NYC High School & Specialized High School Application Process
Can you believe it? Your child is ready for high school! And while you might have already made it through several school admissions by now, it’s time for the big and most complicated one. There are more than 700 high school programs at over 400 schools in New York City and any current eighth grade student or first-time ninth grade student can apply to any of them.
How Different NYC High Schools Admit Students
There are several different types of admission processes:
Educational Option schools use the English Language Arts (ELA) state test scores from seventh grade and identify the top 16 percent of scores, the middle 68 percent, and the lowest 16 percent. Half of the students who gain admission to an Ed. Opt. school will be matched based on their rank of that school, while the other half will be selected randomly.
Screened Programs rank applicants based on their final seventh-grade report card grades and reading and math standardized test scores. There may also be other items that schools require to screen applicants such as an interview, essay, or additional diagnostic test scores.
Unscreened Programs select randomly from the pool of applicants.
Zoned Programs give priority to students who live in the geographic zoned area of the high school.
Specialized High Schools include Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which requires students to audition for up to six programs: dance, drama, fine and visual art, instrumental music, technical theater, and vocal music.
The other eight specialized schools require students to take the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test to qualify for admission. (Register for the SHSAT online at MySchools or with a school counselor.) This test, rather than a student’s academic record, determines eligibility in the following prestigious specialty schools:
- The Bronx High School of Science
- The Brooklyn Latin School
- Brooklyn Technical High School
- High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at City College
- High School of American Studies at Lehman College
- Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
- Staten Island Technical High School
- Stuyvesant High School
NYC High School Application Tips
The DOE recommends that you place the programs on your application in your true order of preference. You will be considered for your first-choice program first. If you don’t get an offer to your first choice, then you will be considered for your second-choice program as though it were your first choice, and so on.
If you apply to any high-demand programs (10 or more applicants per seat), you should also apply to some programs that have fewer applicants per seat. Learn which schools are the most popular in MySchools under the “My Chances” tab. Then refer to the “Demand Last Year” section to see how many seats the program had and how many applicants there were per seat.
Each school has its own method for priority (see above). In addition, some schools give preference for diversity, others for continuing at the same school or in the same zone. Once all applications are in, an algorithm assigns as many students as possible into programs that they rank highly, given constraints due to limited seats available in individual programs and the programs’ admission priorities.
Make sure you do your research about all the schools you are interested in. Some schools have multiple programs, each with a different admissions method. That means you can list a school twice or even three times on your list of 12 using different program codes.
NYC High School Acceptance Letters and Offers
You will receive an offer letter in the spring, which will include a high school offer and/or any offer(s) to specialized high schools, as well as a list of high schools where your student is waitlisted. They’ll be automatically added to the waitlist of any program that was listed higher on their application than the program where they received an offer. If your child gets an offer to their third-choice program, they’ll also be waitlisted at their first choice and second choice program. Schools will contact you if seats open and they can make your child an offer. Check out the waitlists website for the most up-to-date information.
Students who do not submit a high school application will get an offer to the closest high school program with available seats.
