Understanding New York High School Enrollment

New York is home to the largest public school district in the US, enrolling over a million students throughout the five boroughs. It is also home to some of the best public high schools in the US, each of which is different, and competitive in its own right for admissions. 

In order to keep a hold on a somewhat complex system, New York operates a high school admissions system for all of its public high schools. This system seems quite complex, but mostly has many moving parts. In this article we’re going to demystify this system, and let you know how applications to New York high schools actually work, and how you can get into the school you want to. The high school you attend has a major impact on your chances of college admissions, along with forming the core of your experiences for four years. Let’s get started!

The Basics of High School Enrollment: What and Who

The first thing to cover is who exactly this matters for. While any student living in New York is entitled to attend a public school in the city, competitive admissions is only open to students who are 8th graders currently living in the city. If you move to New York after this point, you will not be eligible to enroll in any of the competitive admissions schools. 

You can apply to transfer between schools beyond the one you are zoned for, but this requires a significant reason; simply wanting to attend a different school is not sufficient. The most commonly accepted reason is fear of or reaction to violence. This must be substantiated with reports from the school. 

For students in New York, there are three pathways to attending a high school. These are not mutually exclusive:

• The High School Application. This is how you apply to most public high schools in the city, including specialized ones. You fill out the application, and rank up to twelve schools you want to be considered for. Some of these programs are competitive, considering your academic record or requiring an audition.
• Selective Enrollment Schools. These eight high schools use the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) for admissions, and nothing else. You are accepted or rejected solely based on your performance on this test. These eight schools are the most academically competitive and advanced in New York. 
• LaGuardia. This is the ninth selective enrollment school, but has its own application coupled with an audition process. This is specifically an arts high school, and meant for students interested in pursuing art seriously. 

Charter schools have their own admissions process, which we won’t go into here. This can vary based on charter school.

How the Application Works

We will focus on the main group of high schools, since this is the larger and more complicated group. You apply to all of these through a single application, which is accessed online through your school account. Different programs can have different eligibility options or priorities; such as only accepting students from a specific borough. 

All of these high schools offer a broad liberal arts based curriculum, but many also specialize in one or more areas. If you are looking to specialize in a specific field even before college, you can likely find a high school which will support that. Look through your school options, and their eligibility requirements, carefully to decide on the twelve you will apply to. 

Your application is evaluated based on four factors: 

• The programs you applied to and their order. You rank high schools in your order of interest in them, and you are considered for admission to them in that order.
• Seat availability. A high school can only take so many students, and once it’s full, later applications are automatically rejected.
• Special priorities. Different programs have different priority groups, and applicants are considered by order of priority group. You can be in different priority groups for different programs. 
• Admissions method. Some programs are random, using a lottery to decide admissions, while others are selective, based on factors within your application.

Screened Admissions

We will focus on this last group, as these are the most competitive schools for admissions in this category, and the most popular with students. Screened admissions divide students into admissions groups based on their grades in core courses in seventh grade. These are English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Your average grades in these must fall within a certain percentage either citywide or within your school to qualify for a certain admissions group. 

There are four groups, with the following cutoffs:

• Group 1: Top 15%, average grades of 94
• Group 2: Top 30%, average grades of 89.66
• Group 3: Top 50%, average grades of 82.75
• Group 4: Top 70%, average grades of 76.33

Note that students with average grades below 90 will not be included in group 1, even if their grades are in the top 15% of their school generally. If there are more applicants in group 1 than there are seats in the program, then students from group 1 will be randomly selected until all seats are filled. Only if all students from group 1 can be accommodated will group 2 students be considered.

A small number of screened schools use an assessment in addition to or in place of this grouping when making admissions decisions. A complete list of these schools can be found here.

What is the SHSAT?

The Selective High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is a test used by a small number of specialized schools in New York. These eight schools are the most selective and academically competitive high schools in New York, and were established based on the idea that advanced students also count as a special needs group, and their needs aren’t being met if they don’t have the chance to experience an advanced curriculum. 

These eight schools rely on this test alone to make admissions decisions. These schools are not part of the admissions list you submit otherwise for high school admissions; they examine and admit applicants based on their test score and how they ranked the eight schools on their personal lists until all seats are filled. 

There is an additional diversity program to help students who scored within a certain range, but who didn’t quite make the cutoff, find a path to attend one of these specialized high schools. This was started to counter claims that the enrollment process is discriminatory, and to increase the level of diversity found in these specialized schools.

The SHSAT’s Format and Questions

The SHSAT is administered each fall. The test is given in=person, at testing centers throughout the five boroughs. All of the testing centers are high schools. There is no digital version of the test. 

