The admissions process at Townsend Harris High School has changed multiple times in the past four years. With the arrival of the class of 2028 this fall, students in each grade have now been admitted to THHS through four distinct admissions processes that are all markedly different from the process before the pandemic. Over the summer, newly admitted freshmen spoke to The Classic about their experiences applying under the most recent criteria.
Last year’s freshmen suggested that the process be pared down. At that time, students had to write two essays and record a video. The THHS administration ultimately removed one essay from the process. Now, this year’s freshmen had less to say about the amount of work and more to say about word and time limits on how much they could write and record. In 2023, there was a 500 word limit on the essay, and a two minute limit on the video.
Freshman Kayla Ujandy said, “I feel like they could’ve made the essay’s word limit a bit bigger because it was kind of short. I had a lot of trouble fitting all of my details and points into the word limit since it was only 500 words. And the video was only two minutes long.”
Others said that they thought the limitations were appropriate. “Making the video short, and the essay as well, allowed us to be concise and straightforward with our answers, so it would make it easier for the teachers to understand our perspective on the prompt,” said freshman Nabeeha Saeed.
Additionally, incoming ninth graders had an array of opinions on how their grades, the essay, and the video were weighted. For the class of 2028, report card grades counted as 60% of the admissions score, while the essay and the video each counted as 20%. Some students who spoke to The Classic said that report card grades could count more, some felt the essay should count more than the video, and others said to keep it the same.
Freshman Marchella Ramos said,“I think [the essay and the video] should have been weighted equally because in a sense the video shows who you are as a person and the essay shows how you think about your world view and your ideology.” She also approved of the weight given to report card grades. “I think that [the weighting system was] fair because grades do encompass the majority of your work and your prowess as you grow.”
Freshman Lyam Mizutani said, “I think I would have done pretty much the same [if the materials were weighted differently] because the essay wasn’t terribly difficult, so if the video was [weighted] more, I think I would still be okay.”
Both the video and essay portions of the process presented applicants with a unique set of challenges.
“The video compared to the essay was way better [for me] because honestly, I did write a script, and as I was recording the video, I said whatever popped into my head,” said sophomore Hiba Malik. “[With] the essay, there was constant worrying, and you really just [didn’t] know if you could do well.”
Freshman Victoria Zhang said that since she had more experience writing, the essay was easier. She said, “For the video I had to do a lot of takes, and I kept stuttering and memorizing it instead of reading off of a script, which was hard.”
Assistant Principal of Guidance Jessica Graf told The Classic that the plan is to keep the criteria and the weighting of the criteria the same this coming school year.
As for advice for 8th graders who are applying to THHS this fall, Ms. Graf said to “think carefully and critically about the essay prompt. It matters a lot to us to see how you think—be genuine, don’t use AI, and be confident that you will find the school that is best for you.”
English teacher Brian Sweeney, who helped create the essay prompt last year, said that he expects there to be a new prompt this year. “We don’t want to have the same prompt year after year because that will obviously pose problems with honesty and integrity,” he said.
This past year’s prompts focused on different aspects of the Ephebic Oath. In a video, prospective students had to describe how they could use their passions or talents to leave the THHS community ‘greater than they found it.’ In an essay, students then had to develop an opinion on one line from the Ephebic Oath: “I, alone and with my comrades, shall resist anyone who destroys the laws or disobeys them.” Using Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham,” an article about Greta Thunberg, and a video about laws, students had to argue whether or not that line should stay in the Ephebic Oath.
Parent coordinator Jodie Lasoff provided some insight on the importance of standing out in the video portion of the application. “I think the video is the best place to shine. I’ve been part of reading the essays, and I’ve read them a lot with the teachers, and a lot of them sound the same. They are wonderful essays but they are all very similar because there is only so much to write about,” she continued, “ the video [lets you] show what makes you different, how you sparkle and shine—be creative, be authentic, let us know what makes you special, because everyone applying is special in a way and we want to see what that is.”
Additionally, Mr. Sweeney offered technical guidance to applicants. “When you submit essays, submit them as PDFs,” he said. “A lot of people submit them as different file formats which can be difficult to open. So, I recommend everyone to convert any document to a PDF and upload it as a PDF, because that’s the most secure format for us to grade them.”
Lyam also had advice for students applying. He said to “manage time wisely, with all the other applications and the SHSAT.” Regarding the essay, he said, “It’s okay to not worry about the word count. Just write everything down and then cut down the words you don’t need.”
