Your Boston Admissions Timeline

Start with the appointments

Early in the fall, you may have three browser tabs open and no clear winner. Ask each school two questions: when must the visit be booked, and when is the file due?

Give each child and each grade its own checklist, with four separate lists on it: visits, the full application file, tests, and financial aid. A finished essay is not a booked interview, and a booked interview is not a registered test date.

This page is the calendar. For how each school's process works, including group visits, testing rules and exam-school eligibility, see the Boston admissions guide.

Month by month

A plain sequence for the Fall 2027 cycle, built from the dates in the calendar below.

• October to early December: inquire and book tours and interviews. BB&N's interview and tour slots fill quickly. Non-BPS Boston residents applying to an exam school complete residency and ranking between October 13 and December 4.
• Mid-December: book Beaver's required tour and interview by December 15; its visits run to December 18.
• January: Park's PreK–5 group visit; BPS weekend MAP on January 9–10; BB&N files and aid on January 10; Milton's interview and application, and Beaver's application and scores, on January 15. Andover interviews run through January.
• Late January to early February: Milton aid on January 31; Beaver aid and Andover's application and aid on February 1.
• March 10: decisions from BB&N, Milton and Beaver. April 10: Milton reply and Beaver contract and deposit. Late April: exam-school letters.

A sample calendar

Checked October 3, 2026; examples, not a full list.

Kindergarten appears here only through BB&N; ask every other school for its own dates.

Milton's dates here refer to its Upper School. Park's admission page still shows last cycle's score window, so confirm its dates directly.

How the exam-school calendar lines up

BPS letters come in late April, after Milton's and Beaver's April 10 dates. Do not count on a private-school extension.

Who is eligible and how the exam-school application works is covered in the admissions guide.

Keeping the file moving

A habit worth having: once a week, open every portal and read it like a bank statement. What is complete, what is pending, what is missing?

Some steps unlock others. At Andover, the interview can be booked only after the Candidate Profile is in, and login details take a day to arrive. Submit the profile early enough to get an interview before January ends.

If you are starting late or a step slips

If a step slips, say so quickly and plainly: 'We missed this step. Is it still possible to complete it, and what would you like us to do next?'

Some schools leave room. Beaver lets you book its required visit before the application is finished, so a late starter can secure the appointment first and complete the file by January 15.

March to April: the reply window

Decisions from BB&N, Milton and Beaver arrive March 10, and Milton and Beaver want an answer by April 10. That leaves about a month.

If another answer is still outstanding, tell the school plainly and ask what options exist before the reply date. Do it in March, while it is a question and not an emergency. How to read the offer, aid and contract together is in the admissions guide.