SHSAT results: the March letter, and what comes after it
The SHSAT score and any specialized high school offer arrive in one letter, in MySchools. Below: the date the city has set, what the letter shows, how the offer is decided, last year’s numbers, and the routes that stay open without an offer.
Testing runs until Saturday, November 21. Offer letters: Wednesday, March 3, 2027.
The last published SHSAT date this fall is November 21. The city has set the high school offer release for Wednesday, March 3, 2027, after 3 p.m., in MySchools.
What the March letter shows
| High school offer letters, in MySchools | Wednesday, March 3, 2027, after 3 p.m. |
|---|---|
| Last year’s letter (fall 2025 test) | March 5, 2026 |
| In the SHSAT section | The score, and up to one offer |
| Waitlist for the specialized high schools | None |
| Test View (seeing the exam) | Sign-up in spring 2027 |
The city’s Fall 2027 admissions timeline gives one date in March: the high school offer release, on Wednesday, March 3, 2027, after 3 p.m.. It does not list a separate date for SHSAT results. Last year they were part of the same letter: the city’s Discovery page refers to “the SHSAT results section of their offer letter”, and the letter came out on March 5, 2026. A family without a MySchools account gets the letter from the school counselor or a Family Welcome Center.
The SHSAT section holds the score and up to one offer to a testing specialized high school. An offer needs nothing right away to be accepted. A student who will attend a private, parochial or charter school, or a school outside the city, can have the offer set to “Opt out” by the counselor. The same letter also carries the offer from the regular high school application, which closes on December 4.
The score itself is a composite. On the adaptive test that starts this fall, the city states that each subject produces a performance score, standardized into a scaled score, and the two scaled scores are added into the composite used to rank students. Families can ask to see the exam: students who sat the fall 2026 test can sign up for a Test View in spring 2027, through the SHSAT Family Survey on the city’s SHSAT page, once the score is out.
How the offer is decided
Two things decide it, and only two: the score, and the order of schools your child listed at registration. The city describes it this way:
“Offers to the testing Specialized High Schools are made in descending order of SHSAT score, combined with each student’s preferences listed on their SHSAT registration.” (NYC Public Schools, Specialized High Schools)
- The highest score gets an offer to that student’s first choice, then the next highest, and so on down.
- When a student’s first choice is full, that student is considered for the second choice, then the third, in the order listed.
- It stops when every seat at every school is filled.
- A student is never considered for a school that is not on the registration.
So an offer to a fourth choice means the first three were filled by higher scores, and no offer means every listed school filled before your child’s score was reached. Grades, attendance and state tests play no part. LaGuardia, the ninth specialized high school, does not use the SHSAT: it admits by audition, on its own application.
Last year’s offers and lowest qualifying scores
The city publishes, for each school, the lowest score that received an offer. It describes the last student in, the year before. It is not a passing mark and it moves each year. For 2026 admissions, 9th grade entry, in the order offers fill:
| School | Lowest qualifying score | Offers, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Stuyvesant High SchoolManhattan · 02M475 | 561 | 777 |
| High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City CollegeManhattan · 05M692 | 539 | 144 |
| Queens High School for the Sciences at York CollegeQueens · 28Q687 | 531 | 139 |
| The Bronx High School of ScienceBronx · 10X445 | 525 | 726 |
| Staten Island Technical High SchoolStaten Island · 31R605 | 517 | 294 |
| High School of American Studies at Lehman CollegeBronx · 10X696 | 507 | 134 |
| Brooklyn Technical High SchoolBrooklyn · 13K430 | 506 | 1,393 |
| The Brooklyn Latin SchoolBrooklyn · 14K449 | 495 | 416 |
Citywide: testers, offers and Discovery, year by year
| Admissions year | Testers | Offers | Share | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 26,123 | 4,023 | 15.4% | 795 |
| 2025 | 25,933 | 4,023 | 15.5% | 785 |
| 2024 | 25,678 | 4,072 | 15.9% | 792 |
| 2023 | 25,959 | 3,994 | 15.4% | 767 |
| 2022 | 27,669 | 4,053 | 14.6% | 855 |
In 2026 admissions, 4,023 offers went to 26,123 testers, so most students who sit the SHSAT do not receive an offer. That is the reason to read the next section before March, not after. To place a practice score against these figures, use the SHSAT score calculator; to see how many students at a given middle school received an offer, the SHSAT results by middle school.
No specialized high school offer: what stays open
The specialized high schools have no waitlist, and the city does not reopen the ranking. Four routes remain, each with its own rules.
