Help in deciding High School for 11th grade in New Jersey, USA

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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I finished my CAIE IGCSE 9th and 10th in India and am planning to do my 11th and 12th in the US. Can you all help me to decide on good public high schools in NJ that will help to significantly improve my GPA and get the ability to get into prestigious universities around the globe such as MIT, Princeton, etc?

If possible, can you send links for the Top Public High Schools in Newark, NJ? (most of them have to be magnet schools)

I found one, it’s called Bergen County Academies. It’s also near to where I’m going to live (Newark,NJ)

Thanks a lot for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this Thread.

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I don’t know much about NJ, but at least where I’m from, unless you live in the middle of a city, your public school is the one you live closest to. Magnet schools are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to transfer into for junior year. In fact, I know that the school you mentioned, Bergen County Academies, does not allow transfers at all. You can still have a high GPA and get into a prestigious school if you go to a regular public school, which may be your only option.

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Is your whole family moving to NJ? Are you citizens or green card holders? I ask this only as it relates to college in the future, and your ability to pay.

Why are they moving to Newark NJ? Do they have the option to live elsewhere in the state?

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Saint Benedict’s is a private school in newark that a friend’s son attended, I believe they are generous with financial aid. https://www.sbp.org/

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If this student is an international student, do they give generous aid? Do they accept junior transfer students!

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@akshat_gupta69

Could you please explain why you need to get into a “prestigious” college?

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Hello there,

NJ public school systems vary considerably around the state. Each school district has its own way of doing things. Newark school district is one of the largest in the entire state. You will be assigned a high school based on where you live. Newark has several of its own magnet high schools. Now the Newark school system is not known for being the best. So if you do attend, you might consider supplementing with other material.

Several NJ counties also have their own magnet system. Bergen academies is one of the most well known. But there are others as well: Ronald McNair, High Technology High, Union County, Biotechnology High). Each has their own admissions standards. Not sure if they accept transfers or not. But look and see.

When applying to college, you’ll be compared to other kids from your high school. While going to the top ranked magnet might seem like a good idea, keep in mind that you’ll face stiff competition. So going to a lesser known public school system like Newark might not be a bad idea. But just make sure that you study hard so that you can do well on the standardized tests.

NJ also has some of the best private schools in the country. Whatever you choose, best of luck!

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Whar subjects did you take for IGCSE’s and what 1-9 scores did you get (7+? 6?)
This is important because otherwise you may end up being assignedbto default classes that don’t match your academic background.

Newark’s schools aren’t the best and you’d likely just be assigned to whichever is close to your home.
The only magnets likely to admit junior (rising 11th graders) transfers would be IB diploma schools, since the IB starts in the 11th grade. It’s a highly rigorous program. Look into it immediately since registration may have happened months ago.

Are you a US citizen? Why is your family moving to NJ and to Newark in particular?

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Prestigious college is good. Great environment to learn and wonderful learning opportunities where great minds can think alike. It also helps in getting a good first job since it shows your passion and your talent and your intelligence already.

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USNWR has info on the 14 public high schools in Newark: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-jersey/districts/newark-public-school-district-105647 There is also information on the Newark Board of Education site: School Directory - Newark Board of Education Some schools have their own websites, like Science Park, which is highly rated: Homepage - Science Park High School There is a very wide range of quality among the Newark schools, and you will need to study which schools you may be eligible to attend. If your family have not decided exactly where in Newark you will live or if there is flexibility to live outside the city, that might give you more options. As other posters have indicated, students in the US are often assigned to a particular school based on address. With respect to magnet and charter schools, if you live in Newark, you will need to look at schools taking students from Essex County, where Newark is located. You mention Bergen County Academies, which seems to serve students from Bergen County. It’s close to Newark but a different county.

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I looked a little further. Here is the site you would use to enroll in a Newark school. https://newarkenrolls.org/ There’s a big box on the first page saying “New to Newark, Need Placement Now?” That sounds like you, so you might want to create an account and begin exploring. From what I can see online, parents/students in Newark have some flexibility in requesting specific schools, but it seems limited. The system is complicated, so I was hoping to find some sort of resource that would provide you with some guidance, but this is as close as I could come. I wish you good luck - I grew up in New Jersey and worked in Newark, but I am living in Asia now and don’t have current information other than what I can find online. Hopefully, others will come along with some good ideas for you.

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If you are fortunate enough to be one of the very small percentage of applicants who get accepted to very tippy top (prestigious) colleges, you are indeed fortunate. And even moreso if you can afford to attend.

If you are an international applicant (not a U.S. citizen or green card holder), the %age of admission is even lower. In addition as an international applicant, your level of financial need will be considered at all but five of the colleges that meet full need.

Going to a particular high school is never a guarantee that you will be a successful applicant at any college and particularly the most selective.

While you are considering your high school hunt, you might also start thinking about casting a much wider net than just applying to only the most prestigious colleges. What you are able to accomplish in college and afterward is largely what YOU do with your education.

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I know that the terminology of “public” school is differently between the U.K. and the U.S. - I don’t know if the same applies to India.

So to clarify - in the U.S. the “public” schools are the local schools run by your city of residence. The funding of the school (and with that, how well they are equipped, what staff they can attract/retain, what advanced course levels they can offer,…) comes from the town’s property taxes, thus is closely related to the value of private residences, and if they can attract high-value businesses. Consequently the “better off” an area is, the more likely it can afford to fund “good” schools.

