SHSAT dates & deadlines, 2026–27
Registration windows, test dates, and the prep timeline that actually fits around 8th grade homework.
Resources
The admissions dictionary nobody hands you.
NYC school admissions has its own language, and everyone talks like you already speak it. Start with the glossary below, then dig into the guides as they roll out through the fall.
Term of the day, every day
Decoded: the terms that matter
- SHSAT
- The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test: one exam, taken in the fall of 8th grade, that is the sole admission criterion for eight specialized schools (think Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech). Optional, free, and absolutely not required for a great high school.
- Screened
- A program that ranks applicants using criteria, usually 7th grade course grades. “Screened” doesn’t mean better; it means selective. Every screened program publishes what it looks at, and knowing that is half the strategy.
- Ed Opt
- “Educational Option”: programs designed to admit a deliberate mix of academic levels, filled partly by lottery within achievement groups. Some of the city’s most interesting schools are Ed Opt, and families skip them because the name sounds bureaucratic.
- MySchools
- The DOE’s online portal where the entire application happens: you research schools, rank up to twelve choices, and submit once, by the deadline. Your rank order matters; the algorithm works in your favor when you list what you honestly want, in honest order.
- Open / Unscreened
- Programs with no academic screen: seats go by lottery, sometimes with priority groups (like your borough or district). No essay, no test, no grades review. Lottery number luck is real, which is why list strategy matters.
- Waitlist
- After offers land in the spring, every school you ranked higher than your offer automatically waitlists you. Movement is normal through summer. A waitlist is not a rejection; it’s a maybe with paperwork.
- Match / Offer
- Your result: the single school the algorithm assigns from your ranked list. Most students match to one of their top choices, and what “most” means for your list is exactly the kind of thing a session is for.
- Discovery Program
- A second-chance pathway into specialized high schools for eligible students who score just below the SHSAT cutoff: a summer program that converts into an offer. Underused and worth knowing about before test day, not after.
Guides
Deep dives, arriving through the fall
Written the way I explain things in sessions: specific, current, and free of jargon. New guides land as application season ramps up.
Screened vs. unscreened: the full guide
How each admissions method really evaluates your kid, and how to balance both types on one list.
How MySchools works, click by click
From first login to submitted application, including the ranking mistakes I see families make every year.
Borough guides: the standout schools
Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island: the well-known names and the hidden gems, borough by borough.
The last-chance deadline checklist
Everything that must be done before applications close, in the order to do it. Printable, fridge-ready.
New terms decoded weekly on Instagram
Term of the Day, School Spotlights, Hidden Gems, and Commute Checks: short, useful, and posted all season.
Reading only gets a family so far.
When you’re ready to talk about your kid, your list, and your borough, that’s a session.
Book a session →