The high school offer in the same letter
The regular high school application is separate from the SHSAT. A student who applied by December 4 gets that offer in the same March letter, and the city runs waitlists for those programs, not for the specialized high schools.
The SHSAT again in 9th grade, for a 10th grade seat
An 8th grader without an offer can sit the SHSAT once more, in the fall of 9th grade, as a first-time 9th grader. It is the last sitting: the city’s guide says Grade 9 students have no further opportunity after Grade 9. The math goes one year further, and the 10th grade cutoffs are a separate table. The SHSAT in 9th grade: who can sit it, and the 10th grade cutoffs →
Discovery, if the letter mentions it
Discovery is a summer program, about three to five weeks, that lets some disadvantaged students who scored below the cutoff enter a specialized high school in September. It is by invitation, through the March letter, and only at schools the student listed. For summer 2026, any student who scored 495 or above was not eligible; the school needed an Economic Need Index of 60% or more (or, for a private, parochial or homeschooled student, a home census tract at that poverty level), plus one of: HRA assistance (welfare or SNAP), foster care or temporary housing, English learner status within the rules, or income at or under the reduced-price lunch threshold. Last year the application went to the school counselor by April 2. The city’s Discovery page →
Private and parochial schools, on their own calendar
Independent schools in New York mostly ask for the ISEE or the SSAT, with application deadlines in the winter, well before the March letter. Catholic high schools use the TACHS, given in early November. A family weighing these alongside the SHSAT sets them up in the fall, not after March. Which test each NYC private school asks for →
In 7th grade now? The next SHSAT is in fall 2027
A 7th grader today sits the SHSAT in the fall of 8th grade, in 2027. The city has not published those dates yet; this fall, registration ran from October 6 to October 30 and the tests from November 14 to November 21. The fall 2026 test was the first computer-adaptive SHSAT, and the city’s four practice tests for it are free.
The official SHSAT practice tests, with an answer checker →
The adaptive SHSAT format: 100 questions, 180 minutes →
Plan for fall 2027 with a tutor →
Take the next step
Planning the 9th grade SHSAT, or the one next fall?
Tell us your child’s grade and, if you have it, the score. We reply by email (or call, if you leave a number) with what to work on and when to start. Sessions are one-on-one, at 928 Broadway or online.
Questions about SHSAT results
When do SHSAT results come out?
New York City Public Schools has set high school offer letters for Wednesday, March 3, 2027, after 3 p.m., in MySchools. It gives no separate date for SHSAT results. Last year the SHSAT score and any specialized high school offer were in the March offer letter, released March 5, 2026.
What do the SHSAT results include?
The city lists two things: your child’s SHSAT score, and up to one offer to a testing specialized high school. A student who may be eligible for a Discovery program finds that information in the same letter. A student who sat the fall test can also sign up for a Test View in the spring, through the SHSAT Family Survey on the city’s SHSAT page.
How are SHSAT offers decided?
By score, then by the order of schools on the registration. The highest scorer gets their first choice, then the next, down the list, until a student’s first choice is full; that student is considered for their second choice, and so on, until every seat is filled. The SHSAT is the only criterion, and a student is never considered for a school they did not list.
Is there a waitlist for the specialized high schools?
No. The city states that the specialized high schools do not have waitlists. Without an offer in March, the routes are the high school offer in the same letter, a Discovery program if the letter mentions it, and for an 8th grader, the SHSAT again in 9th grade.
Can my child retake the SHSAT after not getting an offer?
Yes, once: a first-time 9th grader can sit it in the fall, for a 10th grade seat. The city’s guide says Grade 9 students have no further opportunity after Grade 9. The 10th grade cutoffs are their own table, published by the city next to the 9th grade one.
What is the Discovery program?
A summer program, about three to five weeks, that lets some disadvantaged students who scored below the cutoff enter a specialized high school in September. It is by invitation only, through the March offer letter, and only at schools the student listed. For summer 2026 a score of 495 or above was not eligible; the student’s school needed an Economic Need Index of 60% or more (or, for private, parochial or homeschooled students, a home census tract at that poverty level), plus one more criterion such as SNAP benefits, temporary housing or recent English learner status.
Sources, read on November 8, 2026: NYC Public Schools, High School (Fall 2027 timeline); Specialized High Schools (how offers are made, what the results include, lowest qualifying scores); Discovery Programs; Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (scoring, Test View). Testers, offers and Discovery by year: NYC Open Data and the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary. GeniusPrep is an independent tutoring company, not affiliated with New York City Public Schools.