This page is the calendar: what happens when, school by school. For entry grades and opening counts, testing rules, portals, interview formats, aid basics, and how to weigh an offer, see the Bay Area private school admissions guide.
The regional framework
ISSFBA, BADA, and BAIHS create coordination—not one application.
Verified fact: ISSFBA says it supports families applying to more than 110 member schools across San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and North Bay, and the East Bay. It is a regional starting universe, not a guarantee that every private school is a member or uses its calendar.
Verified historical framework: The BADA principles sheet says participating K–8 admission directors use common decision dates and accept Common Confidential Student Evaluation forms. The BAIHS principles sheet describes a collaboration of nonprofit high-school admission offices that recommends common application, decision, reply, aid, and Decision Week practices. Both public PDFs carry older cycle labels, so their role is reliable background and their old dates are not Fall 2027 facts.
| Clock | Current examples | Family rule |
|---|---|---|
| K–8 cooperative pattern | SFFS, Head-Royce, MCDS, San Domenico, Marin Horizon, and St. Paul’s publish March 11 decisions. | Do not infer the reply date; it varies by school. |
| Independent high-school pattern | UHS, Menlo, Castilleja, Head-Royce, Athenian, Branson, Marin Academy, and San Domenico day publish March 12. | Check “after 4,” deposit time, and earlier aid reply. |
| Different current cycle | Harker uses March 12 for all divisions; BASIS Fremont uses December early TK and March 17 regular decisions. | Never overwrite a school page with a regional pattern. |
| Boarding layer | Athenian publishes March 10 boarding; San Domenico publishes March 5 regular boarding and a separate early international cycle. | Day, boarding, and international may be different tracks. |
Editorial inference: “Decision Week” is the closest thing to a common finish line. It does not create a universal portal, testing rule, interview format, age cutoff, financial-aid system, late-application right, or deposit term.
The 2027–28 master calendar
Work backward from the first gate—not the final submit button.
| Window | Adult work | Child-sized work | Risk to close |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | Confirm applying grade and age rule; map four realistic commute zones; estimate full cost and aid need; ask current school how and when it sends records and recommendations. | Notice what kinds of classrooms, pace, community, arts, sports, and support feel energizing. | A school list built on reputation but impossible on a a regular school morning. |
| June–July | Collect past report cards, testing or evaluation documents, household calendars, custody/contact facts, tax records, and relocation constraints. Do not request confidential forms yet unless the current school says to. | Keep summer normal. Older students can make a short “what I want next” list without drafting application prose. | Missing documentation for accommodations or aid. |
| August–September | Open one Ravenna family account, add both households where applicable, explore schools, and log separate application, aid, testing, interview, records, decision, and reply dates. School openings range from August 17 to September 1 in the representative set: UHS opens August 28; Menlo, Castilleja, and Harker on September 1; MCDS in the first week of September. | Grade 9 students begin their own activity history and voice notes. Younger children do nothing performative. | Waiting for an open house before noticing a booking gate. |
| October | Drive real commutes, attend a small number of useful events, submit preliminary forms that unlock visits, begin Clarity if needed, request testing accommodations, and reserve required appointments. | Grade 6 and 9 students attend only visits that help them understand the ordinary school day. | Missing limited interview, playdate, STAR, or assessment capacity even though January is months away. |
| November | Finalize the list; confirm every school’s current testing rule; draft parent statements; give the current school one clean matrix of forms and due dates; prepare self-employment or two-household aid documents. Nueva guarantees an activity session for K and Grades 5–10 when grade-specific prerequisites are done by November 3; Harker runs visits and events through January 5. | Older students draft their own answers in short blocks. Keep adults out of the sentence-level writing. | Overloading recommenders with separate, piecemeal requests. |
| December | Submit the earliest files: Head-Royce preliminary forms are due December 4; SFFS K is due December 18; SF Day K application and evaluation are due December 18; MCDS K publishes December 27; Cathedral's preferred K date is December 31. Audit delegated forms before winter break. | Finish authentic essays or video responses before holiday fatigue; keep school and sleep intact. | Treating “delegated” as “received.” |
| January 1–8 | Protect the major cluster: January 5 at UHS, Menlo, Harker, Castilleja, Marin Academy, and Branson; January 7 at MCDS; January 8 at Head-Royce and Athenian. Presidio Hill K is due January 4. Confirm aid separately. | Complete only the student-controlled portions, visits, or interviews still scheduled. | A paid application with an unscheduled required step. |
| January 9–February | Track STAR, ISEE/SSAT, school assessments, K playdates, student visits, UHS inquiry activities, teacher forms, current-year grades, and aid uploads. Cathedral and Mark Day applications are due January 15; College Prep takes recommendations, transcripts, interview, and testing by February 1. Preserve confirmation emails and ask about any unresolved checklist item. | Show up rested and ordinary. A visit is a mutual meeting, not a rehearsed performance. | Assuming a school-sent item is late-proof or visible instantly. |
| March 5–12 | Watch the exact track: San Domenico boarding March 5; Athenian boarding March 10; many K–8 decisions March 11; many high-school decisions March 12; BASIS Fremont March 17. | Keep decision release away from a public family spectacle. Let the child absorb one result at a time. | Opening the wrong portal or applying the wrong division’s date. |
| Decision week | Read award, contract, deposit, refund, transportation, calendar, and support terms. Attend only useful admitted events. Replies in this set range across March 17–19, with boarding and non-common cycles later. | Share observations and preferences without carrying budget or adult status anxiety. | Letting the deadline, not family values, make the decision. |
| After enrollment | Pay one deposit, release other places, withdraw graciously, send final records, complete health forms, confirm course placement and support, select transportation, and calendar orientation, sports, and summer work. | Close the old-school chapter well and begin the new one without turning admission into identity. | Assuming the enrollment contract completed onboarding. |
More school dates:
Record portal, preliminary/application due, appointment gate, school-materials due, testing/assessment due, aid due, and decision/reply. Add an owner, current status, confirmation, and “last checked” date. “Application submitted” is only one column.
