• The average class size is 14 students.
• There are 19 AP courses available.

3) Seattle Academy

Location: 1201 E Union St, Seattle, WA 98122

Tuition (9-12): $42,561

Enrollment (seniors): 166

Average SAT Score: Not Reported

Average ACT Score: Not Reported

College Admissions Highlights:

In the last five years, large numbers of students have matriculated into Barnard (10), BC (6), BU (8), Carnegie Mellon (5), Dartmouth (6), JHU (4), NYU (22), Northeastern (17), Occidental (13), Pitzer (16), Scripps (10), SCU (22), Stanford (5), UCLA (6), USC (11), UW Seattle (28), WashU (6), and Yale (4).

Academic Highlights:

• The average class size is 17 students.
• 7:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
• 42% identify as students of color.
• 69 zip codes are represented and 39 languages are spoken at home.
• The average unweighted GPA is 3.8.

4) University Prep

Location:  8000 25th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115

Tuition (9-12): $41,650

Enrollment (seniors): 81

Average SAT Score: 1340

Average ACT Score: 29

College Admissions Highlights:

Over the last five years, multiple students have enrolled in Brown (4), Case Western (3), Claremont McKenna (2), Colorado College (8), Columbia (4), Duke (2), Emory (3), Middlebury (3), Northeastern (6) NYU (7), Pitzer (5), SCU (23), Swarthmore (2), UCLA (5), UChicago (4), UMich (5), Penn (3), UW Seattle (26), WashU(7), and Yale (3).

Academic Highlights:

• The average class size is 15 students.
• 22% of the Class of 2022 were National Merit Finalists, Semifinalists, or Commended Scholars.
• 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
• 72% of AP test-takers scored a 4 or above.
• 41% identify as students of color.

5) Eastside Preparatory School

Location: 10613 NE 38th Pl, Kirkland, WA 98033

Tuition (9-12): $40,400

Enrollment (seniors): 84

Average SAT Score: 1190-1460

Average ACT Score: 28-34

College Admissions Highlights:

Over the past 5 years, multiple students have enrolled in the following schools: American (2), Boston College (2), Cal Poly SLO (32), CMU (2), Colorado College (1), Columbia (2), Cornell (3), Harvey Mudd (2), Kenyon (2), MIT (2), NYU (3), Tufts (7), UBC (5), UC Berkeley (3), UChicago (4), UMich (2), and Yale (2).

Academic Highlights:

• 8:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
• Average class size is 15 students.
• 77% of faculty members hold advanced degrees.
• Students have opportunities to pursue an independent study or senior thesis.
• The mid-50% GPA is 3.36-3.91.

Best Seattle Private Schools (Continued)

6) The Bear Creek School

Location:  8905 208th Ave NE, Redmond, WA 98053

Tuition (9-12): $32,590

Enrollment (seniors): 66

Average SAT Score: 1281

Average ACT Score: Not Reported

College Admissions Highlights:

Recent graduates have been accepted into a number of prestigious institutions including: Brown, Yale, UCLA, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Michigan, Duke, NYU, Penn, Bates, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Juilliard, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, MIT, Middlebury, and Stanford.

Academic Highlights:

• The school offers 13 AP classes.
• 80% scored 3 or high on their AP tests.
• 74% of faculty possess advanced degrees.
• 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
• The typical class size is 18 students.

7) The Bush School

Location:  3400 E Harrison St, Seattle, WA 98112

Tuition (9-12): $41,805

Enrollment (seniors): 86

Average SAT Score: Not Reported.

Average ACT Score: Not Reported.

College Admissions Highlights:

Class of 2022 matriculations included Colorado College (3), Columbia (2), NYU (2), Pitzer (2), Stanford (2), Swarthmore (2), USC (3), Vassar (2), WashU (2), Wesleyan (2), Yale (2), Bates, Cornell, Dartmouth, Macalester, Northwestern, Pomona, and Williams.

Academic Highlights:

• The mean GPA is 3.78.
• 34% identify as students of color.
• The average class size is 17 students.
• 35+ student-led clubs.
• Elective offerings include Animal Behavior, Electromechanical Systems, Forensic Science, Marine Biology, and Fundamentals of Computing.

8) Charles Wright Academy

Location: 7723 Chambers Creek Rd W, Tacoma, WA 98467

Tuition (9-12): $30,200

Enrollment (9-12): 154

Mid-50% SAT Score: 1100-1560

Mid-50% ACT Score: Not Reported

College Admissions Highlights:

In 2022, students matriculated into Bowdoin, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown, NYU, Smith, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of British Columbia, UChicago, Penn, UIUC, UW Seattle, and USC.

Academic Highlights:

• The average class size is 11 students.
• 7:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
• 41% are students of color.
• The school has produced 8 National Merit Semifinalists and 24 Commended Students over the past five years.
• 16 AP courses are offered.

9) The Northwest School

Location: 1415 Summit Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

Tuition (9-12): $44,125 (Day); $68,725 (Boarding)

Enrollment (seniors): ~70

Average SAT Score: 1300

Average ACT Score: 30

College Admissions Highlights:

Class of 2022 grads matriculated into Boston University, Case Western, Conn Colleges, Cornell, Emerson, Emory, Georgetown, Haverford, McGill, Middlebury, NYU, Occidental, Pitzer, Pomona, UT Austin, Tufts, UCLA, University of Miami, University of Richmond, USC, UVA, WashU, and Wesleyan.

Academic Highlights:

• 100+ colleges visit campus each year.
• The college counseling team provides a weeklong college application workshop to seniors, a unique perk among the best Seattle private schools.
• 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
• 43% identify as students of color.
• The Northwest School has been in existence since 1980.

10) Annie Wright Schools

Location: 827 N Tacoma Ave, Tacoma, WA 98403

Tuition (K-12): $33,675; $71,400 (Boarding)

Enrollment (seniors): 65

Average SAT Score: Not Reported

Average ACT Score: Not Reported

College Admissions Highlights:

Recent graduates have gone on to matriculate into highly-selective schools such as: Amherst, Bates, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Emory, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Macalester, MIT, Middlebury, NYU, Rice, UChicago, UCLA, UMiami, UMich, UVA, Vanderbilt, William & Mary, Williams, and Yale.

Academic Highlights:

• Separate Upper Schools for Boys and Girls together make up one of best Seattle private schools.
• The Class of 2022 included 3 National Merit Finalists.
• The IB Diploma Programme is available at Annie Wright.
• Last year’s graduates included 21 boys and 44 girls.
• The average class size is 14 students.

Final Thoughts – Best Seattle Private Schools

We hope you found our blog on private schools in Seattle to be helpful. All high school students and families may wish to explore further information regarding the college search and admissions process at our Dataverse, Blog, and List-Building Tool.