Admissions FAQs

As you walk down the halls of L-Dub, you'll see all kinds of students: a mix of introverts and extroverts, basketball stars and debaters, coders and engineers, artists and performers, and they all know that each of them can be any or all of those. In the middle school years, L-Dub helps students find their own strong voices and connect with a cohort who believes in the power of working together. L-Dub students find a place where they belong, where the representation of girls, women, and female-identifying people lets them see what they can be. They learn to go around, over, or through the barriers in their path.

It's a fair question, and one we hear often, since most schools in Seattle serve students straight through from middle school into high school. Here's how we think about it: when a school spans seven years, its attention, energy, and leadership are naturally divided across all seven. The middle school years get a share of that focus. At L-Dub, they get all of it. Every teacher we hire, every advisory structure, every day on campus exists to answer one question: what does an 11-to-14-year-old girl need right now?

That specialization doesn't close doors, either. After three years here, your daughter chooses her own high school, informed by who she's become, not who she was at ten. Our graduates go on to nearly every major high school in Seattle, independent and public alike.

A 6-12 school is absolutely the right choice for some families. But if you want these three years to be genuinely built around your daughter, rather than one stop on a longer institutional path, that's exactly what L-Dub is for.

Genuinely, and intentionally, diverse. 43% of our students identify as students of color, well above the typical independent school average. That's not a statistic we highlight for its own sake; it shapes daily classroom conversations, friendships, and how our students learn to think critically about the world they're inheriting.

Diversity at L-Dub isn't a program bolted onto the school year, it's a habit of heart, head, and hand woven into daily life: how we teach, who's in the room, and how students are encouraged to bring their full identities and perspectives into every classroom.

High school placement is something we take seriously well before 8th grade ends. Throughout her three years here, your daughter builds academic skills, study habits, and self-advocacy that translate directly into whatever high school environment she chooses next, independent or public, large or small.

Our faculty and advisors work closely with each 8th grader and her family throughout the high school application process: helping identify schools that fit her interests and goals, supporting test prep where needed, writing thoughtful recommendation letters grounded in three years of really knowing her, and coaching her through interviews and applications of her own.

The results speak for themselves. L-Dub graduates are admitted to, and thrive at, nearly every major high school in Seattle, both independent and public. They arrive well prepared academically, but just as importantly, they arrive knowing how to advocate for themselves, manage their own workload, and navigate a new environment with confidence, skills that come directly from spending these three pivotal years in a school built entirely around this age.

At most schools, support is something a student accesses after she's already fallen behind. At L-Dub, it's built into how we operate for everyone, not something a student has to qualify for or ask for. Every student has access to our full-time school psychologist, and teachers differentiate instruction as a matter of course. When a student needs more than a typical classroom provides, we build an individualized support plan around her specific needs.

Because our teachers work with a small number of students across all three years, they get to know each girl well, often well enough to notice when something's off before a parent even has to raise it. If your daughter is coming from an environment where she feels invisible or unsupported, this is the difference she and you will likely notice fastest: she will be known, by name, by more than one adult, from her very first week.

Before the school year officially begins, 6th graders have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of L-Dub without 7th and 8th graders present. For two half days at the end of summer, 6th graders come to school to find their lockers, understand their schedules, learn where the bathrooms are, and begin forming connections with their new classmates. Over the summer, R&R siblings connect with their incoming 6th grade siblings, and sibling groups often meet up before school starts.

The core academic curriculum includes English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Spanish. Alongside core classes, students have the opportunity to take a variety of other classes throughout the year, including Drama, Physical Education, STEAM, Art, Service Learning, and Mind, Body, Voice.

Typically, 6th grade students get about 30 to 45 minutes of homework a night. Some nights may have a little less, some a little more, depending on the assignment and how class time is used. Teachers often build in time during the school day for students to work on assignments.

The L-Dub experience is more than academic classes. Every L-Dub student is matched with two older siblings when she enters 6th grade. Sibling groups consist of one 6th grader, one 7th grader, and one 8th grader, with lockers next to each other, supporting one another throughout their L-Dub journey. Every student is also a member of a small, multi-grade Respect and Responsibility (R&R) Group. Led by faculty and staff advisors, R&R groups comprise an average of four sibling groups. Throughout the year, R&R groups work on many of the following through activities, workshops, and conversations:

• Community building and group cohesion
• Orientation, school citizenship, and school business
• Goal-setting, reflection, and self-assessment
• Tools for school and learning
• Life skills, healthy development, and self-care
• Moving on to high school
• Real-world connections and service learning
• Personal passions, hobbies, and interests
• Celebrations
• Social justice and advocacy project

All students take physical education in classes designed to teach health, self-confidence, and positive body image. Additionally, a full range of athletic opportunities is offered after school (soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, track and field, and ultimate frisbee), and most L-Dub students participate in at least one sport each year. Many of these no-cut sports have two or more teams divided by skill level. Most teams practice at least two days a week, with approximately ten to twelve games or meets per season.

The school day begins at 8 AM, and students can be on campus as early as 7:45 AM. The school day ends at 3 PM, with after-school sports and activities running from 3:15 to 5 PM.

L-Dub currently offers fee-based morning and afternoon school bus service in partnership with our neighbors at the Hamlin Robinson School. Each year, we evaluate this partnership alongside other transportation options for our families. L-Dub families also pool resources to share transportation solutions, and students often form public transit or carpool groups. We share an L-Dub Family Google Map and a roster of current families each summer so parents/caregivers can plan ahead.

Many L-Dub students bring snacks and lunch from home. L-Dub also partners with a local company, Green Sprouts, to make the school day a little easier for families.

We hope cost doesn't stop you from applying, or even from asking. Financial assistance is available, and we encourage every family to apply regardless of what you assume you might qualify for; admissions and financial assistance are entirely separate processes, and applications are considered on a need-blind basis. Assistance is designed to offset the difference between a family's resources and the cost of attending L-Dub, and awards never need to be repaid.

You can learn more and start an application on our Tuition & Financial Assistance page.