The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Fix the admission system

Olivia Phillips
March 20, 2024

It was March 8, 2021. I anxiously paced around my room, attempting to stay calm as 5 p.m. ticked closer. In just a few minutes, I would learn not only where I would go to school for the next four years...

Admissions accepts prospective students

Zoe Goor, Assistant Features Editor
March 20, 2024

The school received almost 1,300 applications for grades seven through 12 this year. The school is not releasing data on acceptance rates at this point as matriculation has not yet been finalized. In...

Dreading Decision Day

Members of the community discuss the emotional pressure connected with the release of early decision results and the differences in applying regular decision.

Alden Detmer and Hannah Shahidi
December 13, 2023

Walking onto the Quad on a December morning, Ava Weinrot ’23 could feel the tension among her classmates. It was the day her early decision (ED) result would come out. Only two days away from winter...

Tours resume in person

Hannah Shahidi, Assistant News Editor
November 15, 2023

The Admissions Office conducted in-person tours and events for applicants and their families for the first time since the 2019-2020 admissions season. Previous admissions events had been either fully virtual...

Testing the SAT

Members of the community discuss the national test-optional trend in college admissions, the switch to digital standardized tests and increased pressure on students.

Alden Detmer, Assistant Features Editor
August 26, 2023

It was the big day. Months of practice tests, tutoring sessions and caffeine had all been in preparation for this moment. However mere days before the scheduled exam, Ellie Whang ’24 felt her stomach...

Selection Secrecy

Georgia Grad and Hannah Shahidi
August 26, 2023

Clarissa Brown ’24 had to make a decision. Waiting behind the tee box for her turn at golf practice, Brown was approached by her fellow teammate. When her teammate asked her where she was going to apply...

Admission Office hosts Student Ambassador Training Dinner

Nathan Wang and Alden Detmer
September 25, 2022

The Admission Office hosted the annual Student Ambassador Training Dinner in Saperstein Theater on Monday, Sept. 19 with 318 students in attendance. The training dinner is an opportunity for freshman and...

Admissions receives record applications

Will Sherwood
February 18, 2022

More students have applied to attend the school this year than ever before, according to new data from the Admission Office. The school received 1,260 applications for the 2022-2023 academic year, about...

Student Ambassadors gather at Training Dinner

Davis Marks
September 23, 2021

The Admission Office hosted the annual Student Ambassador Training Dinner at the Middle School campus Monday, Sept. 20. The Student Ambassador Training Dinner is an annual event dedicated to preparing...

School removes ISEE mandate for incoming seventh grade students

Fallon Dern
February 8, 2021

The school's admissions administration announced that incoming seventh graders will no longer be required to take the Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE). Between stressful adjustments to new...

Admission Impossible: Exploring the HW Admissions Process

Anusha Mathur
March 1, 2019

After each interview, Senior Student Ambassador Co-Chair Sirus Wheaton ’19 always asks perspective Harvard-Westlake students how it went. One tenth grade applicant’s response, however, left him speechless....

Start putting extra time to the test

Jessa Glassman
February 2, 2019

As many students struggle to bubble in all of their answers while taking the infamously time-crunched ACT, some are given between 50 and 100 percent more time to complete the exam. These students are...