LAKE FOREST ACADEMY · PRIVATE SCHOOL GUIDE
Lake Forest Academy has 450 students on a 150-acre campus in Lake Forest, Illinois, 30 miles from Chicago and 21 from O’Hare airport. Start here to picture daily life and prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL
Students come from 15 states and 40 countries and territories, and 24% are international. The school year runs in two semesters, fall and spring.
IN CLASS
Most students take five or six, and every schedule must include four liberal-arts subjects. There are 27 AP (Advanced Placement) classes.
IN YOUR DORM
Each has 10 to 72 residents, looked after by faculty who live there and by student proctors.
IN ATHLETICS
Grades 9 and 10 take part all three seasons, and grades 11 and 12 in two. Everyone plays at least one season on a team, and a part in the fall play or winter musical can replace PE.
Advisers have about seven advisees each. Each year group also has its own house, which brings boarders and day students together. Houses aren’t dorm buildings.
Entry points: Lake Forest’s application lists tests for applicants to grades 9 through 12 and for a postgraduate (PG) year, taken after finishing high school.
Courses you’ll need: Required courses include English every year you’re at Lake Forest, math through Algebra II, and history that includes World History II and U.S. History (or the AP versions of both). Science and languages count toward graduation too, but Lake Forest’s curriculum page and handbook give different numbers of years, so ask the admission office how your earlier courses will count.
The arts: Under the 2026–27 handbook, students who join in grades 10 to 12 take two semesters of arts, instead of the three that ninth-grade entrants take.
Going further: AP and advanced classes need a department’s approval, usually through a teacher’s recommendation. The 2026–27 course maps include linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and research in biochemistry and bioengineering. Once you’ve taken a department’s highest course, you can ask to add independent study as a sixth course.
Global education: Lake Forest’s global program builds to a capstone project by the end of year three and an internship in year four, taught through projects rather than conventional tests. Ask whether it’s required, and how students who join after grade 9 take part.
Day students: You must live with a parent or a legal guardian Lake Forest approves. You can join meals, weekend activities, and evening study, and some evening and weekend commitments are required.
Health care: Nurses are on site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends, with on-call help at all other times.
Counseling: School therapists offer counseling, referrals to outside care, and support in a crisis.
Help with schoolwork: Individual coaching, small groups, and structured study, as well as evening help in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Accommodations: Your current school’s plan doesn’t carry over on its own. Parents contact Lake Forest’s learning specialists, ideally with a diagnosis updated in the last three years and any earlier plans and test results. Support typically includes 50% extra time, but a school plan doesn’t guarantee accommodations on the ACT or College Board tests.
UNDERSTAND WHAT LAKE FOREST LOOKS FOR
Lake Forest gives no formula for admission, but its own words point to three things: your interests, your character, and your hopes for high school.
YOUR INTERESTS
Lake Forest encourages students to “try something new while fostering their passions.”
Letrado’s adviceShow one interest you’ve kept up for years, then name one thing you’d try for the first time at Lake Forest.
YOUR CHARACTER
Lake Forest’s code of conduct rests on four pillars: Citizenship, Character, Scholarship, and Responsibility.
Letrado’s advicePick one small, real example and describe it exactly: who it helped, how often, and for how long.
YOUR HOPES
Lake Forest’s interview looks at how you’d fit into its community and what you hope for in high school.
Letrado’s adviceBefore your interview, write down two things you want to do in high school, and how you’d start on them at Lake Forest.
WHAT LAKE FOREST DESCRIBES
About 30 minutes
The same length, and accepted equally
A visit alongside a current student, with your interview included
Book through the admissions portal or by emailing admissions@lfanet.org. Shadow visits run from October to January for students in grade 8 and up, once you’ve sent the preliminary application and fee.
The visit page’s international calendar also lists the admission team’s trips abroad, city by city. The listings don’t give a year, so look for a city near you and confirm the dates.
WHAT LAKE FOREST SAYS
The SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, or PreACT.
The SAT, ACT, or PSAT.
The SAT or ACT.
The SSAT and ISEE are admission tests for private schools. The PSAT (the Preliminary SAT) and the PreACT lead up to the SAT and ACT, the U.S. college-admission tests.
International applicants also send a TOEFL iBT, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test score.
Score codes: SSAT 4450, ISEE 142525, and TOEFL 8161. Email copies of PSAT, SAT, or ACT scores to admission@lfanet.org.
LAKE FOREST’S 2026–27 HANDBOOK AND DINING HOURS
Students use school-issued iPads. Phones aren’t allowed in academic buildings, between classes, or in the upper student union, unless a teacher allows them in class.
On weekends, brunch runs from 10:30 to 12:30, and dinner from 5:00 to 6:00.
LAKE FOREST’S PUBLISHED FIGURES
The Facts and Figures page doesn’t give a year for its figures. The SAT and ACT medians are graduates’ results, not admission requirements.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
Apply through Lake Forest’s own admissions portal or the Standard Application Online (SAO), a shared online application for private schools. Lake Forest has no preference, but use only one.
Shadow visits
October to JanuaryApplication and aid
Jan 15, 2027Late applications
After Jan 15, 2027Dates without a year are as Lake Forest lists them. Ask the admission office for decision and reply dates.
Applying through SAO adds a $10 processing fee. If the fee is a barrier, ask the admission office about a waiver.
