Located on the Upper East Side at 5th Ave and 84th street, Marymount School of New York has served as an educational institution for young catholic girls for over 94 years. As a long-established Catholic school, Marymount High School strives to empower girls to think critically, lead well, and advocate for themselves and others. As an all-girls school in Manhattan, Marymount challenges girls to succeed in and out of the classroom.
Guided by the principles of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount seeks to instill compassion for others and a passion for social justice in its students.
Marymount has a comprehensive campus spread along the Upper East Side of New York City. For this article, we will focus on high school or “upper school.” As a parent, you should note that Marymount High School takes advantage of all of the educational opportunities and natural classrooms that New York City offers to its residents and students.
Marymount High School Quick Facts
| Percentage of Marymount Students Accepted to College | 100% |
| Yearly Tuition | $54,125 (fluctuates yearly) |
| Number of Clubs and Organizations | 50+ |
| Number of Sports and Athletic Teams | 13 |
| The Student to Teacher Ratio | 6:1 |
| Average Class Size | 8-18 students |
| Approximate Grade Size | 60-65 |
| Religious Foundation | Roman Catholic, Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary |
| Student Body | All-girls |
| Average SAT Score | 1370 |
| Average ACT Score | 32 |
| Entrance Requirements | Admissions application, ISEE or SSAT exam, student and parent interviews, math and English recommendations |
| Website | https://www.marymountnyc.org |
| Application Process | https://www.marymountnyc.org/Admissions/Apply/Upper-School |
| Tuition Information | https://www.marymountnyc.org/admissions/tuition–fees |
The Need to Empower Young Women: The Founding of Marymount High School
For over 90 years, Marymount has strived to empower young girls to advocate for themselves and others using the guiding principles of the Catholic tradition. Marymount was founded in 1926 by Mother Marie Joseph Butler, who saw a need to fill the educational gaps in the NYC area for young Catholic girls. Butler envisioned that Marymount would be a school to “educate the heart and mind and to provide for each student’s total growth, intellectually, spiritually, socially, and physically.” Butler shrived to create future generations of young women who are compassionate and innovative leaders.
Marymount is run by an independent board of trustees composed of educational leaders, parents, alumnae, and members of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM). Each year, Marymount sends staff and other leaders to Beziers, France, to receive training and ongoing support in the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. Marymount continues to hold the values of the RSHM as foundational pillars as the school approaches its centennial.
Who is a Marymount Student?
Marymount considers itself an anti-racist community committed “to create equity through diversity.” A diverse student body and faculty contribute to their culture where all students are respected. Leadership continuously reviews its curriculum to ensure representation for its students.
At Marymount, your daughter will be challenged by a rigorous college-prep program with an emphasis on innovation, leadership, and compassion for others. 66% of the student body is Catholic, but Marymount welcomes all religious faiths and cultural backgrounds.
Marymount Academics
Marymount places a heavy emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math. It is the only NYC all-girls private school to be named a Distinguished Apple School for its use of technology for hands-on learning. Apple Distinguished Schools are some of the most innovative schools globally.
Each grade has an average of 60 students at the upper school with a 6:1 student to faculty ratio. 90% of the faculty at Marymount have advanced degrees in their fields. As a Pre-K through 12 institution, Marymount has various entry points for admissions. Each year Marymount accepts 20-25 students into the 9th-grade class.
Over their four years of high school, Marymount women take courses in:
- Science
- Technology
- Finance
- English
- Humanities
- Religion
- Visual and Performing Arts
- World Languages
Marymount High School is in the top 20% of NYC private high schools for most AP courses offered with 18 AP courses. Students are encouraged to take AP exams after taking the matching AP course.
Marymount girls are encouraged to explore their personal interests throughout their academics and extracurricular activities.
A similar school on the Upper East Side you may also be interested in is Convent of the Sacred Heart.
Average Test Scores Leaving Marymount High School
SAT
Young women graduating from Marymount High School leave with an average SAT score of 1370. The national average SAT score is 1059.
ACT
Young women graduating from Marymount High School leave with an average ACT score of 32. The national average ACT score is 20.9.
The rigorous academic curriculum at Marymount High School instills Marymount women with the skills, knowledge, and ethics to become compassionate and innovative leaders and their average test scores entering college reflect that rigorous curriculum.
SAT vs ACT Comparing College Entrance Exams
Graduating from Marymount
Each graduating class from Marymount has an average of 60 young women, 100% of whom go on to attend a four-year college or university.
Many Marymount graduates go on to well-known colleges and universities. In the last five years, Marymount students have been accepted to prestigious schools such as
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Georgetown University
- Harvard University
- New York University
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University
- Marymount 2015-2020 Matriculation List
With a vast network of international connections through the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, many Marymount girls see opportunities for exchange and study abroad programs during their time at high school.
Marymount Famous Almunae
As one of the most prominent schools in New York City, many parents look to send their daughters to Marymount NYC. Along with Marymount NYC, Butler founded 11 other schools and three colleges in the Marymount name and network.
While many well-known celebrities attend or have attended Marymount in Los Angels, Marymount NYC is known for its innovative STEAM (science, engineering, technology, and math) curriculum. Marymount NYC graduates women and leaders who join the ranks of scientists and engineers, doctors, and nurses. So they often fly under the radar of celebrity status.
Khaliah Adams-Joseph, known for her role as Renee on the Nickolodeon show Tiana, attended Marymount NYC. She later went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University and NYU for her Master’s degree. From a TV screen to a master’s degree in counseling psychology, her career took her full circle back to Marymount. Now, she is the Associate Director of Alumnae Affairs and Diversity Coordinator.
