CEEB Code
Dean of College Counseling: Molly Branch mbranch@windwardschool.org
Dean of College Counseling: Becca Larson blarson@windwardschool.org
Dean of College Counseling: Corey Marquetti cmarquetti@windwardschool.org
Dean of College Counseling: Stephanie Osimiri sosimiri@windwardschool.org
Asst. Head of School, Director Collegiate Division: Kevin Newman knewman@windwardschool.org
A DYNAMIC, ENGAGING EDUCATION. A NURTURING, INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY.
Windward was founded by educator Shirley Windward in 1971 as a coeducational, non-profit, independent college preparatory day school enrolling students in grades 7 through 12. Our mission statement encourages students to become responsible, caring, well-informed, ethical and prepared citizens of the world. Located in West Los Angeles, Windward draws its student body from the diverse population of Los Angeles. Admission is highly selective. Windward is accredited by WASC and is a member of the Global Online Academy, the Cum Laude Society, NAIS, the College Board, NACAC, WACAC and ACCIS.
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
• Founding member of the Global Online Academy (GOA), a consortium of the world’s leading independent schools whose mission is to translate into online classrooms the intellectually rigorous programs and excellent teaching that are hallmarks of its member schools.
• STEAM and Global Education Curriculum— students in these programs receive STEAM or Global Scholar designation.
• LEGO, VEX and FIRST Robotics programs.
• The Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Windward Network support student and alumni growth through internships, guest speakers, and business mentors.
CALCULATION OF GPA
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Upper School students must complete a minimum of:
• 4 years of English
• 3 years of social studies, including U.S. history and world history
• 3 years of mathematics, including algebra 2/ trigonometry
• 3 years of science, including physics, chemistry, and biology
• 3 years of the same world language or 2 years each of two world languages
• 1 year-long Senior Honors Capstone
• 2 years of visual or performing arts
• 2 years of physical education
• 20 hours of community service
Traditional A to F, 4.0 grading scale, grades are weighted in Honors and AP courses with a weight of .5 given to all grades.
• All courses are calculated in the GPA with the exception of PE, which is Pass/Fail.
• Transcripts include end-of-year unweighted/weighted GPAs, as well as a cumulative unweighted/ weighted 9-12 GPA.
• No outside coursework is factored into a student’s GPA, regardless of whether it fulfills a Windward course requirement. Only Windward and Global Online Academy coursework are included on the Windward transcript; transcripts from other schools or universities listing courses taken to fulfill Windward requirements may be attached to the Windward transcript.
• If a student remediates a D or F grade, the initial grade is listed, but not calculated into the GPA.
• If a student drops a course, a W (withdraw) will be listed on the transcript.
VIRTUAL GRADING COURSES
• Due to Covid-19 and Los Angeles school closures, Windward adopted a virtual learning model beginning March 22, 2020. Students remained in a virtual setting through mid-May 2021 and received letter grades in all courses for the 2020-21 school year. However, Windward policy dictated that final cumulative grades in 2021 could not be lower than what students had earned prior to virtual learning.
• In-person learning and pre-pandemic grading standards resumed for the 2021-22 school year and remain in place.
• Year-long grades
• Senior mid-year grades are calculated through late November.