The test has two sections, and lasts for 180 minutes (3 hours). While it is suggested that students spend roughly half of their time on each section, they are free to proceed through the test as they wish. If the student has an IEP or other diagnosed medical condition, they can receive extra time to complete the test, up to another 180 minutes. 

The first section is language, and covers grammar and reading comprehension. It has 57 multiple choice questions.

• 9-11 on editing and revising
• 5-6 total fiction and nonfiction passages (2-3 each) with 46-48 questions on them

The second section is math. It has 52 multiple choice questions, and five grid-in questions. You are not permitted to use a calculator on this test. The following topics are included in the math section: factoring, algebra, substitution, geometry, graphing, logic, word problems, 3D geometry. 

There is no penalty for raw answers. Your raw score on the exam is converted to a scaled score; the formula for this is kept secret by the Department of Education. The scaled score is an integer between 20 and 350; you receive one of these scores for each section, for an overall score between 40 and 700. For context, here are the lowest qualifying scores for each of the specialized high schools for last year’s round of admissions. Note that these scores change every year, but give a ballpark or the minimum needed to gain acceptance: 

There is an ongoing debate over the fairness of the test and the admissions policies, as Asian American students tend to be overrepresented at these schools, while Black and Hispanic students are often underrepresented. Complaints from both sides have been filed, and investigations and debates over changing admissions policies are ongoing. For now though, the test stands as the only factor in admissions for these eight schools. 

If you are looking for help preparing for the SHSAT, from mastering the content covered, to advanced test taking strategies, to learning how to handle test anxiety, contact Ivy Scholars testing professionals today. We have experience preparing students for all kinds of tests, and can help you maximize your chances of success on the highly competitive SHSAT.

Audition Based Admissions

Finally, there is a class of schools which use auditions as their main criteria for admissions. While these are all called auditions, the studio art programs actually require a portfolio submission. All of these may be uploaded virtually, some schools also offer an in-person audition for some artistic disciplines. 

Note that all schools requiring auditions have the same requirements and expectations, so audition materials created for one school can be used to apply to multiple different programs. For most audition schools, the only factor used in determining acceptance is your audition materials. LaGuardia is an exception here; they also check your grades to make sure you meet their minimum requirement of 65 in each core academic subject. 

These are the audition components by discipline. Note that not every school offers each artistic discipline. More detail about exact requirements can be found on the auditions page:

• Architecture: Portfolio of 6-8 original pieces of art
• Business Marketing: Portfolio of a 200 word essay on your favorite store to shop at, and a visual advertisement for the store.
• Dance: 2 recorded solos, one copying a prerecorded dance from the available styles, and one original composition
• Digital Arts and Graphic Design: Portfolio of 4-8 pieces of original artwork
• Fashion: Portfolio of 4-8 pieces of original artwork
• Film: A portfolio consisting of an story of up to 500 words on one of several provided photographs, a 9 frame storyboard on a scene from your imagination, and a 3 minute video introduction explaining yourself and your storyboard
• Instrumental Music: Two audition videos, one of a piece of your choice at your skill level, and one of scales
• Photography: A portfolio of up to five original photographs, and a short video of up to 3 minutes explaining 3 of these photographs (this may be substituted for an artistic statement of up to 500 words)
• Technical theatre: This is a portfolio submission requiring an engineering task and a scenic design task. You must also submit an artistic explanation of the scenic design task, and an introduction of your interest in technical theatre
• Theatre: A video audition of two contrasting minute long monologues. A third musical theatre audition of a minute long song may be included for students interested in musical theatre programs
• Visual Arts: A portfolio of 4-8 pieces of original artwork, and a video introduction of up to 3 minutes where you explore 3 of these pieces. You may instead do a written explanation of up to 500 words
• Vocal music: An audition video of one song of your choice without accompaniment

Note that callbacks may be issued for some of these auditions, if schools want additional material from you or to see additional aspects of your abilities. Getting a callback, or not, has no bearing on whether or not you will be offered admissions; not all schools nor artistics disciplines make use of callbacks. We are including this because they do happen on occasion, and don’t want you to be alarmed if you are contacted for one.

Final Thoughts

New York is a large and vibrant city, and is host to some of the best high schools in the country. Its top public high schools offer students amazing resources and opportunities, equalling or exceeding what is offered at some private schools. Less well resourced high schools exist however, and there is disparity in services and results between the best high schools in New York and the worst. We hope this article has given you insight into how the high school transition process works for public school students in New York, and why it’s so competitive. 

High school is an important time in any student’s life, both allowing them to further and explore their academic and other interests, and preparing them for college. A great high school massively increases a student’s chances of enrolling in a top college, while a poor one may not be able to prepare them sufficiently. If you want expert advice on navigating the high school transition, and making sure you make the most of your time in high school, schedule a free consultation today. With a depth of experience operating in New York, we know exactly what steps to take to help you achieve your academic goals.