MANHATTAN — Manhattan is home to five of the city's most sought-after high schools, with Baruch College High School and Pace High School topping the list, according to numbers released by the Department of Education.
Most students applying to public high schools this year won't be disappointed — 84 percent of eighth-graders were admitted to one of their top five high school choices, the DOE said.
Almost half of the city's 77,137 applicants — 49 percent — got their top choice and 74 percent were admitted to one of their top three choices. Students can try for admission at up to 12 high schools.
Baruch, which had a 98 percent graduation rate in 2010, drew 6,465 applicants. Pace, which had an 86 percent graduation rate, had 6,289 applications.
The other most desired high schools in Manhattan were Eleanor Roosevelt High School, which garnered 5,938 applications; Beacon High School, with 5,300 applicants; and the Food and Finance High School, which drew 4,710.
This year DOE sped up the admissions process, and students found out which school admitted them a month earlier than they did last year. The DOE will hold a second round of admissions with a March 15 deadline for the 7,391 students who weren't accepted at any of their desired schools.
Two Manhattan schools — downtown's Millennium High School and Harlem's Manhattan/Hunter College Science School — were on the city's top 10 most desired high schools list last year but dropped off this year.
