College-preparatory school

A preparatory school, or prep school, is, in the United States, usually a private secondary school (or high school) designed to prepare a student for higher education.

Many are boarding schools; often, such schools are highly selective and academically challenging. Such schools are usually expensive, with high tuition used to pay teachers better and provide enriched learning environments and services, such as libraries, science laboratories, and computers.

In the United States, college preparatory schools often place an emphasis on offering a wide variety of Advanced Placement courses. The preparation for college that such courses provides, the higher-than-average SAT scores, and other attributes of their students lead many colleges and universities to actively recruit prep school students.

Partial list of U.S. preparatory schools

The following is a partial list of preparatory schools in the United States:

• Brownell Talbot School (Omaha, Nebraska)
• Bush School (Seattle, Washington)
• Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford, Connecticut)
• Dalton (New York City, New York)
• Deerfield Academy (Deerfield, Massachusetts)
• Groton School (Groton, Massachusetts)
• Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, Connecticut)
• Lakeside School (Seattle, Washington)
• Lawrenceville School (Lawrenceville, New Jersey)
• Milton Academy (Milton, Massachusetts)
• Northfield Mount Hermon School (Northfield, Massachusetts)
• Peddie School (Hightstown, New Jersey)
• Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts)
• Phillips Exeter (Exeter, New Hampshire)
• Princeton Day School (Princeton, New Jersey)
• Rockhurst High School (Kansas City, Missouri)
• Sidwell Friends School (Washington, DC)
• St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)

Preparatory schools outside the U.S.

Internationally well-regarded preparatory secondary schools outside the U.S. include Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario, Schule Schloss Salem in Salem, Germany, Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, and Institute Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland.

In France, some high schools offer special postgraduate classes, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish to enter Grandes Écoles.

In the United Kingdom and some parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, a prep school is an independent primary school designed to prepare students to enter a secondary school, particularly a public school.