2025-2026 SEHS Admissions

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  • This topic has 77 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 49 minutes ago by Camila.
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    • #18109 Reply
      Lamom
      Guest

      Just heard that scores will be out on November 8. Cutoffs dropped last year, any predictions for this year?

    • #18191 Reply
      CPSMOM
      Guest

      Where did you hear that scores will be released 11/8?

      • #18192 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        From our school counselor — we’re in CPS, assume it applies to everyone but not totally sure about that.

        • #18202 Reply
          CPSMOM
          Guest

          Thanks! We are in CPS too.

    • #18229 Reply
      Lamom
      Guest

      Scores are up!

    • #18230 Reply
      NonCPSmom
      Guest

      Hmm… I am not seeing scores. Anyone else who can see theirs on a 504? Also, shows that my student’s test as a “scheduled event” in blue versus a “completed event” in green

      • #18231 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        I think non-cps families take the test later so maybe the scores go up later?

    • #18232 Reply
      Bibidee
      Guest

      Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything. If my kid was in the 99 percentile for reading and math. With all As last year, that should translate to a 900/900. Correct?

      • #18233 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        Correct!

    • #18236 Reply
      WBmom
      Guest

      I’m hoping cut off scores stay the same, but have a feeling since my kid is on the cusp, the cutoffs will go up.

      • #18247 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        My situation too. Just have no idea if the drop (especially in tier 3) was some sort of issue with the test that year or a secular trend, both are plausible.

    • #18239 Reply
      Mark Robert
      Guest

      Hi my child got a 97 in reading and 92 in math. We are tier 3 and he really wants to go to northside with his brother and sister. Can he get in?

    • #18246 Reply
      HSMom
      Guest

      Mark Robert- based on last year’s scores he would get in but the year before he would not. It really depends on if the trend from last year remains.

    • #18248 Reply
      Mark Robert
      Guest

      Hi thanks. Do you think the cutoff scores will go down or up?

    • #18249 Reply
      Marie
      Guest

      What about Math 99 & Reading 90 , tier 3. Is that good for WY?

      • #18251 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        In the last couple of years, that score would get you into WY. You never know if cut scores will change but I think very likely to get in.

    • #18252 Reply
      Sebastian Kindles
      Guest

      Does anyone know if a child has gotten a perfect score. My child goes to a regional gifted center and he says no one he knows got a perfect score. He also said everyone got a low math score. Is this similar to your child?

      • #18269 Reply
        Mom
        Guest

        Not true.my kid got a 900 as did someone else in this post. Historically, the ranked choice cutoff for Payton and Northside is often a perfect 900. Maybe most of the kids who get perfect scores are in private schools, already at academic cneters, or in neighborhood schools because that’s what their families value?

        Anyways, my kid is happy at LTAC and will not be going to a different SE high school. As his parent, I have to be okay with his choice.

    • #18253 Reply
      One CPS parent
      Guest

      Sebastian, looks like someone on this forum got a perfect score…
      I am wondering what the predictions for this year’s cutoff scores would be for Tier 4, last year were lower but seems like that was an outlier.

    • #18255 Reply
      Bibidee
      Guest

      One thing that I was not previously aware of was that the CPS “grades” on a curve for this test. My kid got his actual test scores, as well as percentiles. My kid did not score perfect on either. I’m only guessing, a perfect score might be like 350 on either test. He was in the 99th percentile on both. Using the rubric, his “weighted” score should be a 900. I was concerned I misinterpreted the results at first but am more confident today. Looking at cut scores from previous years and the hardest schools to get into, I thought it was suspicious at how many “perfect 900s” there were overall. But the curve made it make more sense.

    • #18260 Reply
      IHateThis
      Guest

      99th percentile math, 90th reading, all As in 7th, tier 4

      I think that gets my child an 880 and hopefully into Lane. Guess we just have to wait 4 or 5 more months.

    • #18262 Reply
      Bibidee
      Guest

      Last two years, the bottom cut score for Lane Tech tier 4 was 870. Subject to change but 880 is looking good. If Lane is your kids dream school, Don’t forget about principals discretion. Not a bad idea to get recommendation letters ahead of time. Just in case.

    • #18263 Reply
      AK
      Guest

      To calculate the score into 900, use this:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_eEs8Xym5IbwVa2_UmifCMM33k95i2SW/view

      The percent score is multiplied to get a number of up to 225 for reading/math. Then you add in the grades, and that is your score out of 900. So, a 99th % on Reading and Math + Straight As should get a 900.

    • #18264 Reply
      AK
      Guest
    • #18267 Reply
      Sebastian Kindles
      Guest

      Hi my son scored 97 on reading as well as 92 on math. Can he make it through northside. We are tier 3.

