ISEE or SSAT? What each NYC private school asks for
59 independent schools across the five boroughs, and the admissions test each one asks for, grade by grade, with its application deadline. Tick the schools on your list and the page tells you which test your child has to sit and the first date on your calendar. Every line links to the school’s own admissions page; what a school does not publish is marked “not published”, never guessed.
- Schools
- 59
- ISEE or SSAT, at some grade
- 26
- ISEE only, at some grade
- 14
- No test required
- 9
Pick your schools
Choose the grade your child will enter in September 2027, then tick every school you are applying to. Open a school’s name for its full line: the sentence we read on its site, the link, and the date we read it.
59 of 59 schools shown. Tick the ones you are applying to.
| Select | School | Grade 9 | Apply by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham Joshua Heschel School Upper West Side, Manhattan · Nursery-12 | No ISEE/SSAT required | Dec 4, 2026 | |
| The Allen-Stevenson School Upper East Side, Manhattan · TK-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Avenues The World School West Chelsea, Manhattan · Nursery-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Bank Street School for Children Morningside Heights, Manhattan · Nursery to grade 8 To be re-checked | Not published | Not published | |
| Bay Ridge Prep Bay Ridge, Brooklyn · K-12 | No ISEE/SSAT required | Not published | |
| The Beekman School Midtown East, Manhattan · 9-12 | No ISEE/SSAT required | Not published | |
| The Berkeley Carroll School Park Slope, Brooklyn · PreK-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 16, 2026 | |
| The Birch Wathen Lenox School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | Not stated | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| The Brearley School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Brooklyn Friends School Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn · PreK-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 20, 2026 | |
| The Browning School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Buckley School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-8 | Not published | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| The Calhoun School Upper West Side, Manhattan · Young 3s-12 | Test required, ISEE recommended | Not published | |
| The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine Morningside Heights, Manhattan · K-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Chapin School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | No ISEE/SSAT required | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| City and Country School Greenwich Village, Manhattan · Age 2 to grade 8 To be re-checked | Not published | Not published | |
| The Co-op School Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn · Preschool-8 | Not published | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| Collegiate School Upper West Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 16, 2026 | |
| Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School Upper West Side, Manhattan · Pre-K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 15, 2026 | |
| Convent of the Sacred Heart Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Dalton School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 13, 2026 | |
| Ethical Culture Fieldston School Riverdale, Bronx · Pre-K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 13, 2026 | |
| Friends Seminary Gramercy, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 16, 2026 | |
| Garden School (Jackson Heights) Jackson Heights, Queens · Nursery-12 | Not stated | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| George Jackson Academy East Village, Manhattan · 6-8 | Not published | Dec 12, 2026 | |
| Grace Church School East Village, Manhattan · JK-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Hannah Senesh Community Day School Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn · K-8 | Not published | Dec 15, 2026 | |
| The Hewitt School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| Horace Mann School Riverdale, Bronx · Nursery-12 | ISEE | Nov 18, 2026 | |
| The IDEAL School of Manhattan Financial District, Manhattan · K-12 | Not stated | Not published | |
| The Kew-Forest School Forest Hills, Queens · Preschool-12 | No ISEE/SSAT required | Not published | |
| La Scuola d'Italia New York Upper East Side, Manhattan · Preschool-12 | Not stated | Not published | |
| Loyola School Upper East Side, Manhattan · 9-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Not published | |
| LREI (Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School) Greenwich Village, Manhattan · Pre-K-12 | Test-optional | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Léman Manhattan Preparatory School Financial District, Manhattan · 12 months-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Jan 8, 2027 | |
| Manhattan Country School Manhattan To be re-checked | Not published | Not published | |
| Marymount School of New York Upper East Side, Manhattan · Nursery-12 | ISEE | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Nightingale-Bamford School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| The Packer Collegiate Institute Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn · Pre-K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 20, 2026 | |
| Poly Prep Country Day School Dyker Heights, Brooklyn · Nursery-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 6, 2026 | |
| Professional Children's School Lincoln Square, Manhattan · 4-12 | Test-optional | Not published | |
| Riverdale Country School Riverdale, Bronx · PK-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Not published | |
| Rodeph Sholom School Upper West Side, Manhattan · Nursery (Twos)-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Rudolf Steiner School Upper East Side, Manhattan · Pre-K-12 | Not stated | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Saint Ann's School Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn · Preschool-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 20, 2026 | |
| Saint David's School Upper East Side, Manhattan · PK-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Saint Thomas Choir School Midtown West, Manhattan · 4-8 | Not published | Not published | |
| The Spence School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Dec 11, 2026 | |
| Speyer Legacy School Manhattan To be re-checked | Not published | Not published | |
| St. Bernard's School Upper East Side, Manhattan · K-9 To be re-checked | Not published | Not published | |
| St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School Morningside Heights, Manhattan · N-8 | Not published | Not published | |
| St. Luke's School West Village, Manhattan · JK-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Staten Island Academy Todt Hill, Staten Island · Pre-K-12 | ISEE | Not published | |
| The Studio School Upper West Side, Manhattan · Preschool-8 | Not published | Dec 18, 2026 | |
| The Town School Upper East Side, Manhattan · N-8 | Not published | Dec 1, 2026 | |
| Trinity School Upper West Side, Manhattan · K-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Nov 15, 2026 | |
| United Nations International School Kips Bay, Manhattan · PK-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Not published | |
| Village Community School West Village, Manhattan · PreK-8 | Not published | Dec 4, 2026 | |
| York Preparatory School Upper West Side, Manhattan · 6-12 | ISEE or SSAT | Not published |
Your list — grade 9, fall 2027
Tick at least one school above. This box then says which test your child needs to sit and the first date on your calendar.
Take the next step
Preparing for private school admissions?
Tell us your child's grade and where they are today. The schools you ticked are attached to your message, so you don't need to list them again.
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How this list is built
The schools are independent schools in New York City’s five boroughs that admit students into grades 5 to 11, most of them members of ISAAGNY, the admissions association that sets the shared notification dates. Schools devoted mainly to students with learning differences are not in this first version.
For each school we opened its own admissions pages and copied the sentence that states the test policy, the application deadline for fall 2027 entry, and the page address. Directories and forums were not used as sources. When a school gives a date without a year on a page that is plainly about fall 2027 entry, we say so on its line. When a page could not be opened on the day we checked, the line is marked “to be re-checked”.
Policies change from one admissions year to the next. We re-read every line each September, and any line not re-read for 13 months is flagged rather than left to look current. Before you register, the school’s own page is the one that counts.
40 of the 59 schools publish an application deadline for fall 2027 entry. The whole list is downloadable as CSV; reuse it freely, and a link back is welcome.