admissions

New Hampshire faces a critical shortage of students who develop and sustain their interest in STEM fields from elementary school through college. The Academy for Science and Design, the state of New Hampshire’s top-performing public school and largest STEM-specialty school, is aimed at expanding students’ interest and ability in STEM locally and statewide. ASD is a National Blue Ribbon School and has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for the past seven years as the #1 high school in New Hampshire, and in 2023, ASD broke the coveted top 100 high schools in the nation at #96. Additionally, U.S. News and World Report started ranking K - 8 grade schools in 2022, and ASD's middle school is currently ranked as the #1 middle school in New Hampshire. 

Serving as both a chartered public, open-enrollment middle school and high school with a STEM-focus, the Academy for Science and Design is committed to engaging a diverse group of student learners at both levels through an exemplary structure for broadening student access to STEM-focused learning opportunities. Accordingly, ASD’s program design is the school’s signature strategy for the academic success of the variety of students who enter the school - a strategy focused on providing early exposure to opportunities in STEM.

ASD's high school curriculum is designed to provide our students with a well-rounded, science and math-based curriculum, allow them to specialize in one area if desired, prepare them for the rigors required in college classes, and provide real-world experience in scientific areas. To graduate from ASD all students are required to work at an internship, design and present a senior project, and perform 150 hours of stewardship. The internship requirement at ASD provides invaluable work experience, outside the school setting. The senior project is a culminating experience, incorporating the traditional and performance-based skills that are part of the mission at ASD. It is designed to highlight their research and design skills through the creation and execution of a year-long independent project.

ASD’s middle school program provides younger students the chance to explore, whereby design all students are exposed to aerospace, physics, environmental science, engineering, computer science, biology, and chemistry. Students completing ASD’s middle school program enter high school either as students continuing into ASD’s more specialized STEM curriculum or as students moving into district or private institutions with both a keen awareness of these fields, knowledge about their potential interests, and abilities to continue to study such fields. These exploratory courses, often taught by industry professionals, combined with their engagement in ASD's many planned and incidental learning experiences, have a profound and lasting impact on students, including those who may have been only curious about STEM upon enrolling in ASD.

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If you have any questions regarding the admissions process after viewing this site, please send an email to admissions@asdnh.org. We will respond within two business days.

Sincerely,
Pamela Bailey
Admissions