NYC specialized high schools, the SHSAT, and LaGuardia

The specialized high schools are the part of NYC admissions that families ask about first and understand least. The headline is simpler than the rumors: there are nine of them, eight admit students on one test and one admits by audition, and the whole thing runs alongside your regular high-school application without ever costing you a seat there. This guide lays out the nine schools, how the SHSAT actually decides offers, what the Discovery Program is, and how it all fits with your main match. The exact test, registration, and offer dates move every cycle, so confirm the specifics for your child on the official source before acting.

How it works in 60 seconds

• There are nine specialized high schools. Eight admit students solely on the SHSAT; the ninth, LaGuardia, admits by audition instead.
• The SHSAT is open to current 8th graders and first-time 9th graders who are NYC residents, public, charter, private, parochial, and homeschool students are all eligible.
• You register through MySchools, take the test, and rank the specialized schools in your true order of preference. One composite score puts every test-taker on a single ranked list, and offers run down that list.
• A school's "cutoff" is just the lowest score that got an offer there that year, it is not a fixed passing bar, and it moves every cycle.
• The whole specialized process is separate from your main match. Taking the SHSAT or auditioning never weakens your main-match offer.

The nine specialized high schools

Eight of the nine admit students using only the SHSAT, no grades, essays, or interviews factor in. The ninth, LaGuardia, uses an audition.

LaGuardia is the arts conservatory of the group: students apply to one or more of its studios (such as dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music, technical theater, and visual art). The audition is the primary factor, studios admit from the highest audition scores down, but LaGuardia also reviews a student's academic record (prior grades, state test scores, and attendance) alongside it. Because it does not use the test, a child can pursue LaGuardia and the eight SHSAT schools at the same time, they are different processes.

The SHSAT

The SHSAT is the sole admissions criterion for the eight testing schools. Here is how it actually decides who gets in:

• Who can take it. Current 8th graders and students entering 9th grade for the first time who are NYC residents. Where your child currently attends school, public, charter, private, parochial, or homeschool, does not matter.
• How you register. You sign up to take the SHSAT through MySchools, the same portal as the main high-school application. Registration and test windows change each year, so confirm the current dates on the official source rather than last year's calendar.
• One composite score. The test has an English Language Arts section and a Math section; the scaled section scores are combined into a single composite score used to rank everyone who tested.
• You rank the schools. As part of registering, you list the specialized schools in your true order of preference. As with the main match, ranking honestly is the right move, putting a reach school first cannot cost you a lower choice you'd otherwise have gotten.
• Offers run down one ranked score list. Every test-taker is placed on a single citywide list ordered by composite score. The process walks down that list and gives each student their highest-ranked specialized school that still has a seat. A school's "cutoff" is simply the lowest score that received an offer there in that year, a result of the scores and choices that cycle, not a target set in advance.

The SHSAT went fully digital as of Fall 2025, students take it on a computer or tablet rather than on paper, though the sections and the way scoring works are the same. (Reporting indicates further changes, such as a computer-adaptive format, may follow in later years; treat anything beyond the current cycle as unconfirmed and re-verify on the official source.)

We deliberately do not print cutoff scores here. They differ by school and shift every cycle, so any specific number you see is last year's at best, check the DOE's published data for the year you're applying.

The Discovery Program

The Discovery Program is an alternate pathway, never a "back door", into the eight testing specialized high schools. It is a summer-bridge program for eligible disadvantaged students who scored just below a school's cutoff: students who are invited and then successfully complete the summer coursework earn admission to that specialized high school. A share of each testing school's seats is set aside for Discovery.

Eligibility combines a few requirements. A student generally must have taken the SHSAT and scored within a set range below the cutoff, come from a disadvantaged background (for example, a low-income household, living in temporary housing, or being an English-language learner who arrived in NYC recently), and attend a high-poverty school. The exact thresholds and the score range are set by the DOE and change cycle to cycle, so confirm the current eligibility rules on the official Discovery source before counting on this path.

One thing we won't do, and you shouldn't either: Discovery eligibility is based on a student's genuine circumstances. It is not something to manufacture or misrepresent, the criteria exist to widen access for families who actually meet them.

How it fits with the main match

The specialized process is a separate track, not part of your ranked main-match application. That is the single most important thing to hold onto:

• You can run all three at once. Your main high-school application (your ranked programs on MySchools), the SHSAT schools, and a LaGuardia audition are three independent processes. A student can receive up to three NYC Public Schools offers, one from each.
• They don't compete with each other. Taking the SHSAT or auditioning for LaGuardia never reduces or weakens your main-match offer. You still get your best main-match result no matter how the specialized track turns out.
• The offers arrive together, and you choose one. If you receive more than one, they come at the same time and you accept only one by the deadline. This is a choice among them, you are not holding multiple specialized seats at once.
• Charter, private, parochial, and Hunter offers are separate again. Those sit outside NYC Public Schools entirely and can be held alongside whichever DOE offer you accept. See our how-admissions-works guide for the full map.

Because the specialized track can't hurt your main application, the strategy is simply to run the processes that fit your child and keep building a strong, honest main-match list as your foundation. Our high-school guide covers how to build that list.

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Common questions

How many specialized high schools are there, and do they all use the SHSAT? There are nine specialized high schools. Eight admit students solely on the SHSAT, Stuyvesant, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical, The Brooklyn Latin School, the High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE@CCNY), the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and Staten Island Technical. The ninth, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, admits by audition, not the test.

Does taking the SHSAT or auditioning hurt my main high-school application? No. The specialized high schools and LaGuardia are separate processes that run alongside your main high-school match. Taking the SHSAT or auditioning never weakens your main-match offer. You can receive up to three NYC Public Schools offers, one from the main match, one from the SHSAT schools, and one from LaGuardia, and you choose one. They arrive together; you accept only one.

What is the Discovery Program? Discovery is an alternate, summer-bridge pathway into the eight testing specialized high schools for eligible disadvantaged students who scored just below a school's cutoff. Students who are invited and successfully complete the summer program earn admission. Eligibility depends on factors like coming from a low-income or recently-arrived English-learner household and attending a high-poverty school, and on scoring within a set range below the cutoff. Confirm the current criteria on the official source each cycle.

How is a specialized high school cutoff set? There is no fixed passing score. The SHSAT produces one composite score; every applicant who took the test is placed on a single ranked list, and offers run down that list according to each student's ranked school choices and the seats available. A school's cutoff for a given year is simply the lowest score that still received an offer there, it shifts every cycle, so treat any number you see as last year's and re-verify.