High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College


The High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College is one of the nine public magnet, specialized high schools in New York City, United States. It caters to highly gifted students from across the city. It is located within the campus of the City College of New York.
Created in 2002 along with Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and High School of American Studies at Lehman College, HSMSE was founded with an emphasis on engineering and design, and was envisioned as a small school with approximately four hundred students. The relatively small population of the school allows students and teachers to have a stronger relationship. Being a specialized high school not only draws students in, but also allows for a diverse student body.

Facilities and curriculum

HSMSE is a highly selective, public, college prep high school, and is one of nine specialized high schools in New York City. Admission is via the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. The school's mission is "to challenge talented students to expand their intellect by developing the habits of inquiry, written and verbal expression, and critical thinking." Instructionally supported by the City College of New York, the school mainly focuses on an intensive STEM curriculum, while also emphasizing civic responsibility and the value of knowledge.
Located on the campus of City College, which stretches from West 133rd Street to West 141st Street along Convent Avenue, HSMSE is small, with a total of approximately 485 students in ninth to twelfth grade. The school is located on four floors of the CCNY campus' Baskerville Hall. Students eat lunch in the CCNY cafeteria and utilize the college library and gymnasium. Classrooms and labs on the first and second floors of Baskerville were completely renovated in 2010 and Smart Boards and computers are available in most classrooms. The school has an extended day schedule and 85 minute periods with classes on alternating days, enabling a greater degree of focus and depth than the usual high school schedule. Class sizes are small, with an average of approximately 24 students per class. In addition to a rigorous core subject program emphasizing math, science and the humanities, all students are required to take a minimum of three engineering core courses through 11th grade sponsored by Project Lead the Way. After 10th grade most students take a concentration of engineering or mathematics courses while a smaller group participates in a biomedical research program at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

German program

German is the core language taught at HSMSE, which has one of the largest high school German programs in the United States. HSMSE’s founders believed that German is the language of engineering. As a result, about 75% of HSMSE students study German, which is offered through the Advanced Placement level, and many of them continue to study German in college. The school employs two full-time German teachers and is one of nine US partner schools of the PASCH program of the through its "Schools: Partners for the Future" program. Every summer, HSMSE sends a few students on funded study trips to Germany with the Goethe Institute and the . However, the school also offers advanced Spanish for students who pass the Second Language Proficiency exam in Spanish in middle school. Those students begin Spanish at the second-year level.

Electives

Students at HSMSE have one 45 minute elective period each day. All 9th graders take a Study Skills course as their elective first semester, and "Freshman Research" their second semester. The electives offerings change from semester to semester and year to year. For 2018/19 they included: MOUS 1, Classical Guitar, Art, Student Government/Leadership, Gastronomy, Dance, Honor Society Peer Tutor, Advanced Topics in Chemistry, Conversational Spanish, Thinking Games, AP Music, REVIT, Art History, Fantasy Literature, and American Protest Literature.

Extracurriculars and sports

Students participate in extracurricular activities such as Dance Team, Cheerleading, Eat NYC, Spades Club, Model UN, Euro Challenge, Fed Challenge, Key Club, MSA, Junior Statesmen of America, Dr. Dragon school magazine, Harlem Is, The National Society of Black Engineers, Robotics, Photography Club, Gay-Straight Alliance, Ping Pong Club and Film. Students regularly compete in the American Mathematics Competitions, American Invitational Mathematics Examination, and NYC Math Competition, and submit research to the New York City Science and Engineering Fair and national scientific research competitions.
PSAL sports teams include boys' basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, girls' basketball, softball and soccer, and co-ed cross-country and track. The cross-country and track programs are the school's largest teams, and include a significant fraction of the student body.
Student events occur throughout the year, such as Club Fair, Student Leadership Conference, Talent Show, Spring Fair and Multicultural Night. There is also an annual election held for Student Government with two representatives from each grade, along with a Secretary and Treasurer.

Transportation

The New York City Subway's 137th Street-City College, 135th Street, and 145th Street stations are located nearby. Additionally, New York City Bus's routes stop near HSMSE. Students residing a certain distance from the school are provided full-fare or half-fare student MetroCards for public transportation.

Student life

HSMSE has a diverse student body - in 2013 it was estimated to be the most diverse in New York City with 130 Asians, 75 blacks, 99 Hispanics and 101 whites. HSMSE is a school where students of all ethnic and economic backgrounds mingle comfortably. The faculty is notably dedicated, many devoting personal time to mentor students, to coach teams and to support extracurricular activities. Support mechanisms are in place for students who struggle, through informal peer tutoring as well as through daily tutoring sessions offered by every teacher.
Virtually all of HSMSE’s diverse, high-achieving students go on to college, many of them to highly competitive colleges. Most courses are taught at the advanced and college level and, by graduation, all students will have completed a significant number of college level courses with credit granted by CCNY as well as Advanced Placement courses. All students in the graduating classes beginning in 2013 will complete at least two Advanced Placement courses, as HSMSE teaches AP English Literature as the standard 11th grade English course and AP World History as the 9th and 10th grade social studies course. The school also offers AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science AB, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics, and AP German. Students may take advantage of additional undergraduate courses offered through the CUNY College Now program.

Rankings

HSMSE was ranked the city's third best public high school in The New York Posts annual school ranking. In 2013, HSMSE was ranked among the nation's top high schools by the U.S. News & World Report, and in 2017, the U.S. News & World Report ranked HSMSE as third in New York State and 26th nationally.
In May 2013, HSMSE was ranked #1 in the country by Working in Support of Education for personal finance education. HSMSE was ranked by w!se as first in the nation in financial literacy in 2017.

Graduate accomplishments