The Bush School is Seattle's only secular independent K-12 — Lakeside, UPrep, and Overlake all start at 5th or 6th grade, leaving Bush as the only secular institution running kindergarten through twelfth in one place. Founded in 1924 in Madison Park overlooking Lake Washington, it now enrolls roughly 700 students across two campuses: the Seattle primary site and a Methow Valley field site that anchors Bush's experiential and outdoor programming.
In the Seattle secular independent peer set — Lakeside, Overlake, UPrep, SAAS, and Bush — Bush is the experiential one. The program leans toward inquiry-based learning, integrated outdoor education, and global travel, with a campus culture more progressive on social issues than the academic-pressure norm of its peers. Niche has at times ranked Bush #1 among Washington private K-12 schools; Seattle Met places it third behind Lakeside and Overlake. The variation reflects what a ranker prioritizes — Bush wins on culture and breadth, Lakeside and Overlake on test scores and selective-college placement.
Tuition for 2025-26 sits at $45,580 with financial aid up to $47,225 — comparable to peers. PolarisList places Bush #99 statewide on Harvard / Princeton / MIT acceptances over 2022-2025 with no placements in the four-year window, the lowest among the Seattle secular independent peer set, which is consistent with the school's stated indifference to that particular signal.
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