Many 8th Graders Leaving BSGE

Over 30,000 students lined up on the streets of New York this year in order to take the feared Specialized High School SAT, or otherwise known, the SHSAT. The exam is extremely important for middle school students to gain acceptance into their desired specialized high school. These schools include Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Latin, LaGuardia and more. Some students have taken prep courses to study for the exams, and others studied by themselves. Either way, few students took the SHSAT lightly.

Many of our own BSGE eighth graders took the SHSAT October of 2013. When the results came out in early March of 2014, many students made the decision to leave BSGE. There were multiple factors that led students to make the decision of leaving BSGE.

One student, Shannon L ’18, will be attending Stuyvesant in the Fall. In her opinion, the small amount of students in BSGE holds Shannon back from getting to know more people. She also chose Stuyvesant because of the large number of extra curricular activities available to students.

Another big reason students chose specialized high schools over BSGE was its popular reputation. Some students prefer to attend a large school that is well-known for its academics around New York.

Although there is a large number of students leaving BSGE, this correlates with the large number of students staying as well. Students like Clement L ’18 decided to stay because in the two years he spent in BSGE, he has “built strong relationships with a lot other students and teachers”.

The eighth grader continued, saying that starting fresh in a new school would be too difficult and that he prefers to stay in BSGE for its safe sense of community. In addition, students like him are satisfied with the education that BSGE offers and does not mind its lack of a gymnasium and extra curricular activities.

“Although I would definitely prefer if we had all of these things. But overall, I’ve had a good experience attending BSGE”, says Clement L’18.

Overall, many students who gained acceptance into the high school of their choice are leaving BSGE in hope that their new school will offer all of the experiences that they wished for. But those who are staying are happy with the people around them and are looking forward to the years ahead in BSGE.