Eighth-graders across the city learned this afternoon whether they had been offered seats at the city's specialized high schools, including the eight testing schools, for which student take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, and LaGuardia High School, which requires auditions.

Of 29,000 applicants citywide for the exam schools, 5,404 were offered seats. Less than half of that group (2306 students) were offered admission at their first choice school.

Students who made the specialized exam school and LaGuardia cuts (where 1,041 kids got 1,167 offers, as applicants often do multiple auditions) also learned about their high school placements to non-specialized high schools. But the vast majority of students who participated in the specialized high school process -- nearly 23,000 -- went home empty-handed, to wait for March 26th, when all applicants will receive their results.

Watch our weekly poll tomorrow for more on high school decision-making, and by all means, let us know how things unfolded at your child's middle school, either in the Comments string or on our Forum.