Now is your chance to join the first historically black college & university (HBCU) high school in New York City!

Assessment Instructions

What is an HBCU?

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were created to give African American students a place to learn and grow when other colleges wouldn’t accept them. They are famous for celebrating Black culture and helping students succeed in school and in their future careers. Today, HBCUs welcome students of all races and backgrounds. HBCU Early College Prep invites everyone regardless of race or background to apply and be a part of this great tradition!

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30% Grades

Average course grades will be used as 30% of the selection criteria

25% Literacy Writing Prompt

Submission will be used as 25% of the selection criteria

25% Case Study Writing Prompt

Submission will be used as 25% of the selection criteria

20% Video

Submission will be used as 20% of the selection criteria

Admissions assessment submission directions and criteria:

Step #1:

Read the poem ”The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman and select one writing prompt to respond to in 250-500 words.

Step #2:

Review two case studies and select one prompt to respond to in 250-500 words.

Step #3:

Record a 1-2 minute
video of yourself answering
three questions and upload to
MySchools.nyc.

HBCU Early College Prep Writing Prompts

250-500 Words Only

STEP 1

25% Literacy Writing Prompt
Review both writing prompts and select one to write about
  • Literacy Writing Prompt #1:
  • Amanda Gormon’s “The Hill We Climb” delves into powerful themes of hope, resilience, and unity. Drawing from these ideas, respond in 250-500 words to the following question:
  • Question - How do these themes resonate with your own experiences or aspirations? Provide specific examples from the poem and your life.
  • Literacy Writing Prompt #2:
  • In “The Hill We Climb” Amanda Gormon highlights the significance of confronting challenges with courage and optimism. Using your interpretation of the poem, respond to the following question in 250-500 words.
  • Question - Describe a significant challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it. How does Gorman’s perspective on challenges inspire or relate to your journey?

STEP 2

25% Case Study Writing Prompt
Review both case study prompts and select one to write about
  • Case Study: Technology Prompt #1:
  • You have observed that many people struggle with basic tasks that could be made easier through technology. For example, small businesses are having trouble staying open because they lack access to modern tools, and students are falling behind in school because they don’t have the technology to study effectively at home.
  • Question - Propose a solution to address technology inequities in your community. Identify the challenges, and explain your approach to solving this challenge, considering both the opportunities and obstacles that your plan might face.
  • Case Study #2: Healthcare Prompt #2:
  • You have observed that many people do not have the same access to health care. For example, some people struggle to get the right medicine when they are sick and do not have convenient access to doctors.
  • Question - Propose a solution to address healthcare inequities in your community. Identify the challenges, and explain your approach to solving this challenge, considering both the opportunities and obstacles that your plan might face.

HBCU Early College Prep Video Prompt

1-2 Minutes Only

STEP 3

20% Video
  • Video Prompt
  • Record a 1-2 minute video of yourself answering the following questions and upload to MySchools.nyc.
  • Question - - Who are you?
    Why do you want to attend an HBCU Early College Prep High School? How does obtaining a degree from an HBCU help you give back to your community?

“The Hill We Climb”
By Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one. And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect, we are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.
So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another, we seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew, even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we’ll forever be tied together victorious, not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one should make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all of the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. That would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy, and this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can periodically be delayed, but it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith, we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us, this is the era of just redemption we feared in its inception we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves, so while once we asked how can we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us.
We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free, we will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, our blunders become their burden. But one thing is certain: if we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left, with every breath from my bronze, pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one, we will rise from the golden hills of the West, we will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution, we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked South, we will rebuild, reconcile, and recover in every known nook of our nation in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful, when the day comes we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.