United Kingdom · Windsor, Berkshire · Founded 1440
Eton College
Twenty prime ministers, the tailcoat, the wall game, and an academic and cultural range no other school matches.
The character
Eton is bigger, richer and more serious than its caricature. Thirteen hundred boys live in twenty-five houses with a tutor system that treats each of them as a project, the timetable stretches from Mandarin to boatbuilding, and the societies bring cabinet ministers and Nobel laureates to speak on weekday evenings. It suits confident, curious boys; it can be hard on the quiet ones, though the houses catch most of them.
Good for
Academically strong boys, families who want the widest possible education, the network
Less suited to
Boys who need a small school, families who want co-education or a day option
Getting in
Register by the summer of Year 5 (age 10), ISEB pre-test and interview in Year 6, conditional offer, Common Entrance at 13. Sixth-form entry is a handful of places.
What it costs in total
At about £ 63,000 a year for boarding, the 5 years from 13 to 18 add up to roughly €414,000 in today’s money including typical extras, before fee increases, tutoring and flights. The Education Cost Calculator adds inflation, extras and a second child.
Fees are rounded 2025/26 figures from the school’s own schedule and change every year. The school’s current fee sheet prevails. The picture is an impression of the setting, not a photograph of the campus.
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