      • #18268 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        Last year he would have been in at Northside, the year before not — so definitely a chance but will just depend on the cut scores.

    • #18277 Reply
      one_more_time
      Guest

      Hello,

      I am curious to hear what were the raw scores for your kids? Mine got 315/332.

      • #18286 Reply
        Bean
        Guest

        hi, do you know what a kids raw score means? I imagine many children will score 99/97 and come from the same tier as my kid. Do you know if these ‘raw” scores help in tiebreakers? Thanks.

    • #18281 Reply
      Mama bear
      Guest

      My child got a 62 and 72 percentile, she’s usually a over achiever and does great in school but she scored so low. She’s very disciplined with her score because how much she studied, she really wanted to go to lane or whitney and now she is very drained and things tha she’s not capable because of her score, is there even a possibility for her getting in, also she did get straight a’s in 7th grade.

    • #18282 Reply
      Mama bear
      Guest

      We are also in tier 4 by the way and I know the scores are usually higher,my daughter says she doomed and very dissipointed with her outcome. Also in my first post I mean disappointed not disciplined. Like I was saying how I think this score is really affecting her, she has no appetite and always studying bc she says she just feels so dumb and useless. She has such high expectations for herself that when she got her results she became really disappointed in herself.

      • #18289 Reply
        Hsmom
        Guest

        I’d find someone for her to talk to. Is your neighborhood school an option?

      • #18355 Reply
        Parent123
        Guest

        I just wanted to send you and your daughter some support.

        I’ll be honest, those scores likely won’t work for regular cut scores. If she has some serious reason or something to offer a SEHS, principal’s discretion may be worth a try.

        Meanwhile I would seriously take a look at other choice programs or what your neighborhood school has to offer. Make it action oriented – what can you do next and how can we look at that in a positive light.

    • #18283 Reply
      Bean
      Guest

      Hey everyone,
      Tier 3 here. Hoping to get into WY. I am curious about the standard scores, what purpose do they serve?
      My child’s score.
      Reading Percentile — 97
      Reading Standard Score — 315
      Math Percentile — 99
      Math Standard Score — 322

    • #18295 Reply
      8th grade student
      Guest

      Reading – 90 (297)
      Math – 99 (338)
      Tier 4
      Gives me an 880, I think I could get into Jones or Lane but is there any chance for WY?

    • #18296 Reply
      8th grade student
      Guest

      also straight a’s

    • #18298 Reply
      Marie
      Guest

      Why are the standards scores different even if students have the same percentiles?

      • #18304 Reply
        one_more_time
        Guest

        because percentiles are related to the ranges of the scores.

    • #18299 Reply
      IN
      Guest

      With 880 in tier 4, any chance for WP or Jones?

      • #18300 Reply
        8th grade student
        Guest

        Jones cutoff is usually around 870s so probably. Payton the cutoff is usually 900 so probably not.

        • #18347 Reply
          IN
          Participant

          Pretty good for an 8th grader to know this stuff!

    • #18310 Reply
      Mama bear
      Guest

      Well our neighborhood highschool is not th best and the programs are not exactly interesting for my daughter, update my daughter is still very dissipointed about her scores and I am debating to get her someone so she could talk to because this is really affecting her and ruining her self esteem. I am telling her that von stuben scholars is a good program and when we went to the open house and she liked it but she even bought the lane sweatshirt bc she wanted to manifest her being there.shes still not having an appetite nor wanting to go out of her room.im really concerned for her and based on her scores of a 62 and 72 it is not exactly lane worthy btw she has all as in 7th grade

      • #18311 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        No harm in having her talk to someone. I’m sorry, this is a rough process and I think unfair that our 8th graders have so much pressure and so much riding on a single test. Von Scholars is a wonderful program and might be easier to stand out in a smaller, more personalized program like that than at Lane. There’s also the option of transferring if she really doesn’t feel like the school where she ends up is a fit, all of the SEHS take transfer students and what matters there is grades, essays and recommendations.

        • #18331 Reply
          Mama bear
          Guest

          Yes exactly how I feel, when u were talking about transferring to like lane how can u do that exactly????

        • #18333 Reply
          Mama bear
          Guest

          Though just to be for sure there is no way for my daughter to get into lane correct, because of her score??

          • #18335 Reply
            Lamom
            Guest

            So it looks like this school year, Lane isn’t accepting transfers but here’s an example of what the form would look like if it changes (this would be something you do during your freshman or sophomore year): https://www.wpcp.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?type=d&uREC_ID=410149&pREC_ID=1000141

            For next year the only option would be principals discretion but you are likely right that her scores would make that difficult.