Test and assessment timing
Book the test, and any accommodations, before the file is due.
Rules differ by school and grade, so confirm which test each school wants before you book. Then work back from the deadline. Menlo, for example, asks for documented accommodations for its STAR assessment by January 5.
Which schools use STAR, ISEE, SSAT, their own assessment, or no test at all is set out in the admissions guide.
The current-school dependency
Records and recommendations are delegated work—not parent uploads.
Each school asks for a different set of forms and transcripts; the admissions guide lists them for the main schools. What matters here is timing.
Editorial inference: The quiet deadline is often the sending school’s internal release date. A January 5 family deadline and January 31 school-material deadline do not authorize a family to surprise teachers on January 4.
- In September, ask the current school who coordinates private-school records and whether teachers use Ravenna, SAO, common forms, or a single internal questionnaire.
- After the list is real, send one matrix with school, applying grade, form, portal, and actual due date. Follow the sending school’s request window.
- Invite only the required current teachers. Never substitute a flattering coach, family friend, or former teacher unless the receiving school explicitly permits it.
- Track “requested,” “recommender opened,” and “school received” as different states. Send one courteous reminder through the proper channel.
- If the current school cannot produce a named item—common in some public, international, homeschool, or trimester systems—ask the receiving admission office for an approved alternative.
The parallel application
Financial aid runs beside admission and can close earlier.
Aid deadlines often fall on or before the admission deadline: January 4 at Head-Royce; January 5 at UHS, Menlo, Castilleja, Marin Academy, Athenian, Branson, and San Domenico; January 7 at MCDS. Current-year tax or wage documents can be due later.
Start in the autumn if your family has two households, self-employment, unusual assets, or a pending move; those files take longer. What to gather and how to compare the full cost are in the admissions guide.
Awards are often released with decisions. If affordability is necessary, the aid deadline is part of the application calendar, not a later negotiation phase.
Decisions through enrollment
A short reply window is manageable when the questions are already written.
Verified fact: Current high-school pages commonly separate aid and full-tuition contracts. UHS and Branson publish March 18 aid agreements and March 19 full-tuition agreements. Menlo publishes one March 19 deposit deadline. SFFS publishes March 17 for K–8. MCDS’s pages conflict, though its aid page says March 17.
Between decisions and the reply date there are only a few days. Build the comparison before March, using the decision lenses in the admissions guide, so the reply window is for checking facts, not inventing criteria.
After enrollment, request final records, complete medical and emergency forms, confirm learning plans and testing documentation, and choose the payment plan. Register transportation and care. Resolve math and language placement, orientation, and sports. Close the current school relationship with gratitude.
The durable Bay Area strategy is a family operating system.
The calendar becomes manageable once the K–8 and high-school clocks are kept apart and each live school page is allowed to control its own dates.
Recheck every portal, test, form, visit, aid date, decision, and reply item that is old, contradictory, or hidden after login.
Our strongest opinion is that the adults should absorb the complexity. Older students deserve authorship. Younger students deserve normal childhood. A thoughtful process can reveal fit, but no admission result measures a child’s promise or a family’s worth.
Confidence is high in the cited Fall 2027 school dates, published opening counts, and stated processes as of September 2, 2026. It is intentionally low where association pages are stale, school pages conflict, or the next answer is available only inside Ravenna. We do not fill those gaps with lore.
Sources and further research
Where to verify and keep reading
We favor direct links to the exact page or document a family may need next. Access dates matter because admissions, tuition, leadership, and programs change.
