The High School selection process is one of the most critical moments in your education and possibly your life. High School is the first time that you’ll be able to explore your interests and possible career paths. It’s essential that you choose a high school that will fit your needs and interests to help you properly prepare for college and life. Here’s a guide that will help you find a high school that’s right for you. It’s a pretty long read so we have broken it down for you into different sections.
Our NYC High School Admissions Tool
Looking for schools you may be interested in can be a daunting and difficult task! Luckily, Synergy Prep has made that task easier for you. By pulling information from the DOE (attendance, graduation rate, safety rate), we have created a NYC High School Admissions tool that evaluates and ranks all the NYC schools to help you find schools that fit your interests and academic standing. Here’s a guide on how to use it:
Step One
Choose the boroughs that you are interested in attending high school in. Then, select your middle school and home school district. If you do not know this information, you can find it here. This will help narrow down any schools that you have admission priority in. Here’s a provided example for you:
Step Two
Select all the areas of interest you have. If you’re not sure what interests you, click ‘Select All’. This feature will match you with career-based schools that offer programs related to your interests. \
Step Three
Input your 7th-grade scores for each subject. All grades should be inputted out of a 100, while your state test scores should be inputted out of 4.5. This will narrow down which screened schools you will be able to apply to.
Step Four
A list of up to 25 schools will appear. Everything under “Best Overall Programs in All of New York City” will show you the best high schools in the city that you qualify for. The next section includes school programs based on your search criteria. The last section provides safety schools that you will most likely get into. Each recommendation provides the program name, a description of the program, the program code, and any required minimum grades (if any) and test scores needed to get in.
If you are wondering why a particular school didn’t show up, it is most likely because you are not eligible for it, or your search criteria excluded the school. Remember that this list is not definite! While this is an excellent way to find possible high schools you are interested in, you should do more research into these schools to make sure its the right choice for you. You should also look into any other schools that are not on the list that interest you.
What to Consider When Applying to Schools
Statistics
You should look into statistics relating to graduation rates, attendance, school safety, and test scores (SAT, AP, and regents). These measures will provide you with an understanding of how passionate and diligent the student body is. The more passionate and diligent the student body is, the easier it will be for you to develop and grow academically while exploring different interests. Schools work to fit the needs and wishes of their students. If the student body is not motivated, the school will see no reason to provide them with upper-level classes and unique opportunities.
If you are a student who prefers one-on-one teaching, you should look into class sizes. Smaller class sizes will mean that the teachers will be able to help you more and adapt to your personal needs. Larger class sizes usually correspond to a greater variety of extracurriculars and courses because there will be greater diversity in student interests. You can find all these statistics here and in your High School Admissions Guide.
Upper-Level Courses
Upper-level courses, such as AP courses and electives, will give you a head-start in your field of interest and strengthen your college application. AP classes are taught at the level of college introductory courses and at the end of the year they can be counted as college credit after taking the AP exam for that subject.
These credits will allow you to save money and get a head start in college as you will be able to move onto higher-level classes as a freshman. Other college-level electives will give you a more focused study into specific subjects, like Nutritional Science or Software Engineering. You can find a list of the AP classes offered by a school here under the Academics tab, in your High School Admissions Guide, or directly on the school’s website.
Extracurricular Activities
Extracurricular activities encompass clubs, teams, and student governments you participate in outside of school time. These activities cover a range of interests, like debate, football, or even video games. You can use these activities to strengthen your career, academic, or recreational interests. Extracurriculars will also help you stand out from other college applicants and will show them a holistic view of your interests.
Make sure to look into what types of clubs and teams there are at your prospective school. If you can’t find any schools with an activity that interests you, look into if you can start your own club or team at your prospective schools. You can find this information here under the Activities tab, your High School Admissions Guide, or directly on the school’s website.
Commute
Another critical point of consideration is the commute time. If your club or team practice ends at 6 PM and you live about 2 hours away, you will be home by 8 PM. This gives you little time to complete your homework, study, and rest properly before having to get up before 6 AM to get to school on time. You can check how long it will take you to get to your schools by using the direction feature on Google Maps. You can find more information on what to consider here.
Types of Schools
There are a variety of public high schools, all of which have their own unique characteristics and goals. To help you understand each kind of high school and choose the one best suited for your interests and goals, here is a list of some types of programs outside of regular public schools:
Specialized High Schools
Specialized High Schools are nine prestigious high schools within NYC that have gifted students. These schools include Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn Latin, High School of American Studies, High School of Math, Science, and Engineering, Staten Island Technical High School, LaGuardia High School of the Arts, and Queens High School for the Sciences. These schools receive ample funding from the Department of Education, allowing them to offer more extracurriculars and courses.
