Best private high schools in the Washington, DC area, ranked by published college outcomes

Which private high schools in the Washington, DC area have the strongest published college outcomes?

Among the 10 private high schools in Washington, DC and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs with a counted college list, Maret School sends the most graduates to the Ivy+ twelve, 14.2 per class year (71 over 5 class years), followed by Bullis School (13) and Episcopal High School (12.2).

Private high schools in the Washington, DC area that publish a counted acceptances list

An acceptances list counts every college that admitted a graduate, so one student admitted to three of the twelve counts three times. It is a different document from a matriculation list and is never added to the table above.

How many private high schools in the Washington, DC area publish a college list?

10 of the 129 private high schools in Washington, DC and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs publish a college list with counts, 21 publish a list without counts, and 98 publish no list we have read.

Which private high schools in the Washington, DC area are boarding schools?

3 of the 129 private high schools in Washington, DC and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs are listed as boarding schools by the TABS member directory: Episcopal High School, Georgetown Preparatory School, and The Madeira School.

Which private high schools in the Washington, DC area are religiously affiliated?

On the federal Private School Survey, 19 of the 129 private high schools in Washington, DC and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs are Catholic, 48 have another religious affiliation and 62 are nonsectarian.

What families are also choosing at a private school

Parents are not only shopping for college outcomes. The tables above count where graduates enrolled, and a high school is also four years of a teenager's days: who they spend them with, what the school asks them to value, and whether the adults know them.

• Community and values fit. A private school sets its own mission and expectations, and the application, the entrance exam and the interview work as a fit signal in both directions. On the federal Private School Survey, 19 of these schools are Catholic, 48 have another religious affiliation and 62 are nonsectarian.
• Residential life. 3 of these schools offer boarding, per the TABS member directory, so living on campus is part of what they offer.
• Class size. Class size is a fair question for each school's admissions office; we hold no student–teacher ratio for the schools listed here.
• Advising. Each private school builds its own college-advising model, so the useful question is how many students each counselor carries and how early the work starts.
• Arts and athletics access. A smaller school can mean more students on each team and in each production; ask each school what participation looks like.

Public schools are a great choice when a family cannot afford a private school, and a published college list is one of the few outcome measures a private school and a public school can be read on side by side.

Every other private high school in the Washington, DC area with a page on Reach (98)

Listed alphabetically. These schools publish no college list we have read; that is all their absence from the tables above means.