- Independent Schools of the San Francisco Bay Area
ISSFBA · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Regional scope, school directory, and the still-posted prior-cycle K–8 calendar
- Bay Area Directors of Admission Principles of Good Practice
BADA / ISSFBA · Accessed September 2, 2026 · K–8 common-form and common-date framework; document is visibly labeled 2019–20
- Bay Area Independent High Schools Principles of Good Practice
Bay Area Admission Directors Group · Accessed September 2, 2026 · High-school common dates, forms, Decision Week, and Ravenna membership context; document is labeled 2022–23
- Ravenna Hub
Ravenna Solutions · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Official family admissions dashboard
- Standard Application Online
Admission.org / E3n · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Official shared application, essays, recommendations, and transcript workflow
- Request Transcripts and School Reports in SAO
Admission.org / E3n · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Official record-request and dashboard guidance
- ISEE Grades, Levels, Formats, and Sample Tests
ERB / E3n · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Official grade-to-test-level mapping and paper/online format information
- ISEE Family Registration
ERB / E3n · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Official testing registration and accommodations account
- Apply to Lower School
San Francisco Friends School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Kindergarten openings, age, Ravenna, visits, forms, dates, and decisions
- Apply to Middle School
San Francisco Friends School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Grade 5–6 expansion, testing policy, records, visits, interviews, and dates
- Admissions Process
Cathedral School for Boys · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 K–8 deadlines, assessment day, Clarity, and enrollment reply
- Admissions Timeline & Events
San Francisco University High School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna opening, visits, application, aid, inquiry activities, decisions, and reply dates
- How to Apply
San Francisco University High School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current application components and inquiry-activity scheduling gate
- Admission FAQs
San Francisco University High School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Grade 9 class size, group inquiry format, relocation, transfers, wait pool, and a testing answer still labeled prior cycle
- Applying to Menlo
Menlo School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Grade 6 and 9 openings, Ravenna, Kira, visits, records, STAR, aid, relocation, and deadlines
- STAR Assessment Information
Menlo School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 dates, format, accommodations, score-sharing, local and out-of-area rules
- Tuition & Financial Aid
Menlo School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Clarity dates, two-household rule, award timing, and deposit
- Applying to Harker
The Harker School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 K, Grade 6, and Grade 9 openings, grade-specific testing, Kira, records, and dates
- Applying to Castilleja
Castilleja School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna, interviews, writing sample, records, test-free rule, and dates
- Admission FAQs
Castilleja School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Grade 6 openings, other applying grades, and Fall 2027 decisions
- Tuition & Affordability
Castilleja School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Clarity deadline, household rules, current tuition, and additional expenses
- Apply
Head-Royce School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna deadlines, division steps, assessment days, decisions, and sibling/employee dates
- Affording Head-Royce
Head-Royce School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Clarity and separate-household requirements
- How to Apply
The Athenian School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Middle, Upper, and boarding deadlines and decisions
- Admission Events
The Athenian School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna event opening, tours, open house, and optional upper-school shadow visit
- How to Apply
Marin Country Day School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 K and Grade 6 entry signals, Ravenna, required tour, parent interview, assessments, records, and visible date conflicts
- Admission Calendar
Marin Country Day School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 tours, assessments, deadlines, decisions, and a conflicting family-reply date
- Affording MCDS
Marin Country Day School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Clarity process, W-2 deadline, decision/reply dates, and included costs
- Admissions
Marin Academy · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current Grade 9 class-size signal and Ravenna entry point
- Apply
Marin Academy · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 test-free application, BAIHS form, records, interview choices, and January deadline
- Admissions FAQs
Marin Academy · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current test-free, transfer, visit, interview, and cost guidance
- Tuition and Tuition Assistance
Marin Academy · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Clarity, document, award, revisit, and reply timing
- Apply
The Branson School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna events, January deadline, decisions, and financial-aid/full-tuition replies
- About Branson
The Branson School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current Grades 9–12 school scope and enrollment context
- Affording Branson
The Branson School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current Clarity process, total cost of enrollment, deposit, and payment plans
- Apply
San Domenico School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 K–12 Ravenna steps, grade-specific visits, application, aid, decision, and reply dates
- Visit and Apply
San Domenico School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Current Ravenna preference, SAO alternative, and Ravenna account requirement
- International Admissions
San Domenico School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 international definition, SAO/Ravenna steps, records, English evidence, interview, early and regular calendars
- Visit Marin Horizon
Marin Horizon School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 Ravenna functions, completion date, decisions, tours, and select-grade late availability
- How to Apply
St. Paul's Episcopal School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 K–8 application, aid, assessment, records, decision, and deposit calendar
- Admissions Process
Sterne School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 division decision dates, Clarity, association memberships, and published rolling-admission policy
- Fall 2027 Admissions Guide: Applying for TK–Grade 9
BASIS Independent Fremont · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Fall 2027 early and regular cycles, Ravenna, testing, family meeting, and all-grade availability statement
- Admission Process
Chinese American International School · Accessed September 2, 2026 · Direct portal and common-form workflow; page contains a visible cycle-label/date mismatch
- How to Apply and Key Dates
San Francisco Day School · Accessed August 31, 2026 · Fall 2027 Kindergarten dates; public Grade 6 details not yet posted
- Important Dates
Presidio Hill School · Accessed August 31, 2026 · Fall 2027 assessment, decision, and reply dates
- Apply to Mark Day School
Mark Day School · Accessed August 31, 2026 · Fall 2027 K and Grade 6 process
- Kindergarten: Visit and Apply
The Nueva School · Accessed August 31, 2026 · Fall 2027 IQ gate, guarantee date, activity session, and file
- How to Apply
The College Preparatory School · Accessed August 31, 2026 · Fall 2027 application, interview, ISEE/SSAT, and dates