Look at Northside and Payton. A student in Tier 4 (wealthiest/least disadvantaged) needed an astronomical 885 or 886 to get into the top two schools. That means nearly perfect grades (4.0 weighted) and an almost flawless entrance exam score (99th percentile). For Tier 4 families, the "cutoff" is essentially a perfection requirement.

Cutoff scores vary significantly based on your assigned and the school's popularity. For top-tier schools, a near-perfect score is often required for Tier 4 applicants. High School Rank (Top 30%) Tier 1 (Lowest) Tier 4 (Highest) Walter Payton Northside Prep Whitney Young Jones College Prep Lane Tech Brooks College Prep Lindblom Math/Sci

Walter Payton — Test Prep Chicago | Prep News & School Insights

: Rolling waitlist process opened for programs with remaining seats. Chicago School Options How the 900-Point Score is Calculated

CPS does not publish them on the main dashboard to avoid discouraging applicants. However, under Illinois FOIA law, the data is public. These numbers are compiled from FOIA requests submitted by local school advocacy groups (e.g., Raise Your Hand, Northside Parents Network).

Post-pandemic learning recovery and test prep access have driven the average applicant's composite score up by roughly 2%.