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The Journal

Quiet writing on the academic life.

Notes from the principal, on the questions families bring to the practice. Published infrequently. Sent to a private list when it is.

Issue XII/March 2026/On admissions

The school you should not apply to - and why naming it is the most useful counsel a family can hear.

The most consequential admissions conversation in any year is rarely about the school a family is hoping for. It is, almost without exception, about the school they have not been told to leave off the list.

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Topics

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xi. Jan 2026

The summer before the senior year. How to use it well, and how not to.

On tutoring x. Nov 2025

What an admissions officer is reading when she reads the personal statement.

On admissions ix. Sep 2025

The first six weeks at a new senior school. A short field guide for the household.

On transitions viii. Jun 2025

Across siblings. The difficult arithmetic of attention in a household of standing.

On family advisory vii. Apr 2025

The tutor who is asked back, by name, every year. What to look for, and what to ignore.

On tutoring vi. Feb 2025

Le Rosey, Aiglon and the alpine schools. A practical map of three institutions often confused.

On admissions v. Nov 2024

When a school writes about something difficult. How to read the letter, and how to reply.

On family advisory iv. Sep 2024

Pre-tests at eleven. A short note for the families now in the question.

On admissions iii. Jun 2024

Relocation, planned. The academic dimension that is most often considered last.

On family advisory ii. Mar 2024

Oxford, Cambridge and the interview. A note on what is, and is not, being asked.

On admissions i. Jan 2024

The first letter. Why this practice exists, and the families it is for.

On the practice

Private correspondence

A note from the principal, now and then.

The Journal is also sent, in writing, to a private correspondence list. No more than four times a year. No commercial use of the address.

Held in confidence. Single-purpose.