NYC High School Applications
By Shoshana Seigel (1-12-24)
The New York City high school admission system might raise an eyebrow to others around the country, and indeed it’s unique and infinitely overcomplicated… a fact current 8th graders know all too well. Here is a guide I wish I had in 7th grade to high school application in NYC, for those who have yet to complete this daunting task! Keep in mind that I’m in no way an expert, this is just what I’ve learned from going through the process.
Starting off, there are three “lists”, or sections, you can apply to— specialized high schools, LaGuardia (which is technically also a specialized high school but has its own list because it has a different application process), and the main list with the rest of the schools (in which you may list up to 12). Hypothetically, you could receive three offers– one main, one specialized, and one LaGuardia, though as far as I know this rarely happens.
Firstly, the specialized high schools! There are only two specialized high schools in Brooklyn— Brooklyn Tech and Brooklyn Latin— but there are 8 in total, not including LaGuardia. To get into these schools you must take a singular test that determines everything (grades, lottery number, etc. have NO effect on whether or not you get in)— this test, called the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, is scored out of 800 and consists of both an ELA and math section. If you are a student at 442, you can talk to Mr. Andersen for more information (who, in addition to being a teacher, leads the SHSAT prep program here).
Moving on to the main list! There are several types of auditions, essays, and application processes that are part of this list, some more straightforward than others. If you wish to go to an arts high schools, the application process is basically a test of your skills in that arts department, such as making an art portfolio for visual arts (which you can talk to Mr. Colonna about if you’re interested!). For more information on the requirements for auditions you can check out this link, though it may change in years to come.
Many schools on the main list are referred to as “screened” schools. These are schools that look at your grades– note that these are your grades in your FINAL 7th grade report card. Depending on your grades in core classes (math, ELA, science, and social studies), you will be placed in one of five groups. When applying to fully screened schools, all students in group 1 have priority over all students in group 2, all students in group 2 have priority over all students in group 3, and so on. Your lottery number (which you will receive, along with your group, when your application process starts) will determine what order students are admitted within each group. Note that lottery numbers are very long and written in a hexadecimal code– really only the first couple characters are important for your purposes. See the table at the bottom of this article for approximate percentiles on lottery numbers! One more thing– some screened schools also ask for one or more essays. The prompts for these essays, how to submit them, and how much they matter in the application compared to your grades vary greatly depending on the school you’re looking at, so there’s not much I can say about that.
Next, some schools are completely lottery– meaning they’re solely based on your lottery number (so admission is completely random)! Others, called Ed Opt schools, are also random but in a more specific fashion– depending on your grades, you’re put into one of three equal-sized categories*. Unlike screened schools, an EQUAL AMOUNT of each group is admitted, meaning students of varying grades are accepted.
*This is where it gets a little confusing– you will have TWO groups that are mostly unrelated to each other– your Ed Opt group and your screening group. You could be in group 1 for Ed Opt but group 2 for screening– remember the difference between them because they’re not always the same and are used for different purposes!
Lastly, LaGuardia, the well-known arts high school you’ve probably heard of from “Fame”, if nothing else (incidentally, 442 students are performing Fame Jr as the school musical this year), has programs in all types of both visual and performing arts, including technical theater, dance, music, voice, drama, and visual art, in which you can list as many as you want. Like I said previously, this is a separate list from all other schools. Like other arts high schools, LaGuardia requires varying types of auditions to get in. Not having applied myself, I interviewed Laila M.D., a fellow 8th grader, and she told me she had to memorize and say two contrasting monologues to apply to the drama program.
“It was a very stressful process,” Laila continued about the system as a whole, “I didn’t even do the SHSAT so I know many people had it way worse than I did. I just wrote 2 essays and did two monologues but other people had to do way more. So that’s it. GOOD LUCK 7TH GRADERS!!! <3”
That’s everything! Hopefully you found this at least somewhat helpful, and until next time Stingers!
Starting off, there are three “lists”, or sections, you can apply to— specialized high schools, LaGuardia (which is technically also a specialized high school but has its own list because it has a different application process), and the main list with the rest of the schools (in which you may list up to 12). Hypothetically, you could receive three offers– one main, one specialized, and one LaGuardia, though as far as I know this rarely happens.
Firstly, the specialized high schools! There are only two specialized high schools in Brooklyn— Brooklyn Tech and Brooklyn Latin— but there are 8 in total, not including LaGuardia. To get into these schools you must take a singular test that determines everything (grades, lottery number, etc. have NO effect on whether or not you get in)— this test, called the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, is scored out of 800 and consists of both an ELA and math section. If you are a student at 442, you can talk to Mr. Andersen for more information (who, in addition to being a teacher, leads the SHSAT prep program here).
Moving on to the main list! There are several types of auditions, essays, and application processes that are part of this list, some more straightforward than others. If you wish to go to an arts high schools, the application process is basically a test of your skills in that arts department, such as making an art portfolio for visual arts (which you can talk to Mr. Colonna about if you’re interested!). For more information on the requirements for auditions you can check out this link, though it may change in years to come.
Many schools on the main list are referred to as “screened” schools. These are schools that look at your grades– note that these are your grades in your FINAL 7th grade report card. Depending on your grades in core classes (math, ELA, science, and social studies), you will be placed in one of five groups. When applying to fully screened schools, all students in group 1 have priority over all students in group 2, all students in group 2 have priority over all students in group 3, and so on. Your lottery number (which you will receive, along with your group, when your application process starts) will determine what order students are admitted within each group. Note that lottery numbers are very long and written in a hexadecimal code– really only the first couple characters are important for your purposes. See the table at the bottom of this article for approximate percentiles on lottery numbers! One more thing– some screened schools also ask for one or more essays. The prompts for these essays, how to submit them, and how much they matter in the application compared to your grades vary greatly depending on the school you’re looking at, so there’s not much I can say about that.
Next, some schools are completely lottery– meaning they’re solely based on your lottery number (so admission is completely random)! Others, called Ed Opt schools, are also random but in a more specific fashion– depending on your grades, you’re put into one of three equal-sized categories*. Unlike screened schools, an EQUAL AMOUNT of each group is admitted, meaning students of varying grades are accepted.
*This is where it gets a little confusing– you will have TWO groups that are mostly unrelated to each other– your Ed Opt group and your screening group. You could be in group 1 for Ed Opt but group 2 for screening– remember the difference between them because they’re not always the same and are used for different purposes!
Lastly, LaGuardia, the well-known arts high school you’ve probably heard of from “Fame”, if nothing else (incidentally, 442 students are performing Fame Jr as the school musical this year), has programs in all types of both visual and performing arts, including technical theater, dance, music, voice, drama, and visual art, in which you can list as many as you want. Like I said previously, this is a separate list from all other schools. Like other arts high schools, LaGuardia requires varying types of auditions to get in. Not having applied myself, I interviewed Laila M.D., a fellow 8th grader, and she told me she had to memorize and say two contrasting monologues to apply to the drama program.
“It was a very stressful process,” Laila continued about the system as a whole, “I didn’t even do the SHSAT so I know many people had it way worse than I did. I just wrote 2 essays and did two monologues but other people had to do way more. So that’s it. GOOD LUCK 7TH GRADERS!!! <3”
That’s everything! Hopefully you found this at least somewhat helpful, and until next time Stingers!
