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High School Admission Process


Admissions Process: Catholic Schools


1. Once you have selected the Catholic schools in which you are interested, contact each school to set up a shadow day. While some schools require a minimal amount of paperwork be completed prior to visiting, for most the first step is the actual shadow day. As with any other schools, please verify with each of your Catholic schools their procedures and requirements for starting the application process.

2. Attend your scheduled shadow day and each school’s individual open house if possible (see open house calendar provided).

3. All students applying to Catholic schools will be required to take the Catholic school entrance exam on Saturday, January 9th. However, before taking the exam, students must decide which of the Catholic schools they visited is their first choice. Students are only allowed to apply to one Catholic school, which is expressed to the Archdiocese by their choice of test location. There is no registration required for the Catholic school placement test. On rare occasions, students denied parents acceptance to their first choice Catholic school may be offered a place at another Catholic school they visited, but this is on a case-by-case basis and should not be considered a guarantee or even a high likelihood in most situations.

4. Acceptance letters will be mailed in mid- to late-February notifying students of their application results


Admissions Process: Independent Schools


1. Register for the ISEE at http://www.erbtest.org//admissions/isee
Many schools request that the ISEE be taken by 1/20/2010.

2. Visit the websites of your desired schools to access application forms and questionnaires. Many schools now accept online submissions, which can streamline the process. Latin, Parker take online apps and payment. Parker has an online essay section, while Latin will require the kids to write an essay on their shadow day. University of Chicago Lab has online registration but the application fee must be sent in with a copy of the student's birth certificate.

3. Once you have submitted application forms and questionnaires, schedule a visit/interview day. Most schools require that applications have been submitted (not including recommendations and transcripts, which are sent by the student's school) before scheduling a visit day. Please verify individual procedures and requriements with your schools, as every admissions office operates a little differently.

4. All schools have their own dates and deadlines, but most require applications to be complete sometime in December or January. Again, please verify these completion deadlines with your individual schools so your paperwork is filed accordingly.
5. Most independent schools will send out their notification letters in mid- to late-February. Some will offer shadow day opportunities to admitted students, and all letters will have a deadine for confirmation on the part of admitted students and their families.


Admissions Process: Selective Enrollment High Schools

1. Obtain a Selective Enrollment application: You can get copies of the application directly from the CPS Office of Academic Enhancement after they are released on Thursday, October 1st. The application and testing process is open to current eighth grade students of public, private and parochial schools whose seventh grade nationally normed standardized test scores are at a stanine 5 or higher in both reading comprehension and mathematics.

2. Complete the and submit the application to, attach a copy of the student’s records (including a copy of the student's IEP/504 Plan, if applicable), and submit the materials to the CPS Office of Academic Enhancement.

Note: The CPS Board suggests that if you are required to submit the student’s application to the school counselor or principal, you are strongly encouraged to request a receipt that indicates the time, date and to whom the application was submitted.

3. Eligible applicants receive a letter of admission to the test and an assigned test date/location. Ineligible applicants receive a letter informing them of their ineligibility. Applicants who are not currently enrolled in a Chicago public school receive their letter at the address on the application via the U. S. mail.

4. Incomplete applications are returned for completion if necessary.

5. Applicants must take the entrance exam in order to be considered for admission to a Selective Enrollment High School. Tests are given in December and January.

6. The results of the selection process are sent via U.S. mail during the last week of February to all students who completed the application process and took the Selective Enrollment entrance exam. Applicants who have been selected for admission also receive an information packet via U.S. mail from the school(s) that selected the applicants.

7. Applicants have two weeks to inform the school whether or not they will accept an offer of admission.