Their reputations also give them prestige among top colleges, giving their students an upper hand to get into the best colleges. For example, the top ten universities can recruit about 20% of the students at a selective school such as Stuyvesant vs. 0-2% at a local school. Acceptance to eight of these schools is based solely on your SHSAT score. LaGuardia High School only accepts students based on auditions or portfolios. Speak to your guidance counselor in September on how you can take the exam or get an audition. To help decide between specialized high schools and regular public high schools, read this.
Early College
Early College High Schools allow you to graduate with both a high school degree and an Associate’s Degree at no extra cost. The credits for the Associate’s degree can then transfer to your future college, giving you up to a two-year head start in your college education. A prominent early college high school is Bard Early College High School. You can find a list of early college high schools by searching “Early College” here.
Career-Based Schools
Career-based high schools are schools that specialize in career programs. If you know what career field you want to go into, you should look into these schools. Each program provides students with distinct curriculums, internships, mentors, and shadowing opportunities specific to the different career fields it offers. There are over 130 schools with 260 programs of study to choose from. You can find out more about these programs here. To find Career-based schools, click here, or search “CTE” in the search engine here.
Types of Admissions
To understand how to apply to high school, you must know the different types of admission:
Testing
This form of admissions only looks at the student’s score on the SHSAT. The only schools that use this type of admissions are eight specialized high schools. To attend these schools, you must schedule to take the SHSAT, and rank the high schools in the order of your preference during the exam. You can find more information on the SHSAT and specialized high schools here.
Screened or Audition
Schools using this form of admission rank students based on selection criteria. These selection criteria may include assessments, portfolios, essays, state test scores, grades, auditions, interviews, and/or academic records. Schools do not use all of these, but rather a combination of a few to evaluate each applicant. Students are then admitted based on their ranking, the highest-ranked being admitted first.
It’s important to note that some of the best high schools in the city are screened schools, such as Beacon High School, NEST+m, and Townsend Harris High School. Make sure to keep track of deadlines and test dates when applying to these schools. All of this information can be found on your MySchools account or on the school’s website. You can find a list of audition dates for art schools here.
Education Optional
Ed. Opt. programs are designed to admit students from a wide variety of academic standings. While some schools rank students based on academic records, others rank students randomly. Some schools also use admissions priorities, giving certain students first priority to offers. Admissions priority is usually based on the school district, borough residents, or if the student attended the school from K-8.
Zoned
Zoned schools give priority and sometimes even guaranteed offers to students based on where you live. To find your zoned school, type your address into the top search engine, and change the filter to ‘Zoned’ here.
Open
Open schools are schools that do not have any admissions requirements. Students are ranked solely on their priority group and given a randomly assigned number. Depending on your academic performance, it might be wise to have one open-admission school listed on your application as a safety.
How to Apply
Now that you know what to consider and how to find possible schools, you can now apply to the programs. Here are some guidelines on application timelines and how to use myschools.nyc to apply.
Application Timeline
June-August: Start exploring schools you may be interested in online and on MySchools. Attend high school family workshops and begin to prepare for any high school entrance exams you need to take if you haven’t already.
September-November: Attend high school fairs and open houses. To find a list of open house dates and times, click here and look under the ‘View Our Open House’ tab, or check the calendar on the website of the school you are interested in. Meet with your guidance counselor to gain access to your MySchools account and discuss your options. From here, you can save up to 25 of your favorite programs, add up to 12 programs to your application, and schedule any tests and interviews you may need to complete for your application. If you wish to attend a specialized high school, register for the SHSAT, get your ticket, and take the test. This is the same procedure for Laguardia’s auditions, the only difference being the completion of an audition instead of the SHSAT. You can apply to take both the SHSAT and audition.
December: Through MySchools, your guidance counselor, or a Family Welcome Center, send in your application by December 2nd. If you have any assessments, submissions, or interviews scheduled after this day, make sure to complete them on time.
March: Get your offer letter. This letter will include your high school offers, your SHSAT score, and any offers to a specialized high school. Note that if you auditioned for Laguardia and took the SHSAT, you may see two specialized high school offers (one from Laguardia and one based on your SHSAT score).
You can find this timeline when you log into your MySchool account and in the form of a checklist here. To help keep track of things, you should print it out and check off each as you complete them. Noting submission due dates, test dates, and interviews in a calendar can help you keep track of when things should be done by.
The Application
You can apply to high schools in three different ways: your guidance counselor, Family Welcome Centers, and MySchools. Guidance counselors can help you apply to high schools during and after school hours. You can apply in person at Family Welcome Centers, where you can find translators to help you if English is not your first language. However, you can only use this method during the times the center is open. MySchools is the online option for the application that you can complete by yourself. It is running 24/7, so it is always accessible. Listed below is a guide on how to use this website.
