TOWNSEND HARRIS High School is ranked as the number one public high school and the ninth top high school in New York

The New York Post exclusively looked at selective public high schools, whose admission was holistically based on a student’s grades, attendance, and test scores. On the other hand, the US News considered all public, charter and specialized high schools.

The US News considers factors such as the degree to which the school serves the student body as a whole to produce academic excellence and to prepare students for college, as well as the percentage of students graduating each year.

Some of the other schools in the US News ranked before THHS include the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, ranked in first place, The Brooklyn Latin School, ranked in fourth place and Baccalaureate School for Global Education, ranked in sixth place.

Many of the schools on this top 50 list are specialized high schools. In fact, out of the eight specialized high schools in NYC, five are in the top 10.

Most of the high schools listed on both lists are focused more on the maths and sciences, but THHS is one of the only humanities schools ranked so high.

Regarding this fact, sophomore Kathryn Kwon says, “This is actually super surprising because everyone expects [specialized] schools like Stuyvesant to be first. Honestly, I know Townsend’s a great school but I didn’t expect it to do so well.”

Sophomore Arbid Yusuf stated, “today, everyone puts a lot of emphasis on science and math. It makes me very happy to know that THHS, which is a humanities school, ranks so high.”

Overall, THHS students are very happy to be part of a community that receives such great honor.

Junior Alicia Balchand expresses the pride she feels: “I am proud to go to a school that is ranked in such high positions. I feel honored to be gifted with the privilege of being part of the THHS family.”