Bronx High School of Science

The school that invented the idea

Bronx Science was founded in 1938 by Morris Meister, a Bronx educator who believed that the existing American high school model — designed in the 19th century as preparation for clerical work and trade — was insufficient for the scientific demands of the 20th. The original Bronx Science was housed in a converted elementary school building on Creston Avenue, admitted approximately 250 boys per year, and required all students to take four years of laboratory science. It was the first public secondary school in the United States to organize its curriculum around the assumption that students were going to be scientists.

That assumption produced extraordinary results. By 1956, Bronx Science alumnus Leon Cooper had co-developed the BCS theory of superconductivity, work that won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972. Six more Bronx Science alumni have since won the Nobel Prize in Physics: Melvin Schwartz (1988), Sheldon Glashow (1979), Steven Weinberg (1979), Russell Hulse (1993), H. David Politzer (2004), and Roy Glauber (2005). Robert Lefkowitz shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for foundational work on G-protein-coupled receptors. Eight Bronx Science graduates have won Nobel Prizes in total. No other American secondary school comes close.

The school went co-educational in 1946 and moved to its current building at 75 West 205th Street, near Mosholu Parkway, in 1959. The 14-acre campus includes specialized laboratories for biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science, a planetarium, a 1,400-seat auditorium, and athletic facilities including a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and outdoor fields.

The 2025–2026 cutoff: 518

Bronx Science's 8th-grade SHSAT cutoff for the 2025–2026 admissions cycle was 518 out of 800. This is approximately 38 points below Stuyvesant's cutoff (556) and 13 points above Brooklyn Tech's (505), placing Bronx Science as the fifth-highest cutoff among the eight test-based specialized high schools.

What does 518 require in raw scores? The non-linear conversion means there's no single answer, but a reasonable estimate is about 41–43 correct out of 57 on each section — roughly 75% accuracy across both ELA and Math. This is achievable for a well-prepared student with consistent test-taking practice. The "well-prepared" qualifier matters: 41 correct out of 57 sounds modest, but maintaining that accuracy across 90 minutes per section under timed conditions is harder than it appears in untimed practice.

Cutoff history

Bronx Science's cutoff has moved more across recent cycles than Stuyvesant's, which is typical — schools in the middle of the cutoff distribution see more year-over-year variation because their cutoffs are determined by the marginal applicant pool rather than the very top of the distribution.

Cycle	Cutoff (8th)	Δ from prior
2025–26	518	—
2024–25	521	−3
2023–24	524	−3
2022–23	518	+6
2021–22	512	+2

For families planning the 2026–2027 cycle, a target composite of 525 or higher provides reasonable buffer against year-over-year movement. A student with a 530+ practice test composite has a high probability of admission; a student with a 510–520 composite is in the band where admission depends on the specific cycle's applicant pool.

What's inside

Bronx Science is large but smaller than Stuyvesant or Brooklyn Tech — about 3,000 students total, roughly 750 per grade. The academic structure is the most science-saturated of any specialized high school. All students take four years of laboratory science (a typical American high school requires two or three). The required sequence includes biology in 9th or 10th grade, chemistry in 10th or 11th, physics in 11th or 12th, with a fourth year typically in an AP, post-AP, or research course. The mathematics sequence reaches AP Calculus BC for most students and Multivariable Calculus or Linear Algebra for many.

The school is best known for its research program. Each year, a substantial fraction of seniors complete original research projects, often in collaboration with researchers at nearby institutions including Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the American Museum of Natural History. The school's record at major science competitions — the Regeneron Science Talent Search (formerly Westinghouse and Intel STS) and the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) — is the strongest of any American high school, with hundreds of finalists across the school's history.

Outside the sciences, Bronx Science maintains strong humanities and social science offerings, including AP and post-AP courses in English literature, philosophy, economics, and history. The school's foreign language program is unusual among American high schools for offering Latin, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, French, and Japanese, with multiple levels in each. Music and visual art programs are substantial, including a symphonic orchestra, jazz band, and competitive Lincoln-Douglas debate team.

The culture is intellectually intense but, by reputation, somewhat less pressured than Stuyvesant's. The school is large enough that students can find their niche; the specifically science-focused identity means that students who arrive wanting to be scientists, mathematicians, or engineers find an unusually rich community. Students who arrive wanting a more balanced or humanities-leaning experience may find the school's center of gravity in the lab less appealing — though such students often do well at Bronx Science nonetheless because the humanities faculty is genuinely strong.