Finding Schools
To find programs that match your needs, use this function on the website. You can use filters like subways, school size, sports teams, eligibility, borough, admissions method, uniform, and diversity to narrow your searches. Make sure to click the ‘Eligible’ filter to get a list of schools that you can list on your application. You can also use the search engine provided to search names of schools, types of schools, and your interests. For example, if you search ‘Medicine’, a list of schools that have medical programs will appear.
After clicking on the school’s name, you will be provided with information on the school. The school’s address, contact info, school size, class times, and any transportation methods will appear directly under the name. The overview will give the school’s mission and a brief summary of what makes it different from others.
Under the Performance tab, you will find statistics on graduation rates, college enrollment, attendance, and safety. Under the Academics tab, you see all AP classes, college-level electives, languages, diploma endorsements, and ELL programs offered by the school. The Activities tab will show what sports teams the school has. You can find other information and accessibility information under the ‘Other Features’ and ‘Accessibility’ tabs.
By clicking on the names of programs, you can get a brief overview of the program. There is sometimes an Eligibility tab that shows you who is allowed to apply for the program. The Admissions Method tab will show you how students are chosen, who the priority groups are if there are any, and the Demand. The Demand section indicates how many applicants there were per seat, how many seats there were, how many applicants there were, and if the seats were all filled last year.
This gives you an idea of how many students you are competing with for an offer at that school. If it is a screened program, the Admissions Method tab will also provide you with information on what schools look at to rank students. The Additional Information tab will have extra information you may need, like if they take transfer students or the interest area of the program. If you are interested in the program, you can click the star to favorite it. This does not add the school to your application but instead saves it so you can find it easily later.
It’s important to note that some schools recruit a majority of their students or students exclusively from certain boroughs or school districts. Do not apply to schools that do not recruit from your residence or school district. The DOE doesn’t tell you that you have no chance, it just says you are in the lowest priority.
Check the handbook to find the actual recruitment percentage from your district and borough. The rule of thumb is not to apply to a school program that recruits less than 30% of their applications from your residential priority group. For example, if you live in district 10 and the school recruits 99% from District 2 alone, DO NOT APPLY since it is a wasted application.
Submitting Your Application
You can build your application on the ‘Apply’ and ‘Your Application’ page. You can move programs from your favorites list (located on the right side of the page) to your application by clicking the “+Add” button or by dragging it to your application. You can also search for program names and directly add them to your list from this page. You’re allowed to apply to up to 12 programs. Make sure to order them based on preference, with the first program on your list being the one you wish to attend the most.
High schools will not see your application choice order, so they will not know if they are your first or twelfth choice! However, you will be offered seats based on your order. For example, if you do not get into your first choice, then you will be considered for your second choice. Remember, you can only be accepted to one school from this list. If you wish to look at program details, you can find them by clicking on the program name. You may change your list as many times as possible before submitting it. Note that you should not add any specialized high schools to this list as they use a separate application given to you during your SHSAT test.
When composing this list, make sure that you are eligible for the programs you are applying to. You can check your stats (grades, attendance, school district, etc.) after clicking the ‘Edit Profile’ button on the homepage after logging in. Make sure all your information is correct. If it is not, speak to your guidance counselor to get it fixed. Then, you can check eligibility for a program by hovering over the circle to the right of the program name and by clicking ‘My Chances’ under the program details. If you’re not eligible to apply for a program, the circle to the right of the program name will be red, and you will not be able to add them to your application.
If you are applying to a screened school, remember that they have their own admissions requirements and their own respective application deadlines. Make sure to take note of any specific deadlines, such as essays, exams, or portfolio submissions by visiting the school's website that you are interested in applying.
Mark these submission dates in your calendar and make sure to get these done and submitted by the due date. You should also take note of and RSVP for any tests, interviews, or auditions dates and begin preparing for them. You can also find this information on MySchool under ‘Your Key Dates’ on the right side of the homepage of the website after you log in.
After talking with your parents and guidance counselors and reaching a final decision, submit your application by clicking the ‘Next’ and then ‘Submit Application’ buttons before your deadline on December 2nd. You’re finally done!
You will receive your offer letter in March. From there, you can make a final decision on where you want to spend the next four years of your life. Remember that not getting into your dream high school will not ruin your life and chances of getting into college. Although the features offered by a program or school may seem beneficial, it is ultimately up to you how hard you work and excel in academics.
A student at a smaller, lesser-known school may do a lot better academically and get into a better college than a student at a more prominent, prestigious high school. If you are still having trouble with applying to high schools, Synergy Prep offers high school application counseling. We also provide SHSAT tutoring for any students wishing to take these exams.