Your current English and math teachers each write one, and so does your principal, counselor, or adviser. Your school sends your last two years of transcripts, and a parent signs a records release.
You’ll find both in the admissions portal.
Part of the application: about 30 minutes, in person or by video, and Lake Forest treats both the same.
Required. Applicants to grades 9 and 10 send the SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, or PreACT. Older applicants send the SAT or ACT, and grade 11 can also send the PSAT. International applicants add an English test.
Upload them to the portal if you’d like. The arts form says work samples won’t affect the admission decision.
Lake Forest’s portal: Your inquiry creates the account, and you can book your interview there. Once the preliminary application and fee are in, the rest of the checklist opens.
SAO: A parent or guardian opens the account for a student under 18. Submitted forms are final: SAO can remove a form sent by mistake within ten business days, but you can’t rewrite or add to your answers.
The records release: A parent signs it and sends it to your school and to Lake Forest. It asks your school for your grades from this year and last, along with your test, attendance, and discipline records. It also covers your health records and any psychological testing, educational evaluations, or learning-support plans (in U.S. schools, an IEP or a 504 plan).
English tests: Before you book one, ask the admission office about minimum scores and exemptions, especially if you’ve studied in English. The TOEFL code is 8161.
Student visa: Lake Forest issues the I-20, the form you need to apply for an F-1 student visa, after your family signs the enrollment contract and pays the deposit.
Contracts: Parents sign the enrollment contract themselves. Lake Forest doesn’t allow students or application assistants to sign it.
Health insurance: Every student needs health insurance, with proof on file, and Lake Forest doesn’t provide it. International families can buy emergency coverage through registration, so ask how that works.
Getting here: O’Hare is 21 miles from campus. For your first arrival, Lake Forest arranges the trip from O’Hare if no guardian can meet you.
Breaks: Lake Forest’s preliminary 2026–27 calendar closes dorms over Thanksgiving (November 21 to 29, 2026), winter break (December 17, 2026, into early January 2027), and spring break (March 13 to 28, 2027), but not over the fall and winter long weekends. Check the 2027–28 calendar before you book flights.
Getting home: Shuttles take students out when those three breaks begin, but there’s no airport pickup when they end. Plan each return trip, and ask what boarders who can’t go home usually do.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Prompts appear in your portalLake Forest keeps its student essay questions and its two parent questions in the admissions portal, not on its website.
Lake Forest doesn’t require a graded paper, a video, or an extra personal letter. Your essays are where Lake Forest hears how you think and what you notice.
Letrado’s adviceWrite about one real moment, including the part that didn’t go to plan, and don’t make anything sound bigger than it was. Your parents answer their two questions themselves, and our mentors never write for you or for them.
Read every question, and any word limit, in the portal before you start. Then answer with something that happened to you, in words you’d actually use.
Lake Forest asks your parents two questions of their own. Their answers should sound like them: what they see at home, in their own words.
The arts form asks about your media, instruments, and interest in performing or working backstage, with how long you’ve done each. The athletic form asks for your sports in order of importance, with years, coach or team, level, position, and any records. Neither sets a word limit.
SAO’s account agreement asks for “truthful, complete, up-to-date and accurate information.” Lake Forest’s 2026–27 student handbook treats using AI generators to create work as plagiarism. Our rule: AI can help you brainstorm, check spelling and grammar, or understand a topic, but every sentence you submit is yours, with no AI-written or AI-rewritten text and no details AI made up. If Lake Forest or SAO sets its own rule, follow it, and our mentors will too.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Lake Forest’s aid pages don’t promise to meet every family’s full need, and there are no athletic or other activity scholarships.
STUDENTS ON AID
of students receive financial aid, 162 in all.
MERIT AWARDS
Limited awards, with no separate application to make.
AID APPLICATION
The same day as your admission application.
PUBLISHED 2026–27 TUITION · BOARDING
$79,775Day tuition is $57,150. The prices include fees, and room and board for boarders, but not books or health insurance. International students also pay a $2,500 fee.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 costs when Lake Forest publishes them.
Tuition and financial aid (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceIf there’s any chance you’ll need aid, apply for it. Both applications are due January 15, 2027. Merit awards are limited, so plan around need-based aid.
Trips that are part of the curriculum are paid for by the school, apart from some extras. Other trips are paid by families, with limited aid.
Travel at Lake Forest (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO LAKE FOREST · E.F.
She was applying for grade 10 from a small rural public school in Maine that offered few advanced courses. Her essay followed a failed attempt to protect a marked nesting area, and showed that care without a maintenance plan was temporary. We helped her keep test preparation in proportion.
Her letters came from teachers who could describe her curiosity and follow-through, not only her grades.
A diagnostic showed what she could improve through structured self-study. Her family chose a short preparation period and accepted that her score would be one part of her application among many.
She weighed science, writing, and what leaving home would mean to her.
Lake Forest’s application steps (opens in a new tab) describe testing as one part of a review of your whole application. Set a limited plan that protects your schoolwork and the commitments that already show who you are.
AI illustrationHER LAKE FOREST OUTCOME
Offered a place at Lake Forest Academy
HER CHOICE: LAKE FORESTWarner House, Lake Forest Academy · Photo: Kane5187 / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Cropped.
Cate’s setting matched her interests closely, but Lake Forest kept a smaller residential community while offering Chicago-area resources. She planned to keep helping the conservation group during longer breaks.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
WHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.
