Admissions FAQ — applying to international schools in Thailand
The questions parents actually ask about applying — answered from CredRadar's admissions pass over all 170 open schools (checked 2026-10-06), not from generic advice.
Every school in the directory now has an admissions page collecting only what the school itself publishes: its application fee, its stated process, its document list, its deadlines or rolling policy, its open days and its waitlist rules. Start from the school list, open a school, and choose Admissions. The short answers below are the patterns across all 170 schools.
The short answers
When should we apply for a place?
Most Thailand international schools start their year in August or September, and applications for that start commonly open the preceding autumn. Fixed deadlines are rare: only 10 of the 170 schools in our admissions pass publish a dated deadline or window, while 41 state rolling admissions outright. The safe rule is to apply in the autumn before the August you want — earlier for the best-known schools — and to check the dated windows on each school's admissions page here, where we print them exactly as published.
How much does it cost just to apply?
127 of 170 schools publish an application or assessment fee. At Bangkok schools the application fee is commonly ฿1,000–8,000; the much larger one-off is the registration or enrolment fee charged once a place is offered (฿50,000–260,000 at the top end). Every figure on a CredRadar admissions page is the school's own published wording, and where a school's own pages disagree we print both versions with their sources.
What documents will we need?
90 schools publish a document list. The recurring set: the child's passport or birth certificate, parents' ID, the last one to two years of school reports, and immunisation records; some schools also ask for recommendation forms or previous-school contact details. The exact list for each school is on its admissions page here.
Can our child join mid-year?
Often, yes — where a place exists. Schools that state rolling admissions accept applications through the year, and many others will assess a mid-year applicant case by case. Expect an English and maths assessment and a request for recent reports from the current school.
Will my child sit an assessment?
At most schools, yes — typically English (and EAL screening for non-native speakers), maths, and an interview or observation for younger children. 106 of the 170 schools describe an EAL or assessment step on their own pages; the detail is on each school's admissions page.
What if the year group is full?
34 schools describe a waitlist or wait-pool mechanic on their own pages. Mechanics differ — some ask for a refundable booking deposit, some a small waitlist fee — and sibling priority is common. We print the school's own wording rather than summarising it away.
See also: the fees guide · rankings · head-to-head comparisons · how we verify.