At a Glance
A large, screen-in Queens high school where families fight for a seat and report unusually high trust with school leadership.
Best suited for
Queens families with a clear academic or career focus — especially students drawn to health sciences, pre-med, law, or media arts — who are willing to navigate the audition process and want a large, well-organized school with strong adult-to-adult trust. Less of a fit for families looking for a small-school environment or those expecting a robust PTA-funded enrichment budget.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Zero suspensions reported — a rare figure at a school this large
- Seven distinct audition-based academies, including Pre-Med, Health Sciences, and Public Service & Law
- 99% teacher-principal trust, among the highest relationships you'll see in a Queens high school
- Theater Arts program has a 50% offer rate — the most accessible entry point
- Diverse student body with strong ELL and IEP support infrastructure
Things to consider
- PTA fundraising totals about $1 per student — essentially nothing compared to the district average of $165 per student, which means families shouldn't expect the same kind of enrichment budget they'd see elsewhere
- Audition required for every program — this is not a neighborhood walk-in school
- Health Sciences, Pre-Med, and Public Service programs are extremely competitive (7–11% offer rates), so admission to the school doesn't guarantee your first-choice academy
- With 2,592 students, this is a large comprehensive experience — families looking for a small-school feel should weigh that
- Economic need index of 75.6 means a significant share of students arrive with substantial outside-of-school challenges
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 28
Within District 28, Hillcrest is harder to benchmark than the elementary schools listed as peers — the comparable secondary school, Queens Gateway to Health Sciences, scores 83/100 in the district's quality index. Hillcrest's combination of high parent satisfaction (94% vs. district 92.6%), strong teacher trust (99% vs. ~94%), and zero suspensions puts it in the upper tier of what families in this part of Queens can access through screened admissions.
Academics
Hillcrest doesn't publish overall proficiency rates on the standard ELA/Math dashboard — instead, it organizes itself around seven audition-based academies, each with its own applicant pool. The program mix is genuinely broad: a Health Sciences Institute, a Pre-Med track, a Theater Arts program, a Teachers of Tomorrow pathway, and a Biz-Tek computer studies program, alongside AP coursework, ELL support, and world languages. The Health Sciences Institute alone drew 828 applicants for 87 seats (a 10% offer rate), and the Academy of Public Service and Law was even more selective at 7.7%. The structure means students arrive pre-sorted by interest, which tends to produce stronger cohort engagement than a general-comprehensive model.
Culture
This is a notably calm school. Zero suspensions for the year is a striking figure — the district average suspension rate translates to roughly 0.4% of students, so a zero count means whatever Hillcrest is doing with discipline, it's working. The teacher survey is where this place really stands out: 99% of teachers say they trust the principal, 93% rate instruction quality as high, and 91% describe their colleagues as collaborative. On the parent side, 95% trust the principal and 94% feel satisfied, both above district averages. The day-to-day feel, by these numbers, is one of high adult alignment — teachers, families, and leadership are largely on the same page.
Community
Hillcrest's student body is one of the more racially mixed in Queens: roughly 36% Hispanic, 30% Asian, 25% Black, and smaller White, multiracial, and Native American shares, giving a diversity index of 76%. The economic need index of 75.6 (on a 100-point scale) means a substantial majority of students come from lower-income households, and 12% have IEPs. That's a meaningfully different demographic profile than the neighborhood's census numbers suggest — the surrounding census tracts skew more middle-income — which means Hillcrest likely pulls students from a wider radius across central Queens.
Neighborhood
The school sits in Jamaica Hills-Briarwood, a family-dense pocket of central Queens with a median household income just under $84,000 and a poverty rate around 13%. About a quarter of nearby households have children, and roughly 44% of adults have a bachelor's degree — solidly middle-class, with a mix of homeowners (close to 40%) and renters. It's the kind of neighborhood where families are putting down roots but also navigating a Queens-size commute.
