Welcome to The Outsiders Guide to New York City high schools!
This guide is meant for anyone attending or entering a specialized or competitive high school in the city, and it’s meant to make your high school experience a little easier.
There are many advantages to going to a competitive high school, but one of the biggest challenges is adjusting after getting in. Lots of factors go into how prepared you are for high school, and there are some things you can't really prepare for. Even if you are the brightest, most dedicated student, getting used to a new school can be really challenging. That’s where this guide comes in.
Along with being extremely challenging and competitive, New York City’s high schools are extremely segregated. One of the effects of this segregation is that students of color at any given competitive high school in the city have a very unique experience and face a very specific set of challenges and obstacles. This unique experience is made harder because of the limited resources offered specifically for us and the very small community for support and guidance. That is one of the reasons that the majority of the authors of this website are students of color. This guide is for everyone, but some of the sections, like the cultural section and some of the blog, will be more useful and relatable to students of color.
That being said, every one of the authors of this website this had a similar experience when they first entered their high school: we all felt overwhelmed and underprepared. Whether it was the college application process, the challenging course load, finding the right extracurriculars or just adapting to a very different social environment, it was a hard transition for all of us. We felt like we were less prepared than our peers for reasons we can’t control. We created this guide so less of you have to experience that.
On the pages we have all the resources, information, and advice we wish we had known earlier. If you want to hear more of our stories, check out the blog, and if you have any question, contributions, or concerns reach out to us via email or social media, which you can find in the icons below.