A MySchools.nyc Tutorial: Learn the Basics

Are you and your family participating in admissions for fall 2025? 

Throughout New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) application processes for 3-K, Pre-K, Kindergarten, middle school, high school, and Gifted and Talented (G&T) for grades 1, 2, 3 and 4, you will hear about MySchools.nyc—the one-stop shop for exploring schools and programs, submitting your child’s application for Fall 2025, and receiving your results in Spring 2025. You can use MySchools at every stage of the admissions process!

But do you know how to use this resource? Whether your application period is open, or you want to learn how to use MySchools beforehand, there’s a lot you can do. 

First, go to MySchools.nyc and select your language in the dropdown menu at the top of the page. MySchools is available to use in 10 languages!

How to Set Up Your MySchools Account

• For 3-K, Pre-K, Kindergarten, or Gifted & Talented
  • You can create your MySchools account at any time! 

• For Middle or High School
  • You can create or access your MySchools account when you receive your child’s welcome letter, shortly before the application opens. Your welcome letter includes:
    • Information on how to set up your account
    • A unique account creation code to add your child to your new or existing MySchools account
  • NYCPS and charter school students will receive welcome letters online or through their school counselor. You can also get it by mail. Private and parochial school students can ask their school (for high school) or a Family Welcome Center (for middle school) to provide a welcome letter.

Once you're on the MySchools homepage, click on “Create New Account,” and follow the on-screen instructions. Check your email account for a message from MySchools and click the link to confirm your email address and access your account.

Link your child(ren) to the account

After logging into your account, you can add your child to it by clicking “Add a child” on your dashboard. If you have more than one child applying this year, you should add each child to your account.

• For 3-K, Pre-K, Kindergarten, or G&T
  • If your child is already enrolled in an NYCPS school and has a nine-digit student ID number, you can enter it.
• For Middle or High School
  • Enter your child’s nine-digit student ID number in the top box and their six-letter unique account creation code in the bottom box—do not share this code with anyone and keep it in a safe place. Please note that this is a different code than your NYCSA code.

Once you see confirmation that your child was added to your account, they will be listed on your MySchools dashboard.

• For 3-K, Pre-K, Kindergarten, or G&T
  • Be sure to review your child’s profile and verify that everything looks correct. If anything looks wrong, click the “Edit Profile” button to make updates. ‍
• For Middle or High School
  • Check your child’s profile and verify that everything looks correct. If anything looks wrong, please speak with your child’s current school or a Family Welcome Center.

‍Now your personalized MySchools account is all set! Once the application opens, you’ll be able to build and submit your application.

How to Explore Schools and Programs

Remember that applying to schools really means applying to programs at those schools. A school may have more than one program and each counts as a separate choice on your application. Consider what matters most to your family—this might be location, accessibility, size, or other features.

Once logged into your MySchools account, select the directory you want to explore. Now you’re in the directory! You’ll see a series of prompts that walk you through how to find and learn about schools. Read through these to familiarize yourself with this process. Please note that the location of each feature can vary depending on whether you’re using a computer, phone, or table

Type your address to view a list of schools nearest to you. When logged into your account, you will automatically be able to see which programs are close to your home and which your child can apply to. When you find a program that interests you, add it to your favorites or directly to your application (if the process is open). You can also type the name of a specific school or program here to learn more about it.

Use Filters and Key Words

To narrow your search, you can filter for schools by location, subway lines, eligibility requirements, and more. Filter options vary by directory. For instance, in the Pre-K directory,
you can filter for programs with extended hours by selecting “Early Drop Off Available” or “Late Pickup Available.” The high school directory offers more filters such as specific sports and Early College programs. For all grade levels, you can search for programs that are fully or partially accessible

You can also use search by activities such as “dance” or “debate;” courses such as “computer science” or “AP History;” and much more. Once the application opens, you can save a program under your Favorites by clicking on the star next to the program name.

How to Apply

When you're ready to apply, add your top choices from your Favorites to your application or directly to the application, without saving them as Favorites first. Once you’ve added your choices to your application, drag and drop programs into your true order of preference, with your favorite choice as #1, your second choice as #2, and so on.

‍For families applying to high school, we encourage you to add at least 12 programs to your application to give your child the best opportunity to receive an offer from a program they want to attend. As you finalize your application, you may receive alerts about any missing information. If you do, review your application thoroughly and ensure it is complete.

Finally, you may be prompted to:

• Answer questions about your child’s accessibility needs
• Add information about a sibling currently attending a school on your application
• Add another child to the same application

Ready to apply? Click the “Submit Application” button. When you see the confetti, this means we’ve received your application! You’ll also get a receipt, which includes a copy of your application choices, by email

Want to make changes to your application? You can make updates and resubmit it any time until the application deadline. Please note that we’ll only use your last submission when we process your application.

Receive your child’s results and offers

Once results and offers are sent out, you can access them in MySchools—go to your Dashboard and click “View Results & Waitlists.” It will tell you which school and program has offered your child a seat (if applicable), where your child iswaitlisted (if applicable), and what to do next. You can use MySchools to accept your offer (if applicable)

If seats at a program become available after offers are made, that program can use its waitlist to make waitlist offers. Your child is automatically on the waitlist for any program that you placed higher on your child’s application than the program where they got an offer.

After the application deadline (for 3-K, Pre-K, or kindergarten) or after offers are released (for middle or high school), you have the option to add your child to additional programs’ waitlists. A school or program will contact you directly if they are able to make your child a waitlist offer. If you have a MySchools account, you will also receive an email. At any point during the school year, a family can contact their preferred school or program directly to enroll, if there is space and they are eligible. In your MySchools account, you can also see which waitlists you are on, check your position on each waitlist, and accept or decline a waitlist offer if you receive one.

And that's how you use MySchools! If you're interested in more visual, step-by-step instructions, watch our video series for each process embedded at the top of their admissions webpage. The videos show you how to create an account, explore schools and programs, submit an application, and more! We hope that you use all of these resources to make the application process smooth for you and your family.