In NJ you don’t get to “choose” a public school, making your question moot. Your public high school will be assigned based on the address in town where you live and pay your local taxes - although some larger cities do have specialized schools to serve gifted/talented students.

There are a very few cases of little towns not having their own high schools, but instead they are sharing costs with neighboring towns. In rare cases, students may pick from two regional high schools if their town is paying to two different towns.

Bergen Academies is a “public” high-school run be Bergen County for it various towns. Yes, it is highly regarded, highly-selective - and not open to out-of-county residents.

So - what you are likely looking for are “private” schools. While the majority of them will have a religious affiliation, don’t let that scare you off. They don’t discriminate based on faith, as they are very much depending on parents of any faith willing to pay substantial private tuition year after year. A good number of private high schools will be run by the Catholic Diocese, some of them will be co-ed, others will be male or female only.

Finally, there are also boarding schools, many out-of-state.

Now - whether any of that will buy you a ticket to MIT or Princeton is highly questionable. Colleges will not be majorly impressed by what high school you happened to attend for grade 11 and 12. More important will be what courses you took, if those courses were “honors” or “AP” level courses, what grades you earned etc.

The quality of school will be important, because it might control how broad their course catalogue is, how many honors and AP classes they offer, etc.

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In many places you do. We have what we call ‘open enrollment’ in the state of Colorado so you can go anywhere you can get in. The difficulty is that most of the more popular districts and schools give preference to those zoned to those schools (live in the catchment area), then have a list of priorities, like current students in the school, others in the school district, siblings. We have one district where you cannot opt into the main high school (ever) but most of the other high schools in the district do allow a few out of district students. Parents were renting apartments in the district and letting them sit empty to get their kids into the schools, and they even put an end to that (sent out investigators to see if they were actually living there).

Some schools also have special considerations, like a School of the Arts would have tryouts, or a magnet school might have an admissions test. The testing or auditions may take place in the school year before, so someone transferring into the area may not have the opportunity to get in. That happened to my kids when we moved to Florida and they missed the opportunities for the NEXT school year and weren’t even considered for the semester we moved. They also got last choice of classes for the current year and almost last for the following year.

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I was responding to the poster’s question about public schools in New Jersey, specifically Newark in Essex County, NJ.

As far as fee-based private/parochial schools: Yes, those will go through an application and selection process. Based on several kids I know who attended local (Bergen County) parochial schools, a “decent” student has a good likelihood to get in.

As far as public magnet schools (such as County Academies, Vocational Schools,…) those are highly selective and I suspect that one might not be able to “transfer” into them. I believe the Newark public school system has it’s own magnet high school – not sure if Essex county offers one by now.

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PS - to clarify the term “public” school:

In the UK, so-called “public” schools were historically the elite privately-funded (boarding) schools. Those were considered to be “public”, because they were not tied to someone’s place of residence.

Of course, in reality they were most decidedly only open to the upper segment of the “public” that actually had the means to afford the tuition.

Since the poster is writing from India, I’m not certain if we are all using the term “Public” School in the same sense!

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I understood you were defining ‘public’ schools, but you said in the US you don’t get to choose a public school and I was pointing out that sometimes you do. My kids were in 3 different US public school systems (Orange Cty, California; Denver, CO; St. Johns County, FL) and in all 3 they had a public school they could definitely attend because of our home address, but in all 3 districts they had the option to apply for and attend another public schools for no tuition. Some of the schools were very hard to get accepted to while others would love to have more students (schools get more money from the district/state if they have more students). Usually, the student has to provide his own transportation to that school (in Denver they get a city bus pass) so that can really limit where the kids can go.

I don’t know what kind of choice those in NJ have to enroll in a public school in the same district or in another district.

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Where I live in NJ, you get to choose from 2 high schools. Whichever you pick must take you. This is not the case everywhere but is part of an effort to move students from the bigger school, the original “default” for our town, to another smaller one with more capacity. You may also enroll in other publics on a space available basis for tuition, which is not nominal, (and no bussing). This is, ime, something done rarely and only by families in which someone has a job in that area and can facilitate transportation.

But if the OP is moving to the area, presumably they are trying to create a list of neighborhoods where they could look at housing that would put them in the school district they want. This is a pretty common practice when relocating. Whether that housing is affordable and available is another question, but it’s a good place to start.

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I updated my post to make clearer, that my response describes NJ.

I also added a note, that there are rare cases where a small town without a high school may have “send agreements” with two different larger towns - in which case the small-town students are privileged with choosing between those two.

One example is a well-off area in Bergen County, another is the case of a town being in a 3 year transition from one agreement to another.

(Similar solutions exist for certain special education which requires a town to bus the occasional special-need student to a most suitable, specialized facility out of town.)

Except for rare cases like this, things are reversed in NJ: you first look at the reputation of towns’ school system, for younger children even the reputation of neighborhood grammar schools, and THEN decide to WHICH town/neighborhood you can afford to move to and afford their school taxes - which sometimes near 5 figures for a nice family home with a good size yard.

Once kids are in college people might move away to towns with less-expensive school systems to save on property tax.

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I live in Bergen county, please feel free to PM me. BCA is a public magnet high school that requires a test for admission in 8th grade. It is not an option for you. If you live in Newark I beleive there is a magnet high school but I don’t believe that any take 11th graders. If your parents can afford private school there are many but if your parents are looking to move to New Jersey and choice of high school is a main factor they should look in Bergen county, RIdgewood, Tenafly, Northern Valley Demarest all have to rated high schools