What should 5th graders do to prepare for middle school admissions in the fall?

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By Joyce Szuflita
With the knowledge that much is yet to be revealed there are definitely things that you can do now to prepare for the fall. The City is starting to address concerns about admissions and the Chancellor has scheduled Admission Engagement Sessions by borough to allow you to weigh in on the changing admissions process.

First, you should know that even if you have a zoned middle school (and that is rare) you will be able to rank schools in your district of residence (and in the district where your child attends public school - which is usually the same district). You can’t randomly rank other schools in other districts - they are for the people who live or attend elementary school there. There will also be a finite number of “Borough-wide schools” that everyone in Brooklyn can vet as well as a small amount of “City-wide schools” that everyone in the City can consider.

To find a list of schools in your district and to see a list of the Borough-wide and City-wide schools on offer, look in the Brooklyn Middle School Directory beginning on pages 28, 87 and 96. The DoE often takes the directory off the website after admissions season is over, so if you want to access it over the summer, I would download it now. There will likely be a new one in the fall, but you are going to want to play around with the list before that!

You should be checking out the large handful of schools in your district. The list in the directory is the best place to start, rather than using the filters and searches that present themselves on several websites including MY SCHOOLS, which will take you down a rabbit hole in districts other than your own. Families often come to me with wild and wide ranging lists that they have exhaustively researched only to have me tell them ”no, can’t go to this one, not this one either, outside of district, no…”

Once you have found your district’s list (and the Boro-wide and City-wide choices) THEN go to Insideschools.org and MY SCHOOLS to browse their listings and the Directory.

Inside Schools is essentially the consumer reports for NYC schools. They are education journalists and they know what they are looking for. I think that they are wildly more useful and accurate than Great Schools or Niche, etc. You will find lots of data there, as well as a photo slide show of the school, the narrative review by the journalist and parent/teacher/student comments (the boosters and the haters).

The DoE’s admission platform is MY SCHOOLS. You will make an account there in the fall and submit your electronic application through that site. You can go there right now and search the directory at your leisure.

  • Go to MY SCHOOLS and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘browse’

  • click on “middle school”

  • you don’t need to put in your address because you already have your list of district (or other) schools and putting in your address will only show you schools a mile from your house, which will often be in other districts (confusing!)

  • Searching by school name is essential but also an exercise in frustration. If you put in the whole name of the school, or ms, or M.S., or just the number, or M.S. number, the school may not come up. Stay patient. Keep trying. You will find it eventually.

  • When you click on the school’s name go to the bottom of the listing and you will find one or more programs listed next to a star. Click on the program to see admissions information like how popular the school is and how many seats are available.

This can be a fantastical journey and you will likely find many appropriate and interesting schools. You can also contact me to help you devise a list. I am a convenience, and you will pay me, but the human brain is a curious organ and often a bit more nuanced than an automated search function.