Meet the Rivera Family
The Riveras are a fictional family living in Queens, New York. Elena is helping her daughter Sofia, an 8th grader, explore NYC high schools. Sofia is interested in STEM and visual arts. Here is how they use ShortlistED to go from a directory of hundreds of schools to a focused, evolving shortlist.
Student Admission Profile
Elena enters Sofia's admissions level, borough, current grades, academic level, and any IEP or audition interests. ShortlistED uses this information to identify relevant admissions requirements, priorities, and programs that may warrant further exploration or verification.
Fit Preferences
Elena chooses what matters: a reasonable commute, smaller school size, STEM and arts programs, AP classes, and a supportive learning environment. She assigns more weight to the factors that matter most to Sofia.
Results
ShortlistED shows schools organized by admissions alignment and personal fit. Sofia sees schools with stronger admissions alignment, additional possibilities, and unlikely options, with clear labels for each.
School Details
Clicking any school opens a detailed view with programs, demographics, admissions criteria, activities, and accessibility information, plus a breakdown of why the school received its fit score.
Visits
After touring schools, Elena and Sofia return to rate each one. They add pros, cons, and visit notes. Sofia uses Student Mode to record her own impressions without seeing the full family view.
Family Evaluation
ShortlistED combines everyone's ratings into a shared family score. The shortlist re-ranks itself as the family learns more, turning first impressions into a more confident final list.