About Us
Founded more than 45 years ago, the Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO) is a group of distinguished college preparatory schools working collaboratively to effectively communicate with, inform, and meet the needs of students and families hoping to learn more about all that the nation’s top boarding schools have to offer. This website is a starting point for that learning and exploration. It is a convenient, central access point for each of the ten schools’ individual websites; a place to learn more about TSAO recruitment travel and off-campus information sessions; a way to formally request information from any TSAO school; a collaborative site that helps streamline the admission process; and a resource repository to help families make informed decisions about their child’s education.
TSAO schools share high academic standards, a commitment to excellence, rich institutional histories, and a deep commitment to educating the whole student. They are places where students and faculty live, work, discover, learn, image, achieve, lead, explore, create, and grow. They are tight-knit communities of learners, whose diverse backgrounds, talents, and perspectives enrich and elevate every aspect of the boarding school experience.
TSAO Mission Statement:
The Ten Schools Admission Organization is a group of college preparatory institutions that work together to introduce the boarding school concept to students and families in our ever-changing world. We strive to support one another to develop stronger, more inclusive, more supportive admission practices for the increasingly diverse student populations in our schools. Our organization leans into opportunities to use our collective voice to stand up against injustice and support our current and future students who are or feel marginalized. In a broader sense, we strive to be a leadership organization in the field of secondary school admissions in the United States. We believe in the transformative power of boarding schools to educate students to create positive change in our world.
Founded in 1952 with the explicit goal of making the application process easier for families considering our ten schools, TSAO’s historical context dictates that our membership be limited to our founding member schools: Andover, Choate, Deerfield, Exeter, Hill, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, Loomis Chaffee, St. Paul’s, and Taft.