Admissions

Evergreen's largest entry points are preschool, prekindergarten, kindergarten, 1st grade and 6th grade. For grades 2 through 5 and 7, space is based on the departure of current students, also known as attrition. We encourage families who believe their child would be successful at Evergreen to apply for these non-entry grades as the attrition rate is unpredictable from year to year. We do not conduct admission for 8th grade. 

Families need to apply a year in advance of when they would like their child to begin at Evergreen. Admission applications are made available on September 1st. Evergreen is a member of the Puget Sound Independent Schools (PSIS) consortium. As a result, our application deadlines are selected in conjunction with other PSIS schools. 

For applicants applying to preschool, children must meet the following minimum age requirements by July 31:

• Preschool: Three years old

For applicants to prekindergarten and kindergarten, children must meet the following minimum age requirements by August 31:  

• Prekindergarten: Four years old
• Kindergarten: Five years old

Exceptions will not be made to the age/cut-off date policy. 

For applicants to 1st grade and above, there is no birthday cut-off date. However, we expect applicants to apply for the next sequential grade. If you are considering repeating or skipping a grade, please reach out to our team. 

Please note: Students must be toilet trained prior to attending school in the fall.

We do consider applicants whose families reside out of state or abroad, provided the applicant can travel to Seattle to participate in an in-person visit day. Evergreen does not grant the I-20 student visa, so any applicant who is not a U.S. citizen must be covered by a parent/guardian’s work visa. We require all of our enrolled students to live with parents or legal guardians. Please feel free to reach out t our team if you have questions about your specific situation.

Our Testing Information page is a great resource for these questions and more that you might have about the IQ evaluation requirement.

On that page, you will also find a list of psychologists in the greater Seattle area who conduct IQ tests. (The Evergreen School does not administer tests.) Psychologists do book up in advance of school application deadlines, so it's best to schedule an appointment as early as possible in the fall.

Our mission is to serve highly capable students. As a part of the admission process, we require students applying to kindergarten through 7th grade to submit the results of an IQ test. We find that students who score at the 95th percentile and higher are successful in our program.

We are also committed to equity in identifying highly capable students and recognize that inherent bias may exist in IQ testing, particularly as it relates to students from historically marginalized groups. If you have any questions or concerns about testing, we encourage you to reach out to our Enrollment Management team to have a conversation. 

To honor current families' commitment to Evergreen, children of current families, as well as children of faculty and staff, may apply before the general applicant pool. This involves an accelerated timeline for application completion and an earlier admission decision than our external applicants receive. We recommend that all applicant families, including those in our community, consider several school options for their child, as admission into Evergreen is not guaranteed for anyone.

Evergreen is dedicated to providing a need-based financial aid program that covers tuition as well as non-tuition aid, depending on the level of need a family displays. Families of students in preschool through 8th grade are eligible to apply for financial aid.

Please visit the Affording Evergreen page for more information.  

Evergreen’s mission is to serve highly capable students. As such, we want to ensure we have as comprehensive a sense of an applicant’s learning profile as is possible; an IQ test is one tool we use for that purpose. While it is certainly not the only factor we consider in our admission decision process, it is a contributing factor for applicants to Kindergarten through 7th grade. We find that students who score at the 95th percentile and higher are successful in our program.

We are also committed to equity in identifying highly capable students and recognize that inherent bias may exist in IQ testing, particularly as it relates to students from historically marginalized groups. If you have any questions or concerns about testing, we encourage you to reach out to our Enrollment Management team to have a conversation. 

In the interest of maintaining an equitable application process, the Office of Enrollment Management is not able to accept additional teacher evaluations, personal reference letters, gifts, or any other materials beyond what is outlined in our admission process. Additionally, please do not ask others to submit personal letters of recommendation on your behalf as they will not be accepted.

While we do not require our enrolled prekindergarten families to reapply for kindergarten at Evergreen, moving into the kindergarten program is contingent on several factors. This includes the results of an IQ test that students will need to take in the fall of their prekindergarten year.  Learn more about testing here. 

Evergreen offers a highly individualized approach to the high school search process that allows 8th grade students to find the school that is going to be the best match for them. Although the majority of our 8th grade students will apply to independent high schools in Seattle and the Greater Seattle area, some will apply to independent boarding schools, and many will consider public schools. As a result, the school aims to showcase to 8th grade families the wide-range of school options through a series of programming that will take place in the fall of the 8th grade year. In addition, 8th grade students will have workshops throughout the fall that will help them navigate the many facets of the high school search experience.