Greenhill School: A Big Coed Campus, Three Very Different Entry Doors, and a Drive to Test

Visits and interviews

The useful visit is the one that shows a normal school day

Kindergarten applicants complete an hour-long, in-person observation with group and one-to-one elements. First-time families applying to Pre-K through Grade 1 also have a 20- to 30-minute parent or guardian meeting.

Grade 6 and Grade 9 applicants must interview. An optional shadow visit can include classes, lunch with a host, and the interview.

Greenhill warns that shadow capacity is limited. Submit the application and Interview and Visit Form early if seeing classes matters to your decision.

The Preschool and Lower School preview is October 22, 2026. The Middle and Upper School preview is November 15, and division parent visits run through January.

The public pages do not reveal interview questions, scoring rubrics, or how observation notes are weighed. Ask how the pieces work together instead of coaching a polished performance.

The ordinary day

Published hours need one more question for Fall 2027

Kindergarten runs from 8:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Lower School ends at 3:15, Grades 5–6 at 3:40 or 3:45, and Grades 7–8 at 4:05.

The admissions FAQ lists Upper School from 8:30 a.m. to 3:55 p.m., while another campus page extends published hours to 6:00 p.m. Families should confirm the Fall 2027 academic start time and then add sports or activity time rather than treating either page as a complete student day.

Extended Day serves Preschool through Middle School with pickup options until 6:00. The public pages do not give Fall 2027 capacity, prices, late policies, or every activity pickup time.

Greenhill supplies devices through a 1:1 program. Grades 5–12 receive a laptop, and technology cost is included in tuition.

Academics

The program starts broad and adds choice as students grow

Preschool and Lower School combine phonics, writing, math, science, social studies, project work, arts, physical education, and social-emotional learning. Student-led conferences begin in Lower School.

Middle School emphasizes reasoning, writing, investigation, media literacy, and civil discourse. Fifth graders sample Chinese, Latin, and Spanish before choosing a language for the remaining Middle School years.

Seventh and eighth graders can choose among more than 30 courses. Examples include debate, jewelry design, robotics, video production, and one-act play.

Upper School begins with a stronger common core in Grades 9 and 10. Honors, AP, electives, university research, and independent study expand in Grades 11 and 12.

The catalog requires at least six courses each semester. It usually limits students to three AP courses per year in Grades 11–12, with a fourth only in exceptional cases.

Workload

Ask students what an ordinary demanding week feels like

Greenhill calls Upper School rigorous and college preparatory. Its catalog also tells students to choose appropriately challenging work and notes that selective colleges consider course rigor.

There are guardrails. AP access is limited in Grades 9 and 10, advisors help with course choice, and the published minimum remains six courses per semester.

What is missing is just as important. The school does not publish typical homework time, assessment clustering, sleep data, tutoring prevalence, or how much work rises during a sport or production.

Prompt material only — self-selected Niche reviews disagree about rigor, culture, responsiveness, and support. Those anecdotes are reasons to ask sharper questions, not evidence of how common an experience is.

Learning and well-being

Support is real, but the fit boundary still needs a conversation

Greenhill publishes five full-time licensed clinicians serving Pre-K through Grade 12. Services include short-term counseling, crisis intervention, family advocacy, groups, referrals, and coordination with outside providers.

Each division has learning specialists. They work with emerging or diagnosed learning differences, academic challenges, executive functioning, and documented accommodations.

Published accommodations may include 50% extra testing time, assistive technology, preferential seating, and approved calculators or math charts. The exact plan depends on documentation and grade.

The public page does not give counselor or specialist caseloads, appointment waits, session limits, outside-service costs, or learning profiles the school cannot serve well. Families should ask with their child’s actual documentation in hand.

Addison logistics

There is no general bus, so the route belongs in the decision

Greenhill sits at 4141 Spring Valley Road in Addison. The campus lies north of central Dallas, near the Tollway and Belt Line–Spring Valley corridor.