Notable alumni

Bronx Science's alumni distribution skews heavily toward the sciences but extends into nearly every field that requires extended formal training.

• Nobel laureates in Physics: Leon Cooper (1972), Sheldon Glashow (1979), Steven Weinberg (1979), Melvin Schwartz (1988), Russell Hulse (1993), H. David Politzer (2004), Roy Glauber (2005)
• Nobel laureate in Chemistry: Robert Lefkowitz (2012)
• Mathematics: Several Fields Medalists and members of the National Academy of Sciences are Bronx Science graduates, though the school is more famous for physicists than mathematicians
• Government and public service: Stewart Udall (US Secretary of the Interior), Senator Bob Kerrey, Robert Krulwich (journalist, NPR), and Harold Brown (US Secretary of Defense under Carter)
• Arts and literature: E. L. Doctorow (novelist, Ragtime), Robert Moog (electronic music pioneer, Moog synthesizer), Bobby Darin (musician), Jon Voight (actor), Robert Klein (comedian)
• Tech and business: Stewart Brand (Whole Earth Catalog founder), and several technology company founders and CEOs whose paths trace back to Bronx Science research programs

Bronx Science vs Stuyvesant: which makes more sense?

The two schools are often discussed as rivals, but they fit different student profiles. The cleanest way to think about it: Stuyvesant is more academically broad, Bronx Science is more science-specialized. If you arrive at Stuyvesant unsure whether you want to do math, science, humanities, or engineering, Stuyvesant has the breadth to keep all those doors open. If you arrive at Bronx Science already knowing you want to do science research, the depth of the Bronx Science program will serve you better.

Specific factors to weigh:

• Cutoff gap: Bronx Science's cutoff (518) is 38 points below Stuyvesant's (556). For a student whose practice scores fall in the 520–550 range, Bronx Science is a near-certain admit and Stuyvesant is a stretch. Ranking Bronx Science first locks in a strong specialized high school admission; ranking Stuyvesant first risks no specialized admission at all if the student falls short.
• Geography: Bronx Science is in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx. For students living in the Bronx or northern Manhattan, this is a manageable commute. For students in Brooklyn, Queens, or Staten Island, the commute is significantly longer than Stuyvesant's downtown Manhattan location.
• Class size: Bronx Science is smaller than Stuyvesant by about 400 students (3,000 vs 3,370). The difference is small but noticeable, particularly for upperclassmen — at Bronx Science, students typically know most of their grade by senior year; at Stuyvesant they typically don't.
• Science depth: Both schools offer post-AP science, but Bronx Science's research program is more central to the school's identity. A larger fraction of Bronx Science seniors complete original research projects than at Stuyvesant, and the school's research mentor network is more developed.
• Humanities at Bronx Science is real. The school's English and history departments are genuinely strong; Bronx Science alumni regularly attend top liberal arts colleges and pursue careers in journalism, law, and the arts. The school's reputation as "science-only" is misleading.

Preparing specifically for the Bronx Science cutoff

Reaching 518 is meaningfully different from reaching Stuyvesant's 556. The required level of preparation is closer to "consistent good performance" than to "near-perfect performance." Specific recommendations for Bronx Science targets:

• Aim for 525–530 on practice tests. The buffer above the cutoff is important because real-test performance is typically a few points below well-rested practice-test performance. A student consistently hitting 525 on practice tests has a high probability of clearing 518 on the real exam.
• Balanced sections, not lopsided. Bronx Science admits typically have both sections at or above ~258 scaled (about 41–42 raw). A student strong in one section can compensate somewhat, but consistent balanced strength is the more reliable path.
• Focus the last month on test-day endurance. Most students plateau on content mastery 4–6 weeks before test day. The remaining gains come from maintaining accuracy on the 90th–120th minute of testing, which is reading-comprehension fatigue territory.
• Don't over-prep math arithmetic. The math section's first 15–20 questions are arithmetic and basic algebra. A reasonably strong 8th-grade math student should already get these right consistently. Spending preparation time on these is less productive than working on the geometry, multi-step word problems, and statistics questions that separate 40 raw from 45 raw.
• Practice in the actual digital format. Bronx Science admits since the 2025–26 cycle have taken the test in the new Computer Adaptive (CAT) digital format. Familiarity with on-screen reading, on-screen navigation, and the screen-based math notation matters.