In Defense of My Decision – Reflections on High School

Almost exactly one year ago, on the day that SHSAT results came out, I was walking home from school when I heard my mom calling me. I had been trying to manage my stress throughout the school year—even more than focusing on my SHSAT score—but I was still so incredibly scared of my results. Ultimately, being accepted by Stuyvesant was amazing, though I only remember the stress as opposed to the joy. I remember wishing at that moment that I had someone—an older sibling, maybe—to guide me through that particular emotional rollercoaster. It was with this experience in mind that I made a sincere point of establishing relationships with individuals in the grade below me so that I could be that figure for them. When high school results came out earlier this year, I was bombarded by a flurry of text messages and Facetime calls from my eighth grade friends involving everything from “Anna, I got into Bronx Science and Elro. I’m literally goated,” to the beautifully simple “Oh my god, why do I have to wait so long.” 

What I soon noticed, though, was that the majority of these messages were from people getting into Bronx Science. While I am well aware of how excellent of a school Bronx Science is, I’ll admit there was a small part of me growing frustrated at the misconceptions around Stuyvesant that I heard brewing amongst them. My middle school—MS54 or Booker T. Washington Middle School, whichever you prefer—has historically been a leading school in sending kids to specialized high schools, notably Bronx Science and Stuyvesant. However, over the past six or so years, the number of students going to Bronx Science has increased and the number going to Stuyvesant has decreased rapidly, even as top SHSAT scores haven’t seemed to change. Students—including many people I know—are still scoring high in the 650-680 range, but they are ranking Bronx Science higher on their lists. This dynamic intrigued me and I started wondering why students were making this decision. Among many other reasons, I can pinpoint three main thought processes that influence students’ rankings: commute, familial ties, and happiness.

Commute and familial ties as reasons to go to one high school over another make a lot of sense to me. As someone with two younger siblings, I saw how my parents valued my middle school because they were acquainted with the principal and politics. Similarly, when my sister was applying to middle schools this past year, she knew what she would be getting into because I had already gone there; the same would presumably be true for any student with older siblings that went to a particular high school. One’s commute matters significantly as well. In high school, sleep schedules are already strained without placing the unnecessary burden of an extremely long commute. Honestly, that was a huge decision maker for all of my high school applications. However, this doesn’t seem to be factored into many of my friends’ decisions; these are current freshmen at Bronx Science (with no familial ties) that live on the Upper West Side. It is much easier for them to get to Stuyvesant, but they instead choose a delay-ridden private bus or a commute with parents in order to get to and from school every day. Their decision then can, even according to them, only be attributed to the third factor: enjoyment.

This final element is certainly the most ambiguous of the three, especially when considering the public’s generally negative view of Stuyvesant. Stuy has been portrayed as a school that is detrimental to students’ mental health, confidence, and self-esteem; specifically, rumors about high suicide rates and a sole focus on academics have spread like wildfire. However, many of these assertions are either false or are examples of cherry-picking stories and data points that don’t reflect the entirety of Stuyvesant. It is true that this school is rigorous, challenging, and can be hard on students. It is also true, however, that there are many art and music classes where students form amazing friendships and connections with others, and that there is a true sense of community within the school. Just a little while ago, the 2025 SING! performances took place. Hundreds of students across all grades worked together to create a beautiful, harmonious show that had nothing to do with what score they got on a test. Stuyvesant’s reputation doesn’t really seem to fit the reality of the school, and it feels even more outrageous and undeserved when compared to other schools. 

Maybe I am biased because I go to Stuyvesant and love it here. To me, it feels like, for the first time, I am legitimately challenged and interested in what I do at school. Of course, I am not exactly excited to go home and do a ton of homework, but that is just a small downside when compared to being surrounded by so many intelligent and interesting people. I am able to meet people, take classes, and participate in so many activities that I would not be able to in other schools. I get to take AP Biology as a freshman without previously taking the living environment Regents or course, which I initially thought was impossible. I get to talk about current geopolitical news on a daily basis in my global history class, which I arrive at after playing jazz with my friends on the first floor. Most importantly, school, something I am forced to attend by law, is finally somewhere I want to be, and I want to be at Stuyvesant simply because it works for me. 

From what I know of my many friends at Bronx Science, their school is not too different in this respect: both Stuy and Bronx Science are nationally-ranked, excellent schools with a wide berth of classes, extracurriculars, and people to meet. When I was applying for high schools back in the fall of 2023, I scoured the internet for some website that would give me a decisive answer over which of the two schools was better; part of me did not want to go to Stuyvesant since such a high percentage of my grade was going to Bronx Science and I did not want to feel alone. No two websites, however, gave me the same answer. The fear, though, that I felt—that I was going to pick the wrong one and be stuck for four years in a place I hated—was palpable. 

This year, on March 26, I worked at the open house for accepted students in the Freshman Caucus bake sale. Of course, I was there to help with the sale, but my ulterior motive was to encourage the new students to come to Stuyvesant. Yes, I know they had already seen the school, but I did not want them to be put in the same position I was in a year ago. My eighth grade friends have ranted to me for hours earlier in the year about how all of the Stuyvesant kids on their tours looked so unhappy, and I knew I wanted to at least try to be something different. I don’t want to pretend that I can solve that cultural issue at my middle school or anywhere else in the city—that’d be quite a feat—but I wanted to help the incoming freshmen I knew feel secure in their spot and decision. Though I feel good about my own choice now, I certainly didn’t a year ago. Only one person I was close to and a few others I sort of knew got into Stuyvesant, whereas almost everyone else I cared about in my grade was going to Bronx Science. Some of my absolute closest friends are now people who I have to plan to meet up a full month or two in advance because we’re just that busy at our respective schools. Getting my decision just made it all real. I also received so many comments that something bad was going to happen to me: to everyone else, I was just going to the “suicide school,” since I was straying from the school’s norm. It is incredibly demanding to face those types of comments every day, but it is even harder to do so if you are not certain why you’re going to a specific school in the first place. I felt that I had to defend myself and my decision, which, looking back, is ridiculous. Now, at least, I can put words to my decision: I wanted to go somewhere I felt challenged, was easy to get to, and had a variety of classes that interested me. Now, as a high school student myself, I hope to help the incoming freshmen to not feel a similar discomfort for so long; hopefully, even just my being there will give them the guidance I wish I had had all those months ago.