            • #18336 Reply
              Mama bear
              Guest

              Yes it is really disappointing for her, hopefully she does qualify for the von scholars which is still very close to us luckily and seems like a great program!!! Sadly when I told my daughter she said it was good but I could tell by her face she is still in a bad place.

    • #18315 Reply
      Penny Pam
      Guest

      Hi looks like there aren’t many perfect scores. Seems like the cut off scores will be the same or close to the same. Anyone else agree?

      • #18326 Reply
        8th grade student
        Guest

        Yes, I think for WY, Jones, and Lane it will stay the same or slightly fall. I don’t know about Northside and Payton.

    • #18320 Reply
      8th grade student
      Guest

      I got 97 (reading) and 98 (math) with straight A’s, and I live in a tier 1 area. I’m hearing a lot about how the scores are going to go up and stuff, and I would think I’m safe, but you never know, so I would like someone else’s opinion on the matter. For context, Whitney is my 1st choice.

    • #18323 Reply
      IHateThis
      Guest

      8th grade student – I think you’re pretty safely in. Last year an 814 would get you into Whitney from tier 1, and I didn’y computer what your percentiles convert to but probably around 890. Congrats!

      • #18324 Reply
        8th grade student
        Guest

        Thank you for reassuring me 😌

        • #18334 Reply
          one_more_time
          Guest

          it’s 892. with that score, you are getting in. or at least you would have gotten in for any of the last 3 years!
          congrats!

      • #18410 Reply
        Camila
        Guest

        Hi Hailey

    • #18329 Reply
      Patrick Jones
      Guest

      I think the cutoff scores will be going down for all the schools seeing many students in the top selective prep schools not getting perfect scores. Seems like the test was quite difficult? Anyone else agree?

      • #18338 Reply
        Mama bear
        Guest

        My daughter said that there were challenging questions and with only 39 question to finish in 30 minutes was truly stressful for her. And she did say that the last 2 stories in the reading were hard to understand!

    • #18330 Reply
      Teacher Applere
      Guest

      Hi for anyone trying to go to Northside Whitney Young, Lane, Payton, etc. As long as you have above a 860 you have a good chance of getting in. I’ve heard of many kids who got 850 in tier 4 who got in to Payton because of principal letters. So please parents of students stop stressing. You will get into the school you desire!

    • #18348 Reply
      NDT
      Guest

      *Disclaimer* I do NOT have any concrete insight.

      This is a super stressful process for all who go through it.

      One recurring theme seems to be will the cut scores go up this year?

      If CPS enrollment has been slowly declining over the last 20 years and the number of available freshman seats has stayed the same. In general, it should be getting slightly easier to test in, OVER TIME, as we should see the minimum cut scores required for the different tiers trend downwards. Looking at ONLY the cut scores over the last few years, my theory seems to hold some weight. Even though there are a some outliers with increases.

      Another recurring theme is, how many “perfect 900” scores will I have to compete against?

      Using SUPER rough estimates here: If there are 100K total students across all CPS high schools and a quarter of those go on to be CPS freshman, lets just ballpark and say there are a potential of 25K total scores to compete against. There are three different components to the cut score: 7th grade grades, the math test and the reading test. The amount of cut score points students get assigned is based on a seperate curve, for each test. Meaning that regardless of actual test score, the top one percent (the “99th” percentile) will always get the max score of 225 on each respective test. If 25K students took the test, that means that only 250 kids will get the max of 225 on each respective test. In theory, it’s possible for there to be a maximum of 250 total 900 scores, assuming 25K test takers. However, as there are three seperate components that need to come together and we know some kids scored 99 on one test, but not both. We can say for a fact, there are less 900s out there than the maximum possible.

      All of that to say, there is no need to fear some huge influx of 900s wrecking test curves and driving up cut scores. Again, if overall enrollment continues to decline, the amount of 900s should also trend down over time.

      Looking at cut scores for the last few years, the only school where the amount of 900s has skewed things drastically, is at, is Payton. I believe that their freshman class is about 300 or so. Split 5 ways for top overall score(no tier) and the 4 tiers with seperate cut scores. Looks to be about 60 kids got in with a 900 score, overall. Than basically, all 60 tier 4 spots still needed a score of 900 as well. A few random 900s go elsewhere but it looks like most end up at Payton.

      • #18350 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        The Tier 3 cut scores dropped really precipitously last year, I’m expecting somewhat of a rebound. Though it is possible that the population decline and the shrinking middle class means there will be a long term divergence between Tier 4 and the other three tiers.

