Our services
Student-Athlete Placement
Boarding schools where your child plays at the right level and keeps up a full academic program.
Every sport, girls and boys, from grade 6 through a postgraduate year. Your family is guided by people who have coached, taught and worked in admissions at U.S. boarding schools.
1,700+
Placements since 2020
75+
Boarding schools
30+
Countries
Sports
Where each sport stands with us
For each school on your child’s list, we find out how its team, coaching and level of competition would fit your child.
Soccer
Several of our consultants have coached soccer at prep and college level. From 2024 to 2026, 137 players GESP placed, from 20 countries, played on Prep Premier League rosters.
Basketball and volleyball
We look at each school’s league, its coaches and its roster at your child’s position.
Other sports
We start from the schools that offer your child’s sport, then narrow by level, academics and campus life.
Our consultants include coaches who have led prep and college programs: Owen Finberg, Jonty Loukes, Jordan Carver and John Chiavaroli, with Heidi Nydam focused on opportunities for girls.
Meet the teamNot focused on a sport?
Boarding School PlacementWhat’s included
What your family receives
A first assessment
Academics, English, personality and family priorities, with your child’s sport, position, level and footage.
A short list in writing
Typically three schools, each with the reasons it fits your child in the classroom and on the team.
Applications, handled with you
The SAO or the school’s own form, the Duolingo English Test, financial aid forms, interviews, and conversations with coaches and admissions.
Every offer side by side
What each offer costs your family, year by year, and the enrollment paperwork once you accept.
Student visa paperwork
Help with your child’s student visa documents once you accept a place.
One consultant
Your consultant stays your point of contact through enrollment and arrival.
How we judge athletic fit
Where your child would play at each school
Two schools can both want your child and offer very different seasons. We get to know your child as a player first, then look at each school’s program against the points below.
What we weigh for a student-athlete
Level of competition
The school’s league and division
Coaching
Who coaches, and how they develop players
Team needs
Where your child’s position fits this roster, and how many play it
Year-round play
Seasons, training and club options
Academics
Classes, study time and support
Eligibility
League rules for new and international students
College path
How the school prepares players for college
Boarding life
Readiness to live away from home, and whether the school still suits your child if the sport changes
How it works
Four phases, with your child’s sport in each one
Get to Know Your Child
Academics, goals and family priorities, plus your child’s sport, position, level and footage.
Explore School Options
Schools where your child could study and play well, with our read on each team and its level.
Navigate Admissions
Applications, interviews, and conversations with coaches and admissions, kept on schedule.
Choose With Confidence
Offers compared on cost, academics and where your child would play, then preparation for enrollment.
When to start
The summer or early autumn a year before your child would enroll, so coaches and admissions both see your child before applications are due in January. Students who start at 12 to 14 have time to build a record, visit a campus or a showcase, and prepare their English.
Why boarding school
Classes, training and study on one campus
Coaches often teach and live on campus, and the day runs from class to practice to evening study. Some programs train all year.
In some countries, GESP runs showcases and admissions tours with partner schools, where school representatives meet students in both an academic and an athletic setting.
Soccer
The Prep Premier League
A boys' soccer league for U.S. boarding schools that run soccer all year and set their calendars around the league's season, so a student can have an American boarding school education and a serious soccer season in the same year. Its rosters are filled with players who came to the U.S. for this level of soccer, many in a postgraduate year. Its first season was 2023, it has ten member schools in 2026, and its weekly rankings run on Sports Illustrated's High School on SI.
Its co-founders, Owen Finberg and Jonty Loukes, are GESP Educational Consultants.
About the Prep Premier League
After boarding school
College, after boarding school
Jordan Carver, who won two national championships as a college soccer coach, leads GESP’s college placement work. Before joining GESP, he directed a program that placed about 200 international players a year at U.S. and Canadian colleges.
Boarding school gives your child a record college coaches can judge: an American transcript, game film, and coaches who know your child as a player. GESP students have gone from Williston Northampton to Dickinson College and to Union College.
Families and students, in their own words
“What helped us most was knowing we weren't alone.”
Guatemala
“Moving away from home to another country can be challenging but it pushes you out of your comfort zone and helps you grow.”
Iceland
“Their warmth made a journey far from home feel much less overwhelming.”
Mexico
Before you reach out
What it costs, and what happens next
GESP’s fee
GESP’s fee is separate from tuition; your consultant sets it out on the first call.
Financial aid
Aid is awarded by each school, and international students generally receive less than domestic students.
What happens after you reach out
Share a few details
Your child’s grade, sport and what your family hopes to find.
A GESP consultant reaches out
We review what you’ve shared and contact you to talk through your child’s background, goals, and possible next steps.
Ready now, or a later year
Some families are ready to start now. Others are better placed to start in a later year, and leave knowing what to work on in the meantime, on the field and in the classroom.
What to send us
Whatever you have now helps the first conversation.
Current academic records
English test results, or your child’s current English level
Age, grade and intended entry year
Sport, position, level and goals
A highlight video and, where possible, fuller match footage
Your family’s financial range
Any existing coach or school contact
Your child’s own words on what they want from the experience
Questions families ask
Student-athlete placement, answered
No. Many of the student-athletes we work with are looking for a school where they can keep developing. We look for a level where your child can play and grow.
Coaches choose their own teams. For each school on your list, we look at the roster at your child’s position and tell you where we think your child would fit.
It depends on the school and the rules of the league it plays in. We check for each school on your child’s list.
It depends on the school. Some run their own year-round program, and others leave room for club play outside their season. We find out for each school on your list, so you know before you apply.
A postgraduate (PG) year is one more year at a U.S. boarding school after finishing secondary school. Student-athletes often use it to strengthen their academics, adjust to the American system and be seen by college coaches before applying to college.
Boarding schools award aid under their own policies, usually based on need rather than sport. Colleges decide their own athletic scholarships.
Start with a conversation
Find out where your child’s sport fits.
No Dream Is Too Big.