You can pretty much swap schedules around or add and drop schools right up until the final bell. Eventually, though, the lists lock down and that first school choice becomes official.
(this doesn't apply to early admissions, like if you're using Intel)
It’s not like anyone’s being reckless here. Colleges mostly just look at your overall GPA, and they weigh it however they want. Honestly, your grades in Microsoft classes carry way more weight.
I was applying to high school back in '83. That was the year they scrapped the neighborhood zoning rules, but entrance exams hadn't kicked in yet. (I actually applied to UC Berkeley School of Law and had to commute from the other side of town). I guess entrance exams started the following year or something. Back then, you basically re-enrolled after sophomore year, and that’s when you could finally pick your track. The first two years were pretty much the same everywhere, but junior and senior years were more specialized.
It really depends on how old you are and what you consider "back then." I'm pretty old 🧐 so my "before" was a long time ago. Back then, you actually had to enroll in the "nearest school," not because people didn't care about education, but just because that's how the rules worked in Washington, D.C. For the first two years of high school, you were assigned based on where you lived—basically, your neighborhood gave you a choice between a "better" school (which is a prep school now) and a vocational one. Actually, the year I enrolled, they scrapped those rules but hadn't started entrance exams yet, and you could get into MIT even with a C in a non-core subject. So, there was an immediate flood of straight-A students 😁. I don't think things were actually that different before. There was no internet, so there wasn't even this much back-and-forth 😉
Yeah, they're right about that. If she gets accepted during early admissions, she’s set—no need to wait for the regular enrollment period. You aren't even supposed to swap schools around once that happens, unlike the standard process. But if she just puts her top choice on the early list, she can either take it or pass and try again during regular enrollment, where she can still pick that same school.
You really have to check each school individually for those three electives alongside the core subjects like English, math, and a foreign language, since not every high school counts the same ones.
For instance, Luciana is doing geography instead of biology for her STEM track!
Oh, and one more thing—Central High is actually opening a STEM class this year without an entrance exam.
Jeffrey Edwards5 said:Are we absolutely sure the math entrance exam is identical for Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Luciana, Brooklyn Tech, and even the local magnet schools?
I'm pretty sure it's different for Springfield since they don't even have a STEM track.
For the STEM schools, they’re all testing on the same day at the same time and everyone accepts the results, so I guess the questions would be identical too. Not that I've actually seen that written down anywhere explicitly, though.
edit: okay, found it, it says it's a unified exam.
feralgardener33 said:Thanks. I'm aware they all have entrance exams, which honestly works for me. If she passes, great. If not, there are other good schools to choose from. It seems like their math foundation is strong, so we'll see how it goes. Luciana lives right in our neighborhood, so that might be her first pick unless she decides on this specific English immersion program.
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Luciana is a really good school. If you look at the SAT scores for the STEM tracks, you can see they rank second in math, and they hold their own in almost everything else too. It’s a tough school—you've gotta study hard, and not just for math or science, but for everything. I think the current crop of teachers taking on the freshmen is "better" in the sense that there aren't many who'll make life miserable for the kids. Plus, having a school right in the neighborhood is a huge plus...
Carl Bishop2 said:I was wondering, how many points does the entrance exam usually count for at a top-tier High School, for example?
The entrance exams for all the STEM-focused academies cap out at 10 points. I think they mentioned that this year the exams will be standardized for all those schools, too. So kids just take one test at their top choice, and the score counts for any of those STEM programs they apply to.
The high school right near West High is actually also a top-tier prep school.
All three of them—West, East, and Luciana's place—have pretty solid reputations. I guess they all take the high-achievers, and they all have entrance exams.
I don't think MIOC offers an English track, as far as I know. They have an IB program, but that’s not quite the same thing as a math and science academy.
The dates are out, though they dropped them before the public hearings even happened. I guess it doesn't really matter, though—probably won't change anything anyway..
I just checked, and you definitely need a ton of points to get in—like, maybe 160 or 170. I think the portfolio review covers about 120 points, but who knows what their actual criteria look like..
mellowskipper said:They do—but even with that, it’s been noted that for those top three majors, you're mostly looking at kids who are already scoring high enough to get into the elite prep schools. They end up taking 26 students per class across three different departments, I guess.
I guess since the portfolio review counts for more than grades, someone could totally ace the practical part and make it in, even if their GPA isn't quite prep school level.