      • #18411 Reply
        Camila
        Guest

        Hi Fr on my high schools admission test I got a score of 732 and I’m tier 2. I want to get into the selective enrollment Jones. I’m far from the cut off score but I’m closer to the score of Jones pre-law. I don’t live in the required boundaries of Jones pre-law would I still be able to get in with a recommendation letter from a principal? Or I aim for the normal Jones with a recommendation letter from a principal?

    • #18358 Reply
      ChicagoMom
      Guest

      Seeking advice: Living in an area that just moved from Tier 3 to 4. Our top choice is Northside Prep and my child scored a 95/93 and is a below the cut off but has lots going for them! They are IEP/505 Plan. Thoughts? We are going to apply and leverage the Principal’s Discretionary process. This is beyone stressful. Good luck parents!

      • #18363 Reply
        IHateThis
        Guest

        ChicagoMom – Our elementary school held a meeting about the whole admissions process and I think I recall them saying that the SEHS need to admit a class where 13% of them have IEPs. So, if Lane has 1,000 slots, 130 of them are reserved for students with IEPs. No idea of the details on that – there would be different cutoff scores for students with IEPs, I guess? Maybe your school’s social work or counselor would have info on that.

    • #18362 Reply
      IN
      Participant

      Thx

    • #18371 Reply
      KK
      Guest

      How does student rank affect things?

    • #18379 Reply
      CPS Mom
      Guest

      Hi my child scores a 97 and 92 which is a 879. We live in tier 3. Our top choice is northside and we have two siblings there. Are they going to be accepted considering the cutoff scores will remain mostly the same seeing mostly the same results from last year?

    • #18383 Reply
      LawMom444
      Guest

      To MamaBear Guest, unfortunately the odds are stacked against students as this process IS very cut throat.

      My daughter too, scored in the same range despite consistently being a straigh A student and scoring high on those tests that supposedly told her she was at an 11th geade level in math, so seeing her percentile in the 70s was quite discouraging for the both of us…

      my best advice is to remind your daughter that this test does NOT define her…so many students do use private tutoring and that is quite expensive plus she is also competing against students who come from private schools.

      I was told by another parent that works for CPS that MANY students from private schools also apply and get offers so it is not just CPS students..

      In any event, if this helps, my friend’s daughter was accepted to YALE! She also received offers from MIT and Duke University..and guess what, she didnt receive not one offer from a SEHS…she ended up at Noble Academy but now 4 yrs later shes going to friggin YALE

      her life is NOT doomed bc she was not accepted…and she needs to give herself some grace…that is what I tell my daughter….you are only doomed if you believe this to be true…..

      • #18391 Reply
        one_more_time
        Guest

        Thank you for saying this!
        Many parents need to hear it and pass this wisdom to their children.

    • #18390 Reply
      Jennifer B
      Guest

      We are in a Tier 3 and my daughter scored 99/90 which is 880. Trying to decide b/w NCP and Lane to rank as first choice in the application. Should we put NCP first and hope she lucks out in Principal Discretion or put Lane first and play safe? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

      • #18392 Reply
        Lamom
        Guest

        There’s no risk in ranking the schools in your actual order of preference, so definitely put NCP first if that’s your first choice.

    • #18395 Reply
      Raj A
      Guest

      Any guidance on Hancock School ? How is it ? It seems to be located close to Midway Airport – How do students commute from the loop ?

    • #18396 Reply
      Dave P
      Guest

      Really appreciate everyone who’s answering questions here. I believe I’m understanding everything correctly, but just to get a second opinion, our daughter, with a 900 score, would likely get an offer from her first choice, regardless of Tier? In this case, Young.

      • #18398 Reply
        ParentOfThree
        Guest

        @Dave P – Yes, with a 900 score you will very likely get an offer from the first choice regardless of Tier. There is only 1 year in which this did not happen, and it only didn’t happen for specifically Payton. 886 Tier 4 is the highest score that has ever not been offered from Young as first choice.

        • #18400 Reply
          Dave P
          Guest

          @ParentOfThree Thanks! Appreciate the confirmation.

    • #18404 Reply
      CPS Mom
      Guest

      Hi is an 879 good enough for northside in tier 3.

    • #18409 Reply
      Camila
      Guest

      Hi guys on my high schools admission test I got a score of 732 and I’m tier 2. I want to get into the selective enrollment Jones. I’m far from the cut off score but I’m closer to the score of Jones pre-law. I don’t live in the required boundaries of Jones pre-law would I still be able to get in with a recommendation letter from a principal? Or I aim for the normal Jones with a recommendation letter from a principal?

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