What should 8th graders do now, to prepare for High School applications in the fall?

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By Joyce Szuflita
Considering that you just read the previous blog about the uncertainty of admissions criteria in the fall, here is what you should do now:

  • Find a solid list of 2 dozen interesting schools to investigate over the summer. Right this minute, I recommend that this group shouldn’t include the Specialized HS or LaGuardia. They are easy to research. You should totally investigate them shortly, but the other list is bigger and you shouldn’t neglect it. I want you to do some digging into the 700 high school programs you will need to rank on your regular application.

  • You should not be thinking of their ranking (your preference) until Thanksgiving.

  • Go to InsideSchools.org
    Then to “Discover your best options High School”
    You will answer a couple of questions.
    It will spit out about 200 options for you that you can rank by College Readiness (how academic the students are), Distance, or Applicants per seat (how popular it is)

  • You can also go to “narrow my search” to show recommended schools, project based or Early College programs as well as charters or career based schools.

  • play around start to save some schools that look interesting

  • Go to MY SCHOOLS (it is always a little less glitchy in Google Chrome)

  • Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Browse the school directory!”

  • Click High School

  • put in your address to see what is close by

  • go to the bottom of the list and click the rt. arrow to give you a wider field

  • play around with their filters (which, I am sorry DoE, are sadly lacking for a good search)

  • start over and look with a different landmark or address, just to see what new things pop up

This can be a fantastical journey and you will likely find many appropriate and interesting schools. You can also contact me to help you devise a list. I am a convenience, and you will pay me, but the human brain is a curious organ and often a bit more nuanced than a search function. If you contact me early on before you have done any leg work, we might have to talk for 2 hours to thoroughly explain the process and find you 24ish solid choices based on your child’s needs. If you have already done a good amount of searching, maybe only 30 min. to finesse your list.

I will also be scheduling my high school talks by Zoom through the summer. When I do, they will be listed here.