MILTON ACADEMY · PRIVATE SCHOOL GUIDE
Milton Academy sits on 130 acres in Milton, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. Start here to picture daily life and prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL
Milton’s Upper School has 720 students in 2026–27, half boarding and half day. Choose with care: once you’re admitted, Milton changes boarding or day status only in special circumstances.
BOARDING
You’ll live in one of nine houses that mix all four grades, and you stay in the same house until you graduate. Faculty live in the houses and advise students, and older students mentor younger ones.
DAY
You’ll live at home but can join afternoon, evening, and weekend activities, and you’re welcome at weekday dinners and weekend meals. A bus service is available.
Milton has no grade 12 entry and lists no postgraduate year. Hoping to join grade 11 as a day student? Ask the admission office first.
Credits to graduate: Students who join in grade 9 need 18 credits to graduate, those who join in grade 10 need 13, and those who join in grade 11 need 9. To move up each year, you need four credits, including English, with a C− or better in at least three.
The arts: Students who join in grade 11 don’t need the Arts Program course.
Public speaking: The ten-week public speaking course comes in grade 10, or in grade 11 if you join then.
Placement: Ask the admission office how Milton places new students and counts courses from your old school.
Core subjects: English every year; math including Proof and Problem Solving and Algebra II; a language through level 3; biology plus physics or chemistry; and a history sequence that includes U.S. history.
Languages: Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Latin, and classical Greek.
Advanced courses: Milton offers one AP course, Latin Literature. Its other advanced courses carry labels such as Honors, Accelerated, Intensive, and Advanced.
Senior projects: Seniors can swap their May classes for a faculty-sponsored project that ends in presentations and a project fair.
Your transcript: Ninth-grade courses appear as credits, without grades, and Milton reports no GPA or class rank.
Adults on campus: 92 faculty members live on campus, a 4:1 ratio of students to residential faculty. Each house sits down to family-style dinners twice a week.
Health care: The Faulkner Health Center is open around the clock. Physicians see boarders on weekdays as needed, Boston Children’s doctors are on call at night and on weekends, and day students get care there too.
Counseling: Appointments run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school days, with on-call support after hours and a consulting psychiatrist on campus.
Academic help: The Academic Skills Center has learning specialists, drop-in help from teachers, and peer tutors, and it helps students who qualify with accommodation plans and SAT and ACT accommodation requests.
UNDERSTAND WHAT MILTON LOOKS FOR
Those three words lead Milton’s admission page, and the school publishes no formula for weighing grades, tests, writing, and the interview.
YOUR CURIOSITY
Milton’s full-year lab science courses include a four- to six-week Design Your Own investigation.
Letrado’s adviceDescribe something you explored because you wanted to know, not because it was assigned, and what you found along the way.
YOUR CREATIVITY
Milton has more than 100 clubs and organizations, and students can propose new ones.
Letrado’s advicePick two or three interests and show how far you’ve taken each.
YOUR CHARACTER
A tip on Milton’s admission team page: “Be yourself and help us get to know the authentic you.” The school’s motto is “Dare to Be True.”
Letrado’s adviceIf your record has a gap or a hard term, explain it plainly in a sentence or two. An honest account reads better than a smoothed-over one.
WHAT MILTON DESCRIBES
A family tour led by a student, then a two-part interview with admission staff, for you and for your parents.
The same two-part interview, online.
Interviews run from September 2026 to January 2027, and slots fill quickly.
WHAT MILTON SAYS
The SSAT or ISEE
The SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, SAT, or ACT
Milton accepts tests from the current school year, taken before January 15, so plan to register and test between October 2026 and January 2027. Its score codes are 5098 for the SSAT, 221430 for the ISEE, and 8125 for the TOEFL.
WHAT MILTON, GATEWAY, AND SAO SAY
Milton hasn’t published a rule on AI or outside help with applications. Gateway’s Candidate Profile asks you to certify that all your application materials are “factually accurate and honestly presented,” and false information can lead to an offer being revoked.
On SAO, a parent or legal guardian opening an account for a student under 18 agrees to provide “truthful, complete, up-to-date and accurate information,” and only the student and their parents or legal guardians may use the account.
MILTON’S SAMPLE DAY
Ninth graders spend all three seasons on a school team or in PE. Tenth graders spend all three on a team, in intramurals, or in PE, and juniors and seniors spend two. Team practices take five or six afternoons a week, and intramurals usually three or four.
On weekends, Milton’s events on campus and in Boston, from performances and museum trips to shopping vans and outdoor activities, are free for every student, boarding or day.
MILTON’S PUBLISHED FIGURES
Students come from 29 countries and 23 states. The Upper School figures are from the 2026–27 school profile.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
Milton accepts applications through either Gateway to Prep Schools or the Standard Application Online (SAO), two shared online applications for private schools.