The 10 Senior Honors Capstones for 2023-24 include:
• H Capstone: Ethics & Leadership
• H Capstone: Data Collection & Analysis
• H Capstone: Social Justice & Public Policy
• H Capstone: Historical Analysis
• H Capstone: Psychology
• H Capstone: World Language
• H Capstone: Collaborative Arts
• H Capstone: Novel Writing
• H Capstone: Research in Computer Science
• H Capstone: Molecular Biology
CLASS OF2024
STUDENTS STUDENTS
GPA & GRADE DISTRIBUTION
(Grades through 2022-23 school years)
Highest Cumulative GPA: 4.33
Mean GPA: 3.73 unweighted; 3.94 weighted
Class Rank: We do not rank our students
WINDWARD QUICK FACTS
3.4M
Our Student Body SELF-Identifies as:
NATIONAL MERIT
CLASS OF 2024
- 5 National Merit Semifinalists
CLASS OF 2023
- 12 National Merit Commended
- 3 National Hispanic Recognition Award
- 1 National African American Recognition
- 2 National Merit Semifinalists
UPPER SCHOOL HONORS & AP COURSES
21 AP and 35 Honors courses in the 2023-24 school year
Social Science (no Honors history grade 9)
AP Euro. Hist. H Global Studies
AP US History
H History: The US in the World
AP Literature
H Capstone: Novel Writing
AP Gov & Politics: Comparative
AP Art History
H Psychology
H Capstone: Historical Analysis
H Capstone: Psychology
H Capstone: Ethics & Leadership
H Capstone: Social Justice & Public Policy
H Global Economics
AP Calculus AB (prerequisite for AP Calc BC)
AP Calculus BC
AP Statistics
H
H Capstone: AP Statistics
AP Computer Science A
H Computer Science: Topics in Artificial Intelligence
H Computer Science: Data & Algorithms
H Capstone: Research in Computer Science
AP Physics C: Mechanics
H Environmental Science
H Capstone: Molecular Biology
AP Spanish Language & Culture
AP Spanish Literature
AP French Language & Culture
H Mandarin Language & Culture
AP Chinese Language & Culture
H Capstone: Spanish
AP Music Theory
AP Studio Art
H Advanced Jazz Ensemble
H Advanced Theater Ensemble
H Capstone: Collaborative Arts
ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMS
39 AP Scholars, 32 AP Scholars with Honors, 60 AP Scholars with Distinction
AP course enrollment is subject to permission of the department chair. Students enrolled in AP courses are not required to take the corresponding exam.
• Windward Upper School students are required to take both AP English courses.
• Truly exceptional students will take seven or more AP courses.
In May 2023, 266 students took 566 AP exams in 24 subjects.
• 86% of the scores were 3 or higher.
TESTING PROFILE
• Only 65% of the Class of 2024 had an official ACT or SAT score by 9/01/23.
• The School does not participate in any SAT or ACT school day exam administrations. As colleges and universities have moved to test optional admissions, we are deemphasizing the role testing plays in the admission process.
COLLEGE MATRICULATION
The 106 students in the Class of 2023 matriculated in 50 colleges in 21 U.S. states; 100% attended a four-year university (enrollment indicated by an asterisk below).
Graduates of the past five years chose to matriculate to the following schools:
- American University
- Amherst College
- Arizona State University
- Babson College
- Bard College*
- Barnard College
- Bates College
- Berklee College of Music*
- Binghamton University
- Boston College*
- Boston University*
- Bowdoin College
- Brown University*
- Cal Poly Pomona
- Cal Poly SLO*
- Cal State Dominguez Hills
- Cal State Fullerton*
- Cal State Northridge*
- Carleton College
- Chapman University*
- Colby College
- Colgate University*
- Colorado College
- Columbia University*
- Connecticut College*
- Cornell University*
- Dartmouth College*
Denison University
- Duke University*
- Ecole Nationale de Cirque
Elon University
- Emerson College
Emory University*
Fordham University
- Georgetown University*
Gonzaga University - Grinnell College
- Harvard University*
Harvey Mudd College*
- Haverford College - High Point University
- IE University Madrid
- Indiana University, Bloomington* - Johns Hopkins University
- Kenyon College
- Lafayette College - Lehigh University
- Lewis and Clark College - Loyola Marymount University - Mass. Institute of Technology
- Musician’s Institute - New York University*
- Northeastern University* - Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Pepperdine University*
Pitzer College*
Pomona College
Pratt Institute
Princeton University*
Purdue University*
Queen’s University
- Reed College
- Regis University
- Richmond University, London
- San Jose State University
- Santa Clara University
- Santa Monica College
- Savannah College of Art & Design
- Scripps College
- Seattle University
- Skidmore College*
- Southern Methodist University*
- Stanford University*
- Syracuse University
- The George Washington University*
- The New School*
- The University of Texas, Austin*
- Trinity University
- Tufts University*
- Tulane University*
- Union College
- UC Berkeley*
- UC Irvine
- UC Los Angeles *
- UC Riverside
- UC San Diego
- UC Santa Barbara*
- UC Santa Cruz*
- University of Chicago*
- University of Colorado, Boulder*
- University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne
- University of Miami*
- University of Michigan*
- University of Mississippi
- University of New Haven
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- University of New Haven
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania*
- University of Richmond
- University of Southern California*
- University of St. Andrews
- University of Virginia
- University of Washington, Seattle*
- University of Wisconsin, Madison*
- Vassar College*
- Villanova University
- Wake Forest University
- Washington University in St. Louis*
- Wellesley College
- Wesleyan University*
- Williams College
- Yale University*
23 students