Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Chicago | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

Senior here. I feel like it’s about time to give my two cents about this school. It’s a beautiful campus in a beautiful location and during this particular time of year the trees and fallen leaves in the lawn look absolutely beautiful, and during the winter the snow makes everything so picturesque. It straddles along the famous Route 66 and a beautiful historic 1930s neighborhood. In my opinion, these views are only rivaled by Lane’s only because of their gigantic front lawn.

The School and the teachers are great and these teachers truly care about your education and the school offers math and reading/writing centers for all students during their lunch periods. Speaking of lunch here, there is open campus so you can go anywhere you want (and if you’re particularly quick, you may be able to get some food downtown) and most restaurants offer student discounts. There’s also a tech center and open library where you can relax with friends and play video games (just be sure to be quiet, IT doesn’t like noise). The school also offers a ton of clubs and exhibit them all on Club Fairs at the beginning of the school year. It’s pretty much impossible to not find at least one club you’re interested in.

Now that all the positive stuff has been said and most stop reading after that, it’s time to get to the major caveat. The students. The students (across ALL the grades) are horrible. They think that every teacher is horrible, and the students lack motivation and determination, and they just bring my mood down with them with all. the. endless. Complaining. They complain for the sake of complaining! And we all know that if you look into the abyss long enough, the abyss will stare back. Seriously, your grades will suffer if you let them get inside your head.

So if you’re thinking about going here, be prepared to have some mettle and determination, because these students sure don’t.

And the following words go without saying. Don’t go here expecting some model students, you’ll still get your fair share of racist, feminist, dick, Jew, and other teenage jokes here. This doesn’t affect my mood though because every teenager makes dumb and mildly offensive jokes, yes, even the Principal Scholar students.

I also feel that following Northside’s example and switching to block scheduling and introducing some extracurricular classes like cooking, budget handling, etc. would be an excellent way to relieve stress amongst students. I hope that future students can have these if WY absorbs the police academy in 2020.

Dr. Kenner, if you’re reading this, it may be too late for me now but this school is in desperate need of some puppy therapy! >:(

I am a Dolphin for the Class of 1984. I got there from a small school on the South Side currently known as Arthur Ashe (formerly John A. Sbarbaro). When I took the admissions test, I had already found out that I had missed the bar at Lindbloom Technical High School. That test was hard, but the one at WY was even harder, with an even slimmer margin of error (only 2% of the applicants were selected TO TAKE THE TEST). And I was a year ahead of where the calendar said I should have been.

September 1980 saw about 460 Freshmen accepted into the school. The total student population was over 1200. For me, it was a huge experience. Exposure to cultures from not only all over the city, but literally all over the world. You could point to a spot on a globe, and there was a representative from that area, in the student body, or the faculty.

We all came together as a family, sharing experiences, culture languages and education. There were no “fair-haired princes or princesses” nor any “red-headed stepchildren”. To the staff and faculty, each student had the same amount of potential, and we were all challenged to achieve it, and push for our dreams. As students, none of us knew that there was a national ranking system. And none of us knew that our school was in the top 100. 30+ years later, I am proud to say that my high school was not only in the top 100 then, but has remained at that level from the day I first walked in, until today.

I encourage you to spend time with the students, the faculty, and any alumni that you WILL find in, and around, the city of Chicago. You just might learn something, about yourself, and your world.

Great school in equally impressive area of the city. When navigating here, it’s important to remember that while the school is three separate buildings, connected by raised bridges, the main entrance is still on Laflin; all doors are open for exit, but visitors and guests must still enter through Laflin.
As one of the city’s selective enrollment schools and Academic Centers, interested students are required to fill out an application, take a test, and follow a series of other steps to be admitted.