Most Hillcrest students get here by subway: the F train at Parsons Blvd is about a three-minute walk, the F at Sutphin Blvd is around ten minutes, and the E, J, and Z at Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer is roughly an eleven-minute walk. Bus coverage fills in the gaps for students coming from farther across the district.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 1329 families responded (59% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
NYS CTE Certified Nursing Assistant program that includes supervised clinical rotations with training from registered nurses and a developing Sports Medicine program with courses such as Exercise Physiology, Human Anatomy, and Nutrition. Students participate in the Health Professions Club and receive paid and unpaid internships in the health field and volunteer experience.
Through a partnership with CUNY, the PERC TAS program allows students to lead lessons and mentor struggling students in Living Environment and Algebra. Through our partnership with Junior Achievement, students participate in the HS Heroes program where they have the opportunity to teach for a day, twice each year. We offer a Teacher Assistant program through our foundations of education course and the opportunity to participate in job shadowing through American Express and ABC studios.
An Honors College Preparatory Program offering scholars four-year tracks in Media, Art, or Music. Media provides writing and publishing courses in Journalism, Model UN, Film, and Creative Writing with options for AP and CUNY College Now English. Art includes Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Design, Photoshop, and Printmaking with options for AP Studio Art and AP Art History. Musicians perform and compose with multiple opportunities in Band, Chorus, Drum Line, and String Ensemble.
Courses offered leading toward medical careers, AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP Art History, AP Calculus, AP Spanish, AP French, AP Computer Science, AP English Composition, AP English Literature, Chemistry, Anatomy, Physics, STEM Research Academy at York College, STEM Science Research Internship opportunities, NASA-Global Warming and Climate Change, Science Research-Environmental Science, Medical Laboratory, Microbiology, and CUNY College Now Courses.
Interpretation of dramatic literature, acting, directing, playwriting, improvisation, scenic design, filmmaking, and career counseling in the arts. Students are actively supported as they progress through the rigorous curriculum of the New York City Blueprint for Theater and a CUNY College Now Communications course.
CTE Law Academy courses include Forensics, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Constitutional Law and Legal Studies; preparation for public and community careers in legal, federal/state/local government agencies; College credit for selected courses; High School Law Institute at Columbia University and NYU; Participation in New York State Mock Trials, Moot Court competition and Police Explorers; Paid internship opportunities with the Justice Resource Center.
Biz-Tek prepares students for college and careers in a range of business and STEM fields. CTE endorsed programs in Virtual Enterprise, Cyber Security/Software Engineering, CAD/CAM -Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing; and Information Technology and Computer Networking, training for Cisco certifications, CompTIAA+, Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (C-CENT), and Cisco Certified Networking, Associate (CCNA).
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Hillcrest High School admits through 8 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Academy of Public Service and LawEd. Opt.
- Biz/TechEd. Opt.68 seats
- Health Sciences InstituteEd. Opt.
- Pre-Med ProgramScreened
- Teachers of TomorrowEd. Opt.
- The Academy of Media, Arts and MusicScreened
- Theater ArtsAuditionVirtual or in personAudition required
- ZonedZoned
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
- 3Audition programs need a booked audition or portfolio on top of the application — book the slot through MySchools, and prepare what each studio asks for.
- 4Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 5Zoned programs give priority to students who live in the zone — a priority, not a guaranteed seat.
- 6Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
Fair
Sat, Nov 7, · 10:00 AM · In person
Open house
Fri, Nov 20, · 5:00 PM · In person
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Hillcrest High School a good school?
- On Motley, Hillcrest High School earns an overall rating of 64/100 — the average of the school's four-year graduation rate, the share of its students scoring college-ready (70+) on the English Regents, and its Regents completion rate, shown out of 100.
- What grades does Hillcrest High School serve?
- Hillcrest High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Hillcrest High School?
- Hillcrest High School admits by audition — applicants are judged on a performance, portfolio, or talent area.
- Is Hillcrest High School public, charter, or private?
- Hillcrest High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 28.
- What neighborhood is Hillcrest High School in?
- Hillcrest High School is in Jamaica Hills-Briarwood, Queens.