The High School of American Studies at Lehman College, one of three highly selective schools opened on City University of New York campuses in 2002, has the intimacy of a small school and the resources of a large college. Housed in a brightly lit, one-story, metal-sided building with just two corridors, the high school is across the street from the grassy quadrangles of the main campus of Lehman College. All the students' lockers are lined up along one corridor so students have a chance to socialize with just about everyone in the school in between classes. Students go across the street to study in the Lehman College library, to eat in the college cafeteria, and to take their physical education classes in the vast college gymnasium, the Olympic-size swimming pool, or the racquetball courts. Juniors and seniors may take courses for college credit at the college.

Rather than moving through a curriculum at breakneck speed, teachers at the High School of American Studies emphasize depth in the coursework. "We want the students to take joy in learning and the teachers to take joy in teaching," said Principal Alessandro Weiss, who took over after the school's founder, Myra Luftman, retired in 2006. Classes last 55 minutes, rather than the 43 that is typical in high schools. The longer classes "allow the teachers to feel less stressed and more relaxed," said Weiss.

Students take six semesters of American history in addition to AP US history and AP World History. They may spend an entire semester studying colonial America, for example, or four weeks on the New Deal. Students host an annual history symposium where students present papers written on a theme. Themes include historical topics like “Truman and the Cold War.” The symposium is made possible with support from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Lehman College.

Once lacking in science offerings, the school now boasts a number of electives including AP Chemistry, forensic science, astronomy, anatomy, and biosphere, a class on ecosystems. Students vote on the science electives to be offered for the following year.

A total of 121 juniors and seniors were enrolled in 50 college classes in the fall of 2006—one third of the student body. Courses included Latin, jazz history, the history of the Civil War, computer science, and advanced math.

Just over 50 percent of the students live in the Bronx. The administration actively recruits students from Bronx middle schools that have been under-represented at the city's most selective high schools.

One of the advantages of the small size of American Studies is the attention that students receive in the college office, which has two guidance counselors. College counselors meet individually with every student starting in their junior year and 100 percent of students are accepted to college. Students attend SUNY and CUNY colleges as well as Barnard, George Washington, Cornell, Columbia and Skidmore.

Admissions: Selective specialized high school exam. The school has very limited special education services. (This school is featured in NYC's Best Public High Schools: A Parent's Guide. Clara Hemphill, October 2006; Aryn Bloodworth, May 2011)