A number of private, public and charter high schools surround StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village, in the East Village and other neighborhoods.
- East Side Community High School
420 East 12th Street - School of the Future
127 East 22nd Street - The Manhattan Village Academy
43 West 22nd Street - New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math High School
111 Columbia Street - The Baruch College Campus High School
55 East 25th Street - The British International School of New York
20 Waterside Plz - La Salle Academy
215 East 6th St. - Notre Dame School of Manhattan
327 W 13th Street
It’s possible for a New York City public high school student to receive a private prep school caliber education for free. How? There are a handful of NYC public high schools accessible to high-test-scoring city residents that serve the needs of gifted students, offer accelerated academics, act as feeder schools to top colleges and universities throughout the US, and are completely tuition free. To attend most (though not all) of these schools, eighth and ninth graders must take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), administered each November. About 30,000 kids take the test each year. Want to keep these schools on your radar? Here’s the run-down of each one.
- Stuyvesant High School, located at 345 Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan, was established in 1904 and currently has a student population of roughly 3,300. As the oldest of the specialized schools, it has earned a reputation as the “crown jewel” of the NYC education system. Of all the students taking the SHSAT, the ones that earn admission to Stuyvesant score higher than those who earn admission to other “exam” schools. For decades, the school was located at 15th Street and First Avenue, at 345 East 15th Street, across the street from StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village. It moved to a new, 10-story building in Battery Park City in 1992.
- Brooklyn Technical High School, located at 29 Fort Greene Place in Brooklyn, was established in 1922 and currently has a student population of roughly 5,500. Like Stuyvesant, it was originally all-boys. It is the biggest of the city’s specialized high schools and is housed in a building occupying an entire city block, containing a 2-story workshop, a 3,100-seat auditorium, and an Olympic-sized pool.
- Bronx High School of Science, located at 75 West 205th Street in the Bronx, was established in 1938 and currently has a student population of roughly 3,000. It is also known as "Bronx Science" or "Science". Like Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech, it was originally all-boys, but went co-ed much earlier, in 1946. The school building includes a planetarium. Bronx Science is the only NYC Specialized High School with a campus. Students refer to themselves as Sciencites.
- Staten Island Technical High School, located at 485 Clawson Street in Staten Island, was established in 1988 and currently has a student population of roughly 1,600. The school is also known as Staten Island Tech or SITHS. The college preparatory curriculum emphasizes mathematics, science, computers, engineering, humanities and athletics. Russian is a required foreign language students must take for three years.
- High School Of American Studies At Lehman College, located at 2925 Goulden Avenue in the Bronx, was established in 2002 and currently has a student population of roughly 390. It is known as American Studies and puts a special focus on history. All students take three years of US history courses. The school exists as a result of a recent push by the New York City Department of Education to create three new specialized high schools. The school’s public funding is supplemented by The Gilder Lehman Institute of American History. Students use the gym, theater, and dining hall of nearby Lehman College and can take courses there.
- High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College, located at 240 Convent Avenue in upper Manhattan, was established in 2002, the same year as American Studies. Like American Studies, it was designed to be small. It is housed on the Hamilton Heights campus of City College, on four floors of the college’s Baskerville Hall. Students use CCNY facilities for their cafeteria, library, and gym. German, “the language of engineering,” is the focus of the school’s foreign language program, which includes a funded trip to Germany during the summer for some students. Spanish is also taught. The student population tops out at roughly 460.
- Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, located at 94-50 159th Street in Jamaica, Queens, was established in 2002, is the third specialized school on this list established in 2002. It was a student population of roughly 420. Like the others, it is affiliated with a college. The school is housed on the second floor of York College’s science building and students use the college’s cafeteria, library, and gym.
- The Brooklyn Latin School, located at 223 Graham Avenue in Brooklyn, was established in 2006 and currently has a student population of roughly 600. In contrast to most of the other schools on this list, Brooklyn Latin places emphasis on the humanities, including a mandatory four years of Latin. That means students, referred to internally as discipuli, become familiar with the question-and-answer Socratic Method, are required to practice public speaking, and wear full uniforms. Class sizes are smaller than at the other specialized schools on this list.
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, known as LaGuardia, located at 100 Amsterdam Avenue, near Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side, is the only specialized high school in New York City that does not require that an applicant take the SHSAT. Rather, students are accepted through auditions in the fields of vocal music, instrumental music, visual arts, dance, drama, and technical theatre. The school’s dual mission is to prepare students for careers in the arts or conservatory study and the pursuit of higher education. In addition to a standard high school curriculum, students can study art, music, dance, and technical theater. The 1980 movie “Fame,” the TV series of the same name, and all the successive remakes, are all based on student experiences at the school.
- Hunter College High School, located at 71 East 94th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and established in 1869, is included on our list, but it’s a little different from the others. To get in, students don’t take the SHSAT, but another entrance exam administered in sixth grade. As such, the school serves grades 7 to 12, a student population of roughly 1,200. Students have to have scored above the 90th percentile on the 5th grade New York State exams in order to be permitted to take this test. Hunter was originally established as an all-girls school to train teachers. It went co-ed in 1974. It is run by the City University of New York (CUNY) and funded from the city budget. There is also an affiliated elementary school, Hunter College Elementary. Alumni include Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, MSNBC host Chris Hayes, and Bobby Lopez, co-creator of Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, and co-creator (with his wife) of the music from Frozen.
- Nord Anglia International School New York,located at 44 East 2nd Street in the East Village, accepts students from 2 to 14 years old (to Grade 8). They offer a blend of the English National Curriculum and an international curriculum. They also have a strong performing arts offer in music, dance, and drama that has been created in collaboration with Juilliard. A project-based STEAM program is enhanced through their MIT collaboration. Their student body is made up of a mix of local and international families and the school has a strong sense of community.
For more specific information on nearby schools, we recommend visiting the NYC Department of Education's website.