CPS Selective Enrollment High School Admissions Process

Updated on July 9, 2026.

In September, Chicago Public Schools will open their application for elementary and high schools for the 2027-2028 school year.

Families have a variety of schools and programs that they can apply to in addition to attending their neighborhood school. The application process can be extremely difficult for many families to navigate, especially when it can involve ranking school choices and taking high school entrance exams. Below, we will walk you through the most important information about applying to a Selective Enrollment High School, and how you can best support your student through this process.

The Application

The Chicago Public School application can be found on the GoCPS platform: www.cps.edu/GoCPS. As part of the application, you can select up to 20 Choice Programs and 6 Selective Enrollments outside of your own neighborhood school’s attendance boundary. It’s important to research each program to determine the best fit for your student, and for your family.

Next, the application will ask you to rank your Choice programs from 1-20 in order of preference, and rank your Selective Enrollment programs from 1-6, most desirable to least desirable. It’s important to note that ranking a program higher does not increase your chances of getting an offer, but your preferences are taken into consideration. Make sure you rank programs in the true order of preference with the most preferred as #1.

All Selective Enrollment schools, and many Choice programs, require students to take the PreACT 9 Secure test as part of the application. We recommend that all students take the exam, regardless of their current choices, in case they decide to apply to a different school later.

The PreACT 9 Secure

The PreACT evaluates English, mathematics, reading comprehension, and science skills, providing a comprehensive measure of a student’s readiness for the rigorous academic environment of these selective high schools. Since the PreACT is a shortened version of the ACT (which students will take later in high school), PreACT scores can be valuable indicators for where a student should focus their ACT preparation in the future.

The Format

The PreACT is comprised of 4 sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. The number of questions and time varies by section. Below is a brief overview:

Test Dates

Current CPS/Charter School students do not need to register or schedule a test date because the PreACT will be administered during the school day. This year’s exam will take place on Wednesday, October 7^th, 2026.

Non-CPS Students, however, do need to schedule a test date. While CPS has not yet released those dates, based on previous years’ test dates, we anticipate testing will be available on October 17, October 18, October 24, and October 25. (*Please note – we will update this post when they are officially announced.)

Scoring

All schools that utilize the PreACT use a point-based score to determine student acceptance. A student’s score will be out of 900 total points with the PreACT making up 50% of points and their 7^th grade grades making up the other 50%.

The number of points a student receives for their 7^th Grade grades is determined by the student’s overall grades in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Each ‘A’ grade is worth 112.5 points, each ‘B’ grade is worth 75 points, and each ‘C’ grade is worth 38 points. No points are awarded for ‘D’ or ‘F’ grades. The highest possible points a student can receive for their 7^th Grade grades is 450.

CPS has not yet specified how a student’s PreACT score will be converted into 450 points. It’s possible they will use the same percentile information that they have used previously (though we don’t know how different subjects will factor in or if cutoff scores will change).

See how CPS incorporated percentile data from the previous test (the HSAT) here.

View last year’s PreACT 9 Secure percentile ranks here.

More information about the PreACT 9 Secure can be found here.

The Admissions Process

Initial program offers are released in mid-late February, and students have until mid-March to accept or decline their offer.

Students are ranked for every program that they applied for based on their point totals, in descending point order. The first 30% of the available seats are for the highest performing students, regardless of their tier. The remaining students are placed into their respective tiers in descending point order. The remaining seats at a program are equally divided across the 4 tiers.

*Students shown in green were awarded a seat at this program.
**Cut Score is the lowest score admitted in each tier during the initial offer process.

A Word on Tiers

The city is divided into four tiers, based on census data and many factors including education level, owner-occupied homes, and more. The first tier represents the lowest-income areas. Seats at Choice and Selective Enrollment schools are divided amongst the four tiers to ensure equal access to the programs offered by the district. You can look up your tier by using this map. Please note, an address’s tier may change over time based on updated census data. You can learn more about the CPS Tiers Here.

Need Help?

PreACT test scores and 7^th Grade grades make up a student’s application score. If your child struggles with testing or could benefit from academic tutoring to bring up their overall grades, fear not! With over 20+ years of experience, Academic Approach knows the PreACT material and high school admissions process backwards and forwards. We’ve supported Chicago students and families through this ordeal many times before. We’ve got an incredible team and outstanding instructors ready to help. Give us a call and sign your student up for PreACT tutoring now!