Don't hesitate to email us if you have any questions or concerns about SHSAT admissions or prep! Have fun and enjoy!
A very terse description of the NYC Specialized High School Discovery Program follows:
"Discovery" does not come into play until after all HS offers are made (in some years Discovery invitations are included in your HS offer letter). Discovery applications will not be available until/after you get all your non-SHS offers in mid-March (or whenever non-SHS offers are made).
What is Discovery? Discovery is an opportunity for "certain disadvantaged students" whose scored "right below the SHSAT cutoff score" to participate in a summer program to "get up to speed" in part. Students accepted to Discovery go to actual class during the summer covering a variety of math, English, and other topics. These classes are usually often related to what their incoming freshman experience would require and involve. Note that currently 20% of all incoming SHS seats are allocated for students who successfully complete the Discovery Program. Note that Discovery is for entry to Grade 9 only.
To be eligible to be enrolled in Discovery, you MUST be from a low-income household, or live in temporary housing, or be an ELL student in NYC less than 4 years. You MUST also attend what the DOE refers to as a high poverty school (defined as having an "Economic Need Index" (ENI) of at least 60%, see your school's ENI at the DOE School Dashboard or the "School Quality Guide" link found at the DOE School Quality Guide -- in either case the year needs to be set correctly). Note the MUSTs. If these things don't apply to you, then Discovery is not available for you. So for instance even if you have a low income but your school does not meet the ENI requirement then you are not eligible for Discovery.
What does "just under the SHSAT cutoff score" mean? In brief, given recent past years' scores, it usually means a score of about from 470 to 480. These are ROUGH NUMBERS; some years the 470 is less, some years the 480 is higher. The DOE has not yet provided these numbers and won't until after HS offers are made in mid-March (or whenever non-SHS offers are made), but my GUESS based on what this year's cutoff scores seem to be (see https://www.GregsTutoringNYC.com/shsat-cutoffs for a good idea regarding recent cutoffs) is the range will be ABOUT 450 through 492 this year. Note that Discovery ranges change not only from year to year but also from SHS to SHS.
IF you meet whatever the DOE determines as the Discovery range for a respective SHS school that you included in your SHS Priority List AND the eligibility mentioned above, then your guidance counselor will provide you with AN APPLICATION. If your application is approved then you get a Discovery OFFER (this is NOT a SHS offer, but an offer to participate in the Discovery summer program).
Discovery is available to incoming Grade 9 students only, and only for schools you listed in your priority list. Discovery DOES NOT GUARANTEE entry to a SHS.
FYI, the Discovery ranges based on the Dec 2023 SHSAT are estimated to be:
FYI, the Discovery ranges based on the Dec 2022 SHSAT are estimated to be:
FYI, the Discovery ranges based on the Dec 2021 SHSAT were:
The Discovery ranges based on the Jan/Feb 2021 SHSAT were:
Note that the reason they all cap at 480 is because 481 was the lowest SHSAT 8 cutoff score across all offers this year. Again, each year will be different.
Revisiting What does "just under the SHSAT cutoff score" mean? The DOE uses misleading language describing Discovery. There is an anomaly to the Discovery selection process. For instance, even though the lowest cutoff score for the Jan/Feb 2021 SHSAT ended up being 481, that was not the case for every SHS. It was only true for Brooklyn Latin. However, the cutoff score for Brooklyn Tech appears to be 492 (again the DOE refuses to release cutoff scores). As Tech's Discovery range is 437-480, this leaves open the question of what happens to students who get a SHSAT score from 481-491 and want to go to Tech? The answer is nothing. As they did not get 492 or higher their score was too low to obtain an available seat through non-Discovery offers, but as they did not get as low as 480, then their score is too high to obtain an available offer through Discovery. Therefore, they are left in limbo and without a SHS offer even though they scored higher than the Discovery range. As cutoffs for other SHS end up higher, this 10 point range for Tech can get even larger. For instance Stuyvesant's cutoff score seems to be 560 while its Discovery range is 452-480. That means that students who got from 481-559 -- a very large spread -- are left without a Stuy seat if they requested it. Hence the DOE saying "just below the cutoff score" is grossly misstated. Furthermore, it leaves proficient students without offers. In the case of the Jan/Feb 2021 SHSAT it means a student getting 432 (or even a 559) can get a Latin seat while a student a whopping 127 points higher with a 559 trying for Stuy gets none. And yes, the algorithm will move to your second choice and subsequent choices in your priority selection list if you miss a cutoff in the normal non-Discovery selection phase, however, if you are within any limbo range, you're out, unless you list every SHS. Requiring that is a broken nuance.
Feel free to email me if you have any concerns or questions. Note that the Discovery Program is not the same as the DREAM Program. For information about DREAM see https://www.GregsTutoringNYC.com/shsat-DREAM
Here is an overview regarding the 2023 Discovery summer timeline, and the previous 2022 timeline, at each specialized high school:
 |
 |
Please go by what each school eventually send you in your Welcome letter.
This whole discussion can be confusing, therefore here's a overall recap of the above as usually occurs (there can be differences from year to year). Once Discovery ranges are determined, if it looks like you might qualify, invitations to apply are sent. This is NOT a Discovery offer. Here is an example:
 |
Along with that will be an application (application, not an offer), for example:
 |
The application may require additional information from you. An application does not guarantee acceptance into Discovery. Once you submit your application, if you are approved for Discovery you should obtain an email similar to this:
 |
And then eventually if you are accepted to Discovery you'll receive something similar to this giving your overall Discovery admissions usually from the SHS that you might eventually be accepted to:
 |
Additionally, you will receive a letter similar to this, giving specific details of your Discovery admissions for a specific SHS, in the above case for Tech:
 |
Just participating in Discovery does not automatically provide you a SHS seat. You must complete the full Discovery program and all its requirements, and then await word whether or not you have an offer for the SHS you're participating in Discovery for. If you get accepted you'll get a letter similar to this offering you a SHS seat:
 |
Feel free to email me if you have any concerns or questions.