School	City	Grades	Affiliation
Aami Bible Institute	Elkridge	9–12	Other religious
Accotink Academy	Springfield	1–12	Nonsectarian
Al-Huda School	College Park	—	Other religious
Al-Qalam Academy	Springfield	—	Other religious
Alternative Paths Training School	Dumfries	1–12	Nonsectarian
Alternative Paths Training School - Alexandria	Alexandria	1–12	Nonsectarian
Annapolis Area Christian School	Severn	—	Other religious
Archbishop Carroll High School	Washington	9–12	Catholic
Basis Independent Mclean	Mclean	—	Nonsectarian
Belair Baptist Christian Academy	Bowie	—	Other religious
Berthold Academy For The Gifted And Talented	Herndon	1–12	Nonsectarian
Bishop Ireton High School	Alexandria	9–12	Catholic
Bishop Mcnamara High School	Forestville	9–12	Catholic
British Int'L Schl Washington	Washington	—	Nonsectarian
Chelsea School	Hyattsville	5–12	Nonsectarian
Christ Chapel Academy	Woodbridge	—	Other religious
Cornerstone Schools-Washington	Washington	—	Other religious
Covenant Life School	Gaithersburg	—	Other religious
Dematha Catholic High School	Hyattsville	9–12	Catholic
Dominion Christian School	Reston	7–12	Other religious
Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School	Takoma Park	9–12	Catholic
Elizabeth Seton High School	Bladensburg	9–12	Catholic
Evangel Christian School	Dale City	—	Other religious
Fairfax Baptist Temple Academy	Fairfax Station	—	Other religious
Fairfax Christian School	Dulles	—	Other religious
Fairfax Global Academy	Springfield	3–12	Nonsectarian
Fairhaven School	Upper Marlboro	—	Other religious
Fellowship Baptist Academy	Upper Marlboro	3–12	Other religious
Forbush School At Oakmont Upper School	Gaithersburg	9–12	Nonsectarian
Foundation Learning Center The	Landover	—	Nonsectarian
From The Heart Christian School	Suitland	—	Other religious
Fusion Academy Alykandria	Alexandria	6–12	Nonsectarian
Fusion Academy Ty: Tysons	Vienna	6–12	Nonsectarian
Fusion Academy Wdc: Washington D.C.	Washington	6–12	Nonsectarian
Fusion Columbia	Columbia	7–12	Nonsectarian
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School	Washington	9–12	Catholic
German International School Washington Dc	Potomac	—	Nonsectarian
Grace Brethren Christian School	Clinton	—	Other religious
Hidayah Academy	Sterling	6–12	Other religious
High Road Academy Of Prince Georges County	Lanham	4–12	Nonsectarian
Ideaventions Academy For Mathematics And Science	Reston	4–12	Nonsectarian
Immanuel Christian School	Springfield	—	Other religious
Ivymount School	Rockville	1–12	Nonsectarian
Kennedy Institute	Washington	9–12	Catholic
King Abdullah Academy	Herndon	—	Other religious
Kirov Academy Of Washington D.C.	Washington	6–12	Nonsectarian
Lanham Christian School	Lanham Seabrook	—	Other religious
Living Word Christian School	Washington	—	Other religious
Loudoun School For The Advanced Studies	Ashburn	6–12	Nonsectarian
M&M Learning Center	College Park	—	Other religious
Marcia D Smith School	Gaithersburg	9–12	Nonsectarian
Mc Lean School Of Maryland	Potomac	—	Nonsectarian
Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy	Rockville	—	Other religious
Middleton Academy	Richmond	9–12	Nonsectarian
Model Secondary School For The Deaf	Washington	9–12	Nonsectarian
Mysa School	Washington	1–12	Nonsectarian
National Christian Academy	Ft Washington	—	Other religious
New Beginnings Vocational Program Llc	Washington	9–12	Nonsectarian
New Hope Academy	Hyattsville	—	Nonsectarian
New Hope Academy	Landover Hills	—	Nonsectarian
Odenton Christian School	Odenton	—	Other religious
Oneness Family School	Chevy Chase	—	Nonsectarian
Oneness-Family High School Of Washington	Kensington	9–12	Nonsectarian
Palm Tree School	Fairfax	—	Other religious
Pathways Horizons	Beltsville	6–12	Nonsectarian
Pathways School--Edgewood	Silver Spring	9–12	Nonsectarian
Phillips School - Fairfax	Fairfax	3–12	Nonsectarian
Phillips School - Laurel	Laurel	4–12	Nonsectarian
Phillips School-Annandale	Annandale	1–12	Nonsectarian
Riverdale Baptist School	Upper Marlboro	—	Other religious
Rivermont School - Nova	Lorton	1–12	Nonsectarian
Rockbridge Academy	Crownsville	—	Other religious
She'Arim High School	Rockville	9–12	Other religious
Sheppard Pratt School-Rockville (Formerly Frost Sc	Rockville	2–12	Nonsectarian
Smca	White Plains	—	Other religious
Spencerville Adventist Academy	Spencerville	—	Other religious
St Vincent Pallotti High School	Laurel	9–12	Catholic
Takoma Academy	Takoma Park	9–12	Other religious
Temple Baptist School	Herndon	—	Other religious
Templeton Academy	Washington	6–12	Nonsectarian
The Gw Community School	Springfield	8–12	Nonsectarian
The Heights School	Potomac	3–12	Catholic
The Howard Gardner School	Alexandria	7–12	Nonsectarian
The Katherine Thomas School	Rockville	—	Nonsectarian
The Living Water School	Alexandria	1–12	Other religious
The Monroe School	Washington	6–12	Nonsectarian
The New School Of Northern Virginia	Fairfax	6–12	Nonsectarian
The Nora School	Silver Spring	9–12	Nonsectarian
The Sycamore School	Arlinton	5–12	Nonsectarian
Trinity Christian School Of Fairfax	Fairfax	—	Other religious
Veritas Collegiate Academy	Vienna	—	Other religious
Washington Christian Academy	Olney	—	Other religious
Washington Waldorf School	Bethesda	—	Nonsectarian
Whittle School & Studios	Washington	—	Nonsectarian
Woodstream Christian Academy	Mitchellville	—	Other religious
Word Of Life Christian Academy	Springfield	—	Other religious
Yeshiva Of Greater Washington Boys Division	Silver Spring	7–12	Other religious
Yeshiva Of Greater Washington Girls Division	Silver Spring	7–12	Other religious

Other metros are on the private high schools by metro index. The same arithmetic across every state is the Ivy+ enrollment board; for one college at a time, see which private schools send the most students to each college.

Ivy+ means these twelve: Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University in the City of New York, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Duke University. A graduate is counted once, at the college the school says they enrolled at; the per-class-year figure is the published total divided by the class years the school's own document covers, and both are shown. A school that is not on this page did not publish a numbered matriculation list we could read — that is all absence means here. It is never a statement about a school's graduates. Lists of acceptances (where students were admitted, not where they enrolled) are never counted in this ranking: an acceptances list runs about three times an enrollment list, so counting the two together would compare different things. Those lists are ranked on their own, separately. Grades and religious affiliation are from the National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey. Boarding is read from the TABS member directory — The Association of Boarding Schools' 2026 list of its US member schools — matched onto our school pages by exact or town-confirmed name (173 of them). A school that directory does not list is not called a boarding school on a guess, so it waits for the next directory pass rather than appearing here. A school is listed here when its NCES coordinates fall within 25 miles of the metro's center and it is in DC, MD, VA.