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High School of American Studies at Lehman College
The humanities specialized school — American history, writing and debate.
Where it is
Jerome Park, the Bronx — on the Lehman College campus, minutes from Bronx Science.
How big it is
About 400 students — the smallest of the eight. Everyone is known; nobody is anonymous.
American Studies breaks the pattern: it is the one specialized school whose centre of gravity is the humanities. The spine of the programme is a multi-year study of American history taught seminar-style, with heavy reading and writing throughout, plus access to Lehman College courses. STEM requirements are fully served — but they are the supporting cast here.
It is the school for the student who reads the ELA half of the SHSAT as the fun half. The size — around four hundred students — makes it feel closer to a private school than a public one, with the trade-offs that implies: intimacy and attention on one side, a short menu of teams and electives on the other.
The cutoff, with its year attached
"2026 Admissions" means the exam sat in Fall 2025 — a finished cycle, published by NYC Public Schools. The Fall 2026 exam decides 2027 Admissions, and its cutoffs do not exist yet. A cutoff is the score of the LAST student admitted — an output of one year's applicants and seats, not a pass mark anyone set.
Lowest qualifying score, 2026 Admissions (8th grade)
507
Source: NYC Public Schools, checked 2026-08-17 · NYC Public Schools ↗ · How cutoffs actually work →
How a seat here is actually won
- One exam, nothing else. No grades, essays, interviews or attendance records — admission to this school is decided by the SHSAT alone, for 8th graders and first-time 9th graders who live in NYC.
- Rank by real preference. Offers walk down the citywide score list, each student getting the highest school on their OWN ranked list with a seat left — putting this school lower 'to be safe' can only cost you a seat you would have won.
- Registration closes weeks before the test and is not automatic. The dates, and the three ways to register, are on the test-date page.
Registration deadline and dates →Sit a free full-length practice test →
The official Fall 2026 SHSAT will be computer-adaptive. SHSATus currently provides fixed-form digital practice based on DOE-published content areas and question types. It does not reproduce the DOE's adaptive item-selection or scoring algorithm.
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