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High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE)

Grades: 9-12
Staff Pick

Our Insights

What’s Special

Small, challenging school on college campus

The Downside

Cramped facilities

The High School for Math, Science and Engineering (HSMSE) offers challenging academics in a close-knit and friendly environment. The workload can be heavy, but the schools small size, accepting atmosphere and supportive teaching staffwhich includes PhDs and trained engineershelps kids manage the pressure and stay focused in school.

Students attend classes in Baskerville Hall, a 100-year-old building on the City College campus. The basement-level entrance, dominated by air vents and large pillars, make already small classrooms feel claustrophobic. However, the cramped space is offset by students access to campus facilities. They can get lunch in the college cafeteria, hangout on the grassy quad, play sports in the campus gymnasium and have access to multiple libraries.

Although the school specializes in math and science, English and history are strong as well. Students read selections from authors such as Kafka, Chekhov, Hemingway and Thoreau in English class, take Advanced Placement English their junior year and tackle topics such as existentialism and the American short story in 12th grade. There are sophisticated reading assignments not only in English, but in history (All Quiet on the Western Front), math (Freakonomics) and biology (The Double Helix) and more.

Theres no avoiding challenging math and science at HSMSE. Students take a three-year sequence of engineering courses; Design and Drawing, Civil Engineering and Architecture, and Principles of Engineering, the latter taught as a double period course with physics. All freshmen take a double load of math. Some take algebra and geometry. Those who passed the algebra Regents in middle school take geometry and Foundation in Higher Mathematics, which delves more deeply into algebra.

Beginning junior year, students choose a concentration: engineering (taught by trained engineers), math or medical research. Some engineering students secure paid internships with City Colleges Grove School of Engineering.

Students in the math concentration compete on the math team and tackle college-level courses, such as statistics, by the 11th grade. By senior year, many take Advanced Placement Calculus BC and all take Advanced Topics, which covers graph, number and game theory as well Maple programming, computer language for mathematical computation.

Only a small group of students are admitted to the medical research program, which offers lab experience and research opportunities that far exceed anything offered in a typical high school science class. Run in partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, students take courses such as bioethics, physiology and anatomy, and travel regularly to the medical center where they participate in laboratory and clinical internships.

Classes in core subjects—math, science, English and history—meet for 90 minutes on alternate days, which allows teachers time to incorporate lots of discussion and projects into class time. It also staggers the homework load for students. The one exception is freshmen math, which meets daily for 90 minutes because it covers two courses. Elective classes and lunch scheduled for shorter periods of 45 minutes.

Spanish is offered, as is German, the language of engineers. Not all parents agree that German is the most practical choice, but Principal Crystal Bonds calls the language a leveler, in which kids can learn and grow together. "I'm even learning German," said Bonds.

The school is not a pressure cooker, but students still feel the weight of challenging academics and high expectations. Weekly advisories help teachers keep tabs on students. The Freshman Academy, a year-long course focusing on study skills in the fall and research methods in the spring, helps new students acclimate to high school. "Before starting this, we had a bunch of freshmen who would fail a class. Now we have few," said Bonds, whose own daughter attended Bronx High School of Science.

The versatile teaching staff offers electives like astronomy, poetry and gastronomy (where students taste prosciutto, chocolate and cheese, and report on tasting trips on their foodconsidered.com blog.). They also find ways to connect their interests to lessons in other classes. For instance in a film class, students watch Schindlers List while studying World War II in history; in art, projects are tied to what students are reading in English.

Students are surveyed to determine what elective classes and programs are scheduled, something that helps them "feel invested and happy in school," said Bonds. "Because we are so rigorous, we try to do a lot of fun and relaxing things too."

An onsite mental health and wellness clinic sponsored by New York Foundling Hospital provides free counseling and resources to all HSMSE students.

Graduates have been admitted to highly selective colleges such as Brown, Columbia, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, and Johns Hopkins. The University Michigan creates customized brochures to recruit HSMSE students to its engineering school.

Special education: Students receive supports such as testing accommodations, but there are no ICT or self-contained classes.

Admissions: Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). The school also runs STEM after school and weekend activities and SHSAT prep for District 5 middle school students. (Laura Zingmond, March 2015)

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School Stats

Citywide Average Key
This school is Better Near Worse than the citywide average

Academics

School
Citywide
How many students graduate in 4 years?
 
99%
Average daily attendance
 
94%
How many students miss 18 or more days of school?
 
18%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school offers enough activities and services for their children's needs?
 
60%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school works to achieve the goals of their students' IEPs?
 
80%
From the 2021-22 School Quality Guide and 2020-21 NYC School Survey

Students

555
Number of students
Citywide Average is 599

Race/Ethnicity


School
Citywide
Low-income students
 
38%
Students with disabilities
 
7%
Multilingual learners
 
0%
From the 2022-23 Demographic Snapshot

Safety & Vibe

School
Citywide
How many students were suspended?
 
0%
How many students say they feel safe in the hallways, bathrooms and locker rooms?
 
95%
How many students think bullying happens most or all of the time at this school?
 
16%
How many students say that some are bullied at their school because of their gender or sexual orientation?
 
12%
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey and 2019-20 NY State Report Card

Faculty & Staff

School
Citywide
How many teachers say the principal is an effective manager?
 
97%
0.2
Years of principal experience at this school
Citywide Average is 7
243
Number of students for each guidance counselor or social worker
Citywide Average is 157

Teachers’ Race/Ethnicity


How many teachers have 3 or more years of experience teaching?
 
97%
Are teachers effective?
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey, 2021-22 School Quality Guide, 2019-20 Report on School-Based Staff Demographics, 2021 Guidance Counselor Report, and this school's most recent Quality Review Report

Advanced Courses

Which students have access to advanced courses at this school? Learn more

Calculus

 
34%

Computer Science

 
19%

Physics

 
36%

Advanced Foreign Language

 
4%

AP/IB Arts, English, History or Social Science

 
89%

AP/IB Math or Science

 
64%

Music

 
46%
From unpublished, anonymized data from the 2021-22 school year provided by the New York State Education Department, brought to you by

College Readiness

School
Citywide
How many students graduate with test scores high enough to enroll at CUNY without remedial help?
 
100%
How many students take a college-level course or earn a professional certificate?
 
100%
How many students who have graduated from this high school stay in college for at least 3 semesters?
 
95%
From the 2020-21 and 2021-22 School Quality Guide
How many students filled out a FAFSA form by the end of their senior year?
 
78%
From the 2022-23 FAFSA data released by Federal Student Aid, brought you by
For more information about our data sources, see About Our Data · More DOE statistics for this school

Programs & Admissions

From the 2024 High School Directory

High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE) (M00S)

Admissions Method: Test

Program Description:

Admission to this specialized high school is based solely on the score obtained on the Specialized High Schools Admission Test (SHSAT). Students should speak to their school counselor in the Fall to register for the SHSAT.

Offerings

From the 2024 High School Directory

Language Courses

German, Spanish

Read about admissions, academics, and more at this school on NYCDOE’s MySchools

NYC Department of Education: MySchools

Contact & Location

Location

240 Convent Ave
Manhattan NY 10031

Trains: 1 Line to 137th St-City College; B Line, C Line to 135th St

Buses: Bx19, Bx33, M10, M100, M101, M104, M11, M2, M3, M4, M5


Contact

Principal: Sean Dolcy

Parent Coordinator: Laurie Pecorari

Website

Other Details

Shared campus? No

This school is in its own building.

Uniforms required? No
Metal detectors? No

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