The school says it does not offer general bus service. A limited partnership supports some Boys and Girls Club members who attend Greenhill and express need, with an associated cost.

New families receive a list of nearby families for possible carpools. That can help, but it is not a guaranteed route, driver, schedule, or late bus.

Test the drive at the real hour. Run a normal morning, a 4:00 pickup, a 6:15 activity pickup, an evening performance, and a weekend game from the home you will actually use.

Exact unknowns — Fall 2027 carpool rules, activity transport, aftercare price, late pickup, team return times, and the Club partnership route are not fully public.

Arts and athletics

There is real breadth here; participation details decide the fit

Greenhill offers music, theater, dance, visual art, video production, debate, and publications across multiple divisions. Younger students encounter the arts as part of the school day before older students add more choice.

Cost and aid

Tuition includes useful basics, but it is not the whole budget

Current baseline — 2026–27 tuition is $34,740 for Kindergarten, $40,070 for Grade 6, and $42,950 for Grade 9. Fall 2027 prices are not yet public.

Included — lunch, classroom technology, and Grade 9–12 textbooks. The page does not promise that every trip, activity, uniform, instrument, supply, test, or team expense is included.

New students pay a one-time $1,500 facility fee. They also submit a nonrefundable $1,500 enrollment deposit that is applied to tuition.

Two- and ten-payment plans add a $275 finance charge. The ten-payment plan also requires tuition-refund insurance equal to 0.85% of tuition.

Current aid — Greenhill reports $6.6 million for 2026–27, reaching about 17% of students. The published average grant is $22,791, but an individual award can differ greatly.

Aid is need-based, need-blind in admission, and must be renewed each year. Greenhill says it set aside more than $650,000 for approved extra costs such as aftercare, arts, and athletics.

The Fall 2027 aid deadline for applying families is January 25, 2027. Greenhill says it is not participating in the Texas ESA or TEFA program at this time.

Entry points

K and Grade 9 are wide doors; Grade 6 is a side door

Kindergarten — Greenhill usually plans for about 32 new students. A child must be five by September 1 of the entering year.

Grade 6 — the school publishes about five to eight typical openings. Grades 7 and 8 separately list about four to six each.

These are real pathways, but not large Middle School expansion years.

Grade 9 — Greenhill usually expects about 30 to 35 spaces. It is the clearest older-student entry point and includes an interview, ISEE, records, teacher evaluations, and a student questionnaire.

For context, Grade 5 usually adds about 20 to 25 students. Grade 6 lists five to eight, Grades 7–8 list four to six each, and Grades 10–11 list zero to five each through attrition.

Greenhill gives siblings, alumni children, and children of full-time employees careful consideration. It also says no association guarantees admission and every applicant follows the same criteria.

Fall 2027 calendar

December opens the file; January finishes it

The application, fee, and first questionnaires are due December 11, 2026 for Pre-K through Grade 11.

Most records, evaluations, interviews, testing, observations, and the financial-aid application are due or must be scheduled by January 25, 2027.

Grades 5–11 must register for the ISEE by January 25 and finish it by February 1. Greenhill offers an on-campus sitting on January 9, 2027.

Decisions and aid grants go to admitted families on March 12, 2027. Greenhill does not publish the family reply deadline on the pages we reviewed.

Testing and the file

K uses CATS; Grades 6 and 9 use the ISEE

Kindergarten applicants complete CATS testing. The current grade page lists a $325 testing fee outside Greenhill’s $50 application fee.

The school discourages prep for its youngest applicants. It wants the assessment to show a child’s current development, not a rehearsed version of it.

Grades 6 and 9 take the ISEE and pay a $100 Greenhill application fee. The same application pathway also asks for English and math teacher evaluations, records, a student questionnaire, and an interview.

Greenhill says testing is only one part of a whole-file review. It considers questionnaires, recommendations, grades, interviews, observations, and scores in the context of the applicant pool.

Application and testing fee help is available. Families should contact the financial-aid director before assuming a fee must stop an application.