Cities / Istanbul / Üsküdar American Academy
Üsküdar American Academy
Founded in 1876 as Üsküdar American Girls College, UAA is one of Istanbul's most historically rooted secondary schools, now co-educational and IB Diploma-authorised. Entry is by national exam (top 8,000 scorers only), the mandatory prep year focuses on intensive English…
In brief
A 150-year-old institution on the Asian side, fully selective for top-1 percent Turkish students, now offering the IB Diploma and feeding heavily into Oxbridge, the Ivy League, and Turkey's strongest universities.
Founded by American missionaries in 1876 as a girls' boarding school, UAA went co-educational in 1990 and closed its dormitories by the mid-1990s. The campus in Bağlarbaşı is widely held to be one of the prettiest school sites in Turkey. Since 2010 the school has sat under the alumni-run SEV foundation, alongside the other former American Board schools.
UAA is not really an international school in the expat sense. Entry is by the national high school exam, places go to the very top of the national cohort, and instruction is heavily in English with the IB Diploma at the senior end. Families who get a place treat it as a long-term project from primary at SEV elementary through to graduation. For expat families moving to Istanbul mid-school, this is rarely a realistic option, but it remains the benchmark Turkish parents compare every other Istanbul school against.
Fees
| Fee | Age | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prep Year | 13 | Annual | TRY 1,431,270 |
| Grade 9 | 14 | Annual | TRY 1,431,270 |
| Grade 10 | 15 | Annual | TRY 1,431,270 |
| Grade 11 | 16 | Annual | TRY 1,131,612 |
| Grade 12 | 17 | Annual | TRY 866,569 |
Reviews
- Staff signal is generally positive about the student body and the school's long-established campus culture.
- Teachers praise dedicated, hardworking students, with several comments describing the school as solid or rewarding to work in.
- Caveats focus on shifting international faculty, changed expat packages, management concerns, and some student entitlement.
Head of school
Mr. Cory Carson
Mr. Cory Carson holds an Ed.S. degree in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska, an MA in Secondary Education from the University of Alabama, and a B.Ed in Secondary Science from the University of Alberta. Before joining Üsküdar American Academy as Head of School in July 2024, he served as the Head of School at Global Jaya School in Indonesia for five years. His extensive international leadership experience includes roles as Acting Director and High School Principal at Qatar Academy Doha, and Secondary School Principal at MEF International in Istanbul. Throughout his 30-year career, Mr. Carson has also taught and led schools in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Canada, bringing vast knowledge of the IB Diploma Programme and global accreditation processes.
Accreditations
- Council of International Schools 01
Academic results
- IB Diploma 2021 average 39.49 points