Application
Jan 15, 2027Financial aid
Jan 31, 2027Decisions
Mar 10, 2027Milton asks you to send your profile well before the deadline. If your application is complete by then, you’ll get your decision on March 10. Dates without a year are as Milton lists them.
Start with Milton’s inquiry form. Milton then emails you a link to its applicant portal, where you book your interview, sign up for events, and check your status.
The fee is $65 for domestic applicants and $125 for international applicants. SAO adds $10 per school, which it drops if Milton waives its fee. For a hardship waiver, contact the admission office.
Required for every applicant, boarding or day. You book it in your portal.
From your current English teacher, current math teacher, and principal or counselor. You can add a personal recommendation and up to two special-interest ones.
Your school sends your current fall term or semester grades and your final grades from the two years before, preferably online. Copies you send yourself aren’t accepted.
Short answers or essays and a parent or guardian statement are required. A graded writing sample is optional.
Gateway, in three parts: Part 1, the Candidate Profile, can feed several schools’ applications. Part 2 holds each school’s own essays and statements, which you submit after Part 1 and the fee. Part 3 sends requests to your recommenders and your school.
SAO: A common profile, interests, essays, parent statements, references, and school reports, with extra questions that vary by school. Your aid application stays separate.
Changing your grade or status: Settle both before you add Milton in Gateway, and contact Milton before you change either later.
Financial aid: Aid is open to applicants who aren’t U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
English tests: If English isn’t your first language, or you haven’t had at least two years at a school that teaches mainly in English, Milton strongly suggests the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test.
Aid documents: International families send 2024 and 2025 tax documents, with English translations where needed; a letter from the employer setting out the terms of employment; a bank certificate covering all balances; and bank statements from November and December 2026.
The Clarity fee: Clarity’s automatic fee waiver covers only U.S.-based families. Others can ask Milton, which decides whether to waive it.
Settling in: Milton offers orientation and support as you settle in, and through its Host Family Program, volunteer families vetted by the school offer boarders weekend nights, activities, or meals.
Visas and English support: Ask the admission office how Milton handles student visa paperwork, and whether it offers English-language support.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Prompts appear in your applicationLook for Milton’s essay prompts inside your application, with the parent statement.
Use your writing to show what your grades and activity list can’t, such as how you think and what you care about.
Letrado’s adviceWrite about something small and true. One specific moment, told plainly, will tell Milton more than a big statement about who you are.
Answer with real moments from your own life. Write the way you talk, with plain words and exact details.
They can share what they see at home, which no teacher can. It should sound like them, not like you.
If you add one, choose a recent paper that shows how you think, even if it wasn’t your top grade.
Your profile has room for activities and coursework. Give honest hours and dates, and if something stopped, say when.
Remind each teacher of a project or class moment they saw firsthand. A special-interest letter helps only if it adds something your teachers can’t.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
All of Milton’s aid is based on need, with no merit scholarships and no campus job required. When the evidence shows a family can’t contribute anything, Milton’s FAQ says the school provides complete funding.
AID BUDGET, 2026–27
set aside for financial aid.
STUDENTS ON AID, 2026–27
of students in grades 9 to 12 receive aid.
AVERAGE GRANT, 2026–27
for students who receive aid.
Milton first reads every application without regard to a family’s ability to pay, but its final decisions weigh the aid available. Applying for aid can affect an admission decision.
Milton’s tuition and financial aid (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 TUITION · BOARDING
$79,900Day tuition for 2026–27 is $69,900. Neither comes with mandatory fees, but books, supplies, and optional programs cost extra, and students are expected to have a laptop.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 tuition when Milton publishes it.
Tuition and financial aid (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceIf you might need aid at any point, apply now. Milton expects families who start without aid to keep paying in full, and it considers a later request only after a significant change nobody could have foreseen.
Eligible families can also get help with costs such as trips and music lessons.
Aid and cost questions (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO MILTON · T.S.
He was a New Jersey public-school student, strong in math and chemistry, applying to boarding schools for grade 10. A family move in eighth grade had interrupted his activities and separated him from teachers who knew him well. We helped him tell that story honestly and decide whether another move was worth it.
He had first combined activities from both schools as if nothing had stopped. Separating them gave a less impressive but more accurate record, and the quiet months showed how he chose to take part again.
A former teacher had known him for several years, and his current chemistry teacher had seen his recent return. The two letters, coordinated as school rules allowed, showed both continuity and change.
It began with cooking a family dish in a new kitchen. Later drafts added the unfamiliar equipment, the missing ingredients, and his reluctance to ask neighbors for help.
Not every disruption needs to become a hardship story. Keep the real dates and breaks, and show how you started again.
HIS MILTON OUTCOME
Offered a place at Milton AcademyHIS CHOICE: MILTON
Staying at his school, where relationships were finally forming, was a real option. Milton’s mix of boarding and day students and the nearby city felt connected rather than isolated, and its academic range made another transition worth making.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
AI illustrationWHEN 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.