In New York City, the Department of Education recently released the enrollment data for the 2026 school year for Specialized High Schools, with approximately 4,000 students being admitted to the city’s eight specialized high schools. Asian students continue to dominate, comprising 56.5% of the admissions, showing an increase from last year’s 54%.
This academic year saw around 26,100 eighth-grade students participate in the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), with about 4,000 students qualifying for admission to specialized high schools, accounting for approximately 15% of the test takers. In contrast, Asian students make up only 18.7% of the city’s public school students, yet they secure over half of the admissions to specialized high schools, once again demonstrating their exceptional performance in the SHSAT.
Apart from Asian students, white students account for 23.5% of the total admissions (down from about 26% last year); black students make up 3.5%, and Hispanic students account for 6.5%.
The most competitive school in the city, Stuyvesant High School, admitted a total of 777 freshmen this year, with 534 of them being Asian, representing approximately 68.7% of the admissions. This highlights the outstanding performance of Asian students, particularly Chinese students, in the specialized high school exams.
Stuyvesant High School admitted only 3 black students this year, the lowest number since 2014, bringing the ethnic distribution of specialized high schools back into focus. 2014 is the earliest year for which public admissions data for specialized high schools is available.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s alma mater, Bronx High School of Science, admitted 726 freshmen this year, with 30 of them being black students.
In another specialized high school, Staten Island Technical High School, out of nearly 300 admission spots this year, only 1 black student was admitted.
Additionally, around 800 students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have scores close to the admission standards will be invited to participate in the “Discovery Program” after completing summer courses, allowing them to enroll in specialized high schools.
Education department data shows that among public school students citywide this year, blacks make up 19.3%, Hispanics account for 42.3%, Asians comprise 18.7%, and whites make up 16.1%. Among students taking the SHSAT, about 17% are black and 25% are Hispanic.
This year, for the first time, the SHSAT was administered online. The New York City Department of Education stated that next year, the test will transition to a Computer Adaptive Test, where question difficulty will adjust in real-time based on the student’s responses to the previous questions, providing a more accurate assessment of student abilities.
Regarding the overall high school enrollment results in the city this year, around 71,000 eighth-grade students applied for high schools, with 58% receiving admission to their first-choice school and 82% being admitted to one of their top three choices.