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Manhattan Boasts 6 of City's 10 Most Popular High Schools

By DNAinfo Staff on April 1, 2011 7:56am

Pace High School on Hester Street is among the city's most sought-after.
Pace High School on Hester Street is among the city's most sought-after.
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Courtesy of the NYC Department of Education

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Gramercy's Baruch College Campus High School was the most sought-after in the city, netting 7,606 applications for a fraction of the school's overall 450 seats for the upcoming school year, the city Education Department said Thursday.

The DOE released the data as eighth graders around the city learned where they would be attending high school next year. The 8,239 eighth graders who did not receive a match must re-apply by April 15, the DOE said.

Baruch, an award-winning school on East 25th Street near Madison Square Park, reported a 100 percent graduation rate in 2008 - 2009. That rate was reported in the city's High School Directory for the first time this year, which the DOE credited with sparking a 60 percent jump in applications.

The city's specialized high schools were not included in this ranking, as there is a separate process of applying to those schools.

The DOE based the numbers on how many students included each school on their list of up to 12 school choices on their application forms. The city has not yet released which schools were listed as the students' number one choice.

Manhattan's schools came up big in the city ranking, with a total of six schools in the top ten list, four of which appeared in the first five positions.

The Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side — which had a 99 percent graduation rate in 2008 - 2009 — came in second with 6,173 applications just for the freshman class in the 500-seat school.

Coming in third was Pace High School on Hester Street with 5,883 applications for the ninth grade class in the 400-seat school. Pace, which has an 86 percent graduation rate, bases its admission on the level of student interest in the school, as displayed by their enthusiasm for the school during the application process, not on test scores.

The Beacon High School, with 1,150 seats on the Upper West Side, came in fourth with 5,705 applications, versus 4,970 last year.

Rounding out the top ten were Downtown's Millennium High School in sixth with 5,266 applications. The school, which also reported a 100 percent graduation rate, saw a jump in applications from 4,985 applicants for the 2010 school year.

Harlem's Manhattan/Hunter College Science School came in eighth with 4,794.