P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos: SHSAT testers and specialized high school offers, 2022-2026
District 5 · Manhattan · DBN 05M161
- 8th graders, 2026
- 77
- Sat the SHSAT
- 7
- Took the test
- 9%
- Offers
- 5 or fewer (not published)
SHSAT 2026: registration October 6–30; the test is November 14–15 (School Day November 18, 9th grade November 21).
For families choosing a middle school
Getting in (Fall 2026 admissions)
In Fall 2026 middle school admissions, P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos admitted sixth graders through one program (Zone Priority).
It had 54 general education applicants for 84 seats, 1 applicant per seat in the DOE's count.
The DOE marks its general education seats as not all filled.
| Program | Admissions method | General education seats | Students with disabilities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Applicants | Per seat | All filled | Seats | Applicants | Per seat | ||
| Pedro Albizu Campos (P.S./M.S. 161)Open to New York City residents | Zone Priority | 84 | 54 | 1 | No | 26 | 37 | 1 |
Where its students go next. The DOE lists A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, The Global Learning Collaborative and High School of Economics and Finance as the high schools its students most often attend.
Fall 2026 admissions: families applied in fall 2025 for sixth grade in September 2026. Seats, applicants and applicants per seat are the DOE’s, from its Fall 2026 Middle School Data file on InfoHub (saved by the DOE 2026-09-18), the same figures MySchools shows as last year’s demand. The DOE counts applicants this way: “MySchools shows the true number of applicants who were considered for a seat in a program, meaning this number excludes applicants who matched to a more preferred choice from their application.” (schools.nyc.gov, read October 4, 2026). Applicants per seat is the DOE’s own figure, rounded to a whole number, so 0 means fewer than one applicant for every two seats. “All filled” is the DOE’s flag for whether every seat in that group was filled; “n/a” means the file gives no figure. Seats and demand change every year; this page does not turn them into a chance of admission.
In 2026 admissions, 77 eighth graders at P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos applied to high school, and only 7 of them sat the SHSAT (9%). Across District 5 the rate was 34%, so this school sits 25 points below it. Citywide, among public middle schools that published both counts, 39% of eighth graders sat the test. It had the lowest participation of the 5 schools in District 5 that published both counts. Its eighth grade is the 2nd largest of 11 in District 5, above the median of 37.
The number of its students who received an offer to a specialized high school was 5 or fewer. The DOE does not publish counts that small, so it could be any number from zero to five; this page does not guess. That is the case at 10 of the 11 schools listed in District 5 for 2026.
The number of testers went from 13 in 2022 admissions to 7 in 2026, down 6. The sharpest move came between 2024 and 2025, when it fell by 12. The eighth grade itself shrank from 119 to 77 over the same years, so part of that movement is the size of the class, not the share sitting the test.
In District 5, the most offers in 2026 admissions went to students from Columbia Secondary School (20), out of 20 published for the district as a whole.
Year by year
| Admissions year | 8th graders | Sat the SHSAT | Took the test | Offers | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 119 | 13 | 11% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2023 | 103 | 22 | 21% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2024 | 113 | 23 | 20% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2025 | 82 | 11 | 13% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2026 | 77 | 7 | 9% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| District 5, 2026 | 493 | 99 | 34% | at least 20 | |
| New York City, 2026 | 26,123 | 4,023 |
“2026 admissions” means students who sat the SHSAT as eighth graders in the 2025-26 school year and received offers for fall 2026, as in the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary. “8th graders” counts the school’s eighth graders who applied to high school; “took the test” divides testers by that count when both are published. The district row adds the published counts of its schools, so its offers are a floor; the city row is the DOE’s own total. “Not listed” means the school is absent from that year’s file.
Schools in District 5 with a similar share of testers
The schools just above and below P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos when District 5’s schools are ordered by the share of eighth graders who sat the SHSAT in 2026 admissions.
- Columbia Secondary School57% of 97 sat the test · 20 offers
- Urban Assembly Academy for Future Leaders53% of 32 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- New Design Middle School41% of 32 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- Teachers College Community School14% of 49 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
See how this school ranks
P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos is not ranked for 2026 admissions: 7 students sat the SHSAT, under the 30 we require for a stable rate.
Best middle schools in Manhattan for the SHSAT
Compare with…
What to do with these numbers
Your child is in 8th grade now
Registration closes October 30. Test day: November 18.
November 18 is the SHSAT School Day; the weekend sittings are November 14/15 and November 21. Whatever the count at P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos, the decision to sit the test is yours, and a scored official practice test tells you more about your own child than any school figure.
- How to register for the SHSAT, step by step
- Score an official SHSAT practice test, free
- Book an SHSAT session
Dates read on schools.nyc.gov on October 19, 2026.
Your child is in 6th or 7th grade
A 7th grader sits the SHSAT in fall 2027; a 6th grader, in fall 2028.
The test comes in the fall of 8th grade, so there is no deadline yet, and that is the point: starting now leaves time to work on reading and math at a steady pace instead of in the last weeks. The counts above show what happened at P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos, not where your child stands. We start with a scored official practice test, which does.
Your child is in 5th grade
Middle school applications are open until December 11.
Start with how many families applied for each seat last year: the DOE publishes it program by program. The middle school you choose is also where the SHSAT years happen, so ask the schools on your list how many of their students sit the test and how they prepare them.
- How hard P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos is to get into
- SHSAT preparation: what it involves and when to start
Dates for fall 2027 entry read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos is a school figure. Your child needs a score.
Figures from Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results (school counts) and Specialized High Schools Admissions Overall Summary (city totals), New York City Department of Education, as listed for DBN 05M161; 2026 figures from the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary on InfoHub, not yet on NYC Open Data. Rebuilt 2026-10-04. Method and caveats are set out on the index page. Back to all 735 middle schools.