As you start thinking about the high school process - and it’s good to be thinking about it now - you’ll come across some terms you might not have heard or understood before. I’ll talk about them more in depth as we go along but this is a good place to dip your toes in.
Quick note: the high school process changed dramatically during Covid but during the past 2 seasons things seem to have settled down into a new normal.
HIGH SCHOOL PROCESS TERMS AND VOCABULARY
High schools admissions methods:
Screened
Students into five groups based on their 7th grade end of year grades. Students in group one have the best chance of being offered a seat. Within each group students are ranked by random lottery number.
ED OPT or educational option
Students into three groups based on their 7th grade end of year grades. Every ED OPT class is made up of an equal number of students from the LOW, MIDDLE, and HIGH categories. Within each group students are ranked by random lottery number.
OPEN
Students are ranked only by random lottery number.
Random Lottery Numbers
These hexidecimal strings of number - using 0-9 plus a-f are used to rank students. Every student is randomly assigned a number during the high school process. Numbers starting with 0 are the best.
Main Round Schools
These encompass all NYC public schools except specialized schools. Your application of up to 12 schools comes from this group. Applying to main round schools is mandatory.
Specialized Schools
There are 9 specialized high schools. Eight require the specialized high school admissions test (SHSAT). These schools ONLY take the SHSAT into consideration.
LaGuardia has its own admissions system: audition/portfolio plus grade cut off.
Applying to specialized schools is optional.
SHSAT
specialized high schools admissions test
Waitlists
Beyond initial offers, students may receive an offer from an individual school’s waitlist. Waitlists open after offers are made in March and run through the beginning of 9th grade. Not all schools make waitlist offers.
Student categories:
GEN ED
General education.
SWD
Students with disabilites. Note: students have to receive 20% or more of their academic with services. Not all students with an IEP are in this group.
DIA
Diversity in admissions. Some schools give priority to students based on their family income.
Priority Groups
Some schools give certain groups of students priority in the admissions process. These include continuing
middle schoolers in 6-12 schools, borough priority, and diversity in admissions.
MySchools
The website where the high school process takes place including: ability to research schools, individual student pages with grades, biographical data and more. It is also where you submit your application, receive offers, and monitor waitlists: https://myschools.nyc
Office of High School Enrollment
These are the folks you reach out to if there are issues along the way: HSEnro...@schools.nyc.gov