How to choose an Eton house: the definitive guide

For many parents, choosing a house for their son is one of the hardest parts of the Eton process.

Twenty-five of them, a booklet of housemaster profiles landing in your inbox in September, and the feeling of pressure that this decision will play a big part in your son’s future.

The process is opaque from the outside and the decision is an important one, so here is our insider’s guide to navigating it well.

How do the houses work?

Eton has 25 boarding houses, each home to around 50 to 55 boys. That’s roughly 11 boys from each Block (year). One of the 25 houses is College, which is reserved for the 70 King's Scholars. The other 24 are the Oppidan houses.

The first thing to get your head around is that Oppidan houses are usually referred to by the initials of their current housemaster, not by the name of the building. So a boy is in JDM, not in Angelo's. What this reveals is significant: that the identity of the house lies largely with the housemaster, rather than the building itself. Houses have even been known to swap buildings depending on the seniority of the housemaster.

Each house has a resident team: the House Master, the Dame, a Deputy who is a resident tutor, and a Dame's Assistant.

What is the house application process like?

In Year 6, once the boy has sat the ISEB Common Pre-Test and interviewed with the school, he will receive a conditional offer. House allocation begins after that, meaning house choice does not affect whether he gets in or not.

In September of Year 7 families are emailed the official House Master Profiles booklet, outlining each housemaster's background, philosophy and approach.

Families can then pre-nominate one housemaster they would like to meet. That guarantees an interview with him but guarantees nothing about the eventual allocation. The school then assigns two more houses to interview with, often chosen deliberately to create a contrasting set of three. 

Next come the family interviews. For these interviews, unlike entrance interviews, parents must attend alongside their son. Here, the housemaster is assessing the family as much as the boy. He is the one who will be in loco parentis for the next five years, and so a successful relationship with the boy’s family is vital.

Finally, the family ranks the three houses they interviewed at, while the house separately ranks them back. Eton then match up as many first choice matches on both sides as it can, and the allocation is announced.

What factors should we be considering when choosing a house?

The housemaster, not the house.

Read all 25 profiles and look at their own backgrounds rather than the reputations attached to the buildings. Does he coach a team? What does he teach? Can you watch any interviews with him online?

The tenure maths.

Housemasters serve a maximum of 13 years, and where possible it is worth avoiding a handover during your son's five years, because you have no say in who replaces him. Naturally, some housemasters step down earlier for promotion, a departmental role or family reasons, so you are never guaranteed the full five years. But it is a sensible question to ask.

Eat in or eat out.

Houses divide into those that dine in and those that eat centrally at Bekynton. In-house dining tends to be more intimate and builds a tight community. Eating out means more menu variety and more social mixing across the school.

Sport.

House sport is undoubtedly an enormous part of Eton life. How sporty a house is, however, can easily change year on year depending on the boys in it and on the housemaster. If your son will be training daily, proximity to the playing fields is a factor to consider and worth checking on the map.

The tutor.

Every boy is assigned a personal tutor from day one, who is arguably as important as the housemaster in day-to-day academic life. Essentially, the housemaster oversees life, the tutor oversees work. So do look beyond the housemaster and consider each house’s tutors too.

What should we ask during the house interview?

Our advice is to draw up a list of your priorities and get as many answers relating to them as you can. Don’t be afraid of asking direct questions. What proportion of your house is currently in A or B school sports teams? How does house sport run here? What does an evening in X House look like? How many years do you have left in post?