At a Glance
A large screened high school in western Queens offering five competitive academies and one of the city's deepest extracurricular rosters
Best suited for
Families who want a selective screened high school with real academic tracks — particularly those drawn to law/forensics, business/tech, performing arts, or math/science — and who are willing to ask hard questions about teacher-administration dynamics before enrolling.
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
- Five distinct screened academies with double-digit applicant-to-seat ratios across the board
- Program richness score of 90/100, with unusual offerings like Forensic Science, Performing Arts, and Business and Technology under one roof
- Zero suspensions reported — a notably calm climate for a school of this size
- Deep extracurricular menu including Mock Trial, Model UN, Debate, Fashion/Modeling, Girl Hack, and a Global Kids Leadership Program
- World language breadth spanning Bengali, French, Greek, Korean, and Spanish alongside ELL support
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust at 59% is a real flag — ask how instructional decisions get made and whether staff feel supported
- Teacher-rated instruction quality (75%) trails the district average of 91% by a wide margin
- Only 9% of families completed the parent survey, so the 92% satisfaction figure rests on a small sample
- Class size averages 23.6, matching the district average — don't expect small sections
- Economic need index of 82.2 means most students qualify for free lunch; supports and counseling staffing matter more here than at typical screened schools
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 30
Bryant is one of the larger and more program-dense screened high schools in District 30, standing apart from the elementary peer schools listed (which reflect K–8 options, not direct high school comparables). Within its own tier, it's a school families actively compete to get into, not a default assignment.
Academics
Bryant organizes students into five screened academies — Forensic Science and Law, Business and Technology, Performing Arts, AVID, and Math and Science — each with single- or low-double-digit offer rates, meaning admission is genuinely selective. The school supports AP coursework alongside ELL services and world languages (Bengali, French, Greek, Korean, and Spanish). Because proficiency scores aren't included in this dataset, direct comparison to the district's roughly 61% ELA and 62% Math averages isn't possible here.
Culture
Day-to-day, this is a calm building: zero suspensions were reported, against a district average suspension rate of about 0.275%. Parent trust is strong — 93% parent-teacher trust and 94% parent-principal trust — and parent satisfaction at 92% nearly matches the district average of 93%. But the teacher-side picture is uneven. Only 75% of teachers rate instruction quality positively (district average is 91%), teacher-principal trust sits at just 59%, and teacher collegial trust is 79%. That gap between confident families and wary staff is the culture story parents should ask about directly.
Community
Bryant's 2,025 students are predominantly Hispanic (59%) and Asian (22%), with smaller White (10%) and Black (7%) populations — a diversity index of 62%. The surrounding census tract skews toward college-educated professionals (45.8% with a BA or higher, median household income of about $79,365), while the school's economic need index of 82.2 tells you a large share of students come from lower-income families. That contrast between a middle-class neighborhood and a high-need student body is real and shapes the school's mission.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Astoria (East)–Woodside (North) area, a working- and middle-class pocket of western Queens. About 14% of nearby households have children, 21% own their homes (the rest rent), and the median home value is roughly $832,000. Poverty is relatively low at 10%, and nearly half of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a fairly educated catchment for a high-need school.
Families get here easily on the M and R trains. The 46 St station is about a 3-minute walk, Northern Blvd is around 8 minutes, and Steinway St is roughly 11 minutes on foot.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 168 families responded (9% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Students are introduced to the forensic and legal processes of criminalistics, and study cases of crimes and law enforcement. Courses begin in the ninth grade and continue with exposure to the newest techniques in forensics, ballistics, handwriting analysis, applied law, and technology.
Students will graduate with the life skills necessary to succeed in both academic and social settings. They will apply their business and technology experiences in the ever-changing 21st century.
Students will be offered a variety of intensive performing arts courses in dance, music, and theater. The program will expose students to content-related electives, AP courses, CUNY College Now, a multitude of performance opportunities, and sequenced courses with a rigorous academic curriculum that supports students' studies in the arts. The culmination of the program's successful completion is an advanced Regents diploma with a content-related certificate.
AVID targets students in the academic middle with the desire to go to college and have the willingness to work hard. Students learn organizational and study skills, develop critical thinking, learn to ask probing questions, receive academic help from peers and college tutors, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities to make their college dreams reality.
Focuses on students' development of math and science research techniques, along with critical and analytical thinking skills. Students engage in individual projects, competitions, and trips to colleges and university research seminars. Students experience emergency service training including an EMT introduction course and multiple AP courses.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
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. William Cullen Bryant High School admits through 6 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Arts and Humanities InstituteEd. Opt.50 seats
- AVIDEd. Opt.
- Business and Technology InstituteEd. Opt.
- Forensic Science and Law AcademyScreened
- Math and Science AcademyScreened
- 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.
- 3Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 4Zoned programs give priority to students who live in the zone — a priority, not a guaranteed seat.
- 5Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
Open house
Thu, Nov 12, · 5:30 PM · In person
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is William Cullen Bryant High School a good school?
- On Motley, William Cullen Bryant High School earns an overall rating of 58/100 — 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 William Cullen Bryant High School serve?
- William Cullen Bryant High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into William Cullen Bryant High School?
- William Cullen Bryant High School is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is William Cullen Bryant High School public, charter, or private?
- William Cullen Bryant High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 30.
- What neighborhood is William Cullen Bryant High School in?
- William Cullen Bryant High School is in Astoria (East)-Woodside (North), Queens.