At a Glance
A small, all-honors Catholic college prep for young women on the Upper East Side
Best suited for
Families seeking a rigorous, faith-based, all-girls college preparatory education for their daughter, who want every class to be honors-level and value a small, mission-driven community on the Upper East Side.
What stands out
- All-honors curriculum: every student takes honors-level coursework rather than being placed in tracked levels
- 12 AP courses available across the upper grades
- Global Exchange Programs with partner schools in France, Spain, and China
- Regis Social Justice Seminar as a dedicated justice-oriented component of the curriculum
- Required Service Learning Program tied to the school's mission
- Single-sex Catholic environment, which research often associates with stronger confidence in STEM and leadership for young women
Things to consider
- Tuition of $24,800 for 2026-27 is a meaningful financial commitment, with no sliding-scale or range indicated in the materials reviewed
- Parent reviews surface real concerns about student stress and occasional communication gaps with administration — worth asking current families about directly
- The all-honors model means every student is in demanding coursework from day one; this is a feature for some families and a poor fit for others
- Faith-based identity is central — families who are not comfortable with a Catholic, Dominican-mission framework should look elsewhere
- As a small girls' school, the social and extracurricular ecosystem is more intimate than at a large coed institution
Identity
An all-girls Catholic college preparatory school with an all-honors academic model, meaning every student takes honors-level work — there is no separate honors or general track. The school identifies explicitly with Dominican faith values and pairs academic rigor with service learning.
Community
Parent reviews describe students as friendly, driven, and hardworking, and teachers as high-quality and caring. Several reviewers note a culture that is academically intense — a feature for many families but a source of stress for some students.
Neighborhood
The school sits in Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side, one of Manhattan's wealthiest census tracts, with a median household income around $197,783, a poverty rate of 5.2%, and 84.4% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. It is a residential, museum-and-townhouse kind of block — quiet, leafy, and family-oriented.
The 6 train at 68 St-Hunter College is roughly a three-minute walk, the M and Q at Lexington Avenue/63rd Street is about six minutes, and the N, R, and W at Lexington Avenue/59th Street is around nine minutes — making commuting from most of Manhattan fairly direct.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
The school is rated 3.99 and 4.8 out of 5. Parents describe academics as challenging and rigorous, teachers as high-quality, and administration as caring. Some concerns about student stress and communication. Students are described as friendly, driven, and hardworking.
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is DOMINICAN ACADEMY a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for DOMINICAN ACADEMY yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades 9 to 12 in Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill.
- What grades does DOMINICAN ACADEMY serve?
- DOMINICAN ACADEMY serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into DOMINICAN ACADEMY?
- DOMINICAN ACADEMY runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is DOMINICAN ACADEMY public, charter, or private?
- DOMINICAN ACADEMY is a private school.
- What neighborhood is DOMINICAN ACADEMY in?
- DOMINICAN ACADEMY is in Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill, Manhattan.