Students at Hunter College High School in Manhattan are demanding systemic admissions changes to address long-standing racial and economic segregation at the prestigious public school. While Black and Latino students make up 61 percent of New York City’s public school population, they account for just 16 percent of students at Hunter, which serves grades seven through 12. Low-income students similarly face exceptionally low representation.
The student-led advocacy group HCHS4Equity organized petitions, consulted education experts, and planned to deliver a formal demand letter to school leaders. Current admissions rely heavily on a high-stakes three-hour exam taken in the sixth grade—often preceded by months of private tutoring—and an elementary school entry process requiring a preschool IQ test. These criteria have left the student body predominantly Asian, white, and wealthy.
Black and Latino students have described feeling academically supported yet isolated, sometimes serving as the only Black student in their classrooms. Although Lisa Siegmann, director of Hunter College Campus Schools, stated that the school has recently factored economic need indexes into admissions and increased the proportion of low-income students over the past decade, critics argue that true progress requires bolder action. Unlike many New York City public schools bound by state legislation, Hunter operates under Hunter College, giving its administrators greater autonomy to reform admissions.
