October 1 is the day the high school application season officially “opens.” That doesn’t mean there’s something for you to do that day. It does mean that hopefully your child’s data (grades, seat grouping, bio info, screened group, random lottery number) will populate in MySchools. Last year it took a few days for screened groups, random lottery numbers and ED OPT groups to show up.
When that info DOES populate, make sure it’s correct. This is where high schools will be pulling data from so make sure grades look correct, that gen ed or SWD category is what it should be, if you qualify for free/reduced lunch that that appears as well.
There’s word on the street that the DOE is working on a tool that will help you figure out your chances at each school, taking into account grades, priorities, random lottery numbers, and more. Not sure if it’ll be up and running this season.
Right now you have full access to school searches on MySchools. After the season opens you’ll have a place to save you’ll also be able to start building your application, or at least favoriting schools as a way of keeping track of what you like. You can move things as much as you want before applications are due in December.
SHSAT registration also opens that day. You DO NOT HAVE to register for early. But, you HAVE to register by 10/18.
You rank your schools when you register.
You only have to rank as many schools as you’re interested in.
Rank in order of preference, keeping in mind that if you don’t rank Stuyvesant first, you won’t get an offer from them.
If you change your mind after ranking and registering, you can cancel and re-submit your registration.
Again 10/18 is the deadline. After that you cannot register for the SHSAT.