Japanese-American designer Hanako Maeda, who designs for Adeam, also attended Marymount. Maeda has been honored in both the United States and Japan to bring awareness of Japanese culture through fashion. Celebrities such as Maggie Gyllenhaal, Suki Waterhouse, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Anne Hathaway have worn Maeda’s designs. Hanako Maeda’s work was featured in New York’s Spring 2020 Fashion week.
Marymount Student Life
Extracurriculars at Marymount
Marymount offers more than 50 clubs and extracurricular activities at the high school level from the following categories:
- Cultural based clubs
- STEAM-based clubs
- Interest-based clubs
- Business and finance
- Service-based clubs
- Government clubs
Marymount women are encouraged to explore their interests through extracurricular activities with a strong emphasis on STEAM throughout their offerings. Throughout their time at Marymount, these young women are guided by the Catholic principles of compassion, leadership, and social justice, and their list of extracurricular offerings reflects those principles.
Sports at Marymount High School
Marymount is in the top 20% of NYC private schools for the number of sports offered with 13 different sports. 2019 – 2020 Athletic Offerings
Sports offered at Marymount:
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Crew
- Cross Country
- Fencing
- Lacrosse
- Soccer
- Softball
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Track and Field
- Volleyball
- Winter Track
Is Marymount or Convent of the Sacred Heart better?
Marymount and Convent of the Sacred Heart are both excellent schools. Both are all girls schools on the Upper East Side. It’s hard to make the wrong choice going to either. These are arguably the two best all girls schools in NYC, if not the country.
The Admissions Process for Marymount High School
As one of the most selective private high schools in the NYC area, Marymount High School has an intensive application process.
Each year, approximately 20-25 students enter as incoming 9th graders at Marymount High School. The application process begins in August of your daughter’s 8th-grade year. Applications open in August and are typically due by the end of November. The application does not include any essays, but Marymount uses a series of questions to get to know the student and her family.
Marymount asks that the final question is answered by the prospective student in her own words. Prospective students must submit official math and English recommendations through the Independent School Admission Association of Greater New York.
After your daughter’s application is submitted, Marymount requires she attend a campus tour. The campus tour takes about an hour and after your daughter has toured campus, she may schedule her interview day.
Marymount Interview
After the virtual tour, prospective Marymount students and their families attend an interview day. Students should prepare to answer questions that ask students to demonstrate their leadership qualities, academic abilities, and describe their extracurricular interests. Interviews occur between September and mid-December each year.
We offer mock interviews for Marymount School of New York.
Marymount Entrance Exams
Prospective Marymount women sit for entrance exams as part of the admissions process. Marymount accepts the following entrance exams:
- ISEE
- SSAT
- TACHS (if transferring from a parochial school) – TACHS compared with the HSPT and SHSAT
Marymount Scholarship Exam: The Butler Exam
In the spring of 7th grade, school principals can nominate top scholars for The Butler Scholar Program. Named after the school’s founder, the Butler Scholar Program is available to gifted girls who show potential for future leadership roles. The program invites top tier students from area Catholic schools to apply to the program.
To become part of The Butler Scholar Program, girls must:
- Be baptized Catholic
- Nominated by their principal
- Sit for the Butler Exam
- Attend a Butler Scholar interview
The Butler Scholar Program awards recipients full tuition over their four years of high school.
Butler scholarship applications are due in October each year. The Butler test is typically at the end of October each fall. Marymount notifies students invited for a Butler interview by mid-November for the Butler Scholar interview day. Final decisions go out in January for the Butler Scholar Program.
The goal of the Butler Scholar Program is to allow gifted students from Catholic schools around NYC to develop their leadership skills and academics at Marymount.
Format of the Butler Exam
In total, the Butler Exam is about 2 hours for 90 questions and an essay. It has three sections:
- Essay – 30 minute essay about an excerpt from a passage.
- English – 45 questions in about 45 minutes for reading comprehension, analogies, synonyms, and logic.
- Math – 45 questions in about 40 minutes
In format and difficulty, the Butler exam seems most like an ISEE combined with an HSPT, so these are likely the best practice tests for Marymount scholarship. It is a very difficult exam. This Butler Exam English section is very similar to the HSPT Verbal and Reading Comprehension sections but has no “vocabulary out of context” questions. The math section has many of the unique types of questions on the ISEE, including column comparisons. It also has True/False questions which many students have not practiced much. It contains more algebra than the Convent of the Sacred Heart Scholarship Exam. Practicing ISEEs are likely best to get accustomed to the format. Practicing HSPTs are always excellent for improving speed but also excellent for some of the unique types of questions on the Butler Exam.
Tuition and Financial Aid
The yearly tuition for Marymount High School is $54,125 (subject to change year to year). Approximately 23% of families receive financial aid. The average grant is about $33,000.
Families must submit their financial aid application and supporting documents by the December 15th deadline to be eligible for financial aid.
Preparing for the Marymount Admissions Process
Sitting for private school entrance exams is a major hurdle for many students entering into private school admissions season. The key to strong chances of admission is intense preparation from a young age. A student’s goal should be to learn the material so well that they never forget it.
Students often begin preparing for private school entrance exams as early as 6th and 7th grade. Strong academics in middle school and strong performance on the entrance exams can increase their chances for acceptance into the competitive private high schools around NYC.
As a Regis High School graduate, I know the preparation and commitment it takes to get into a private high school. My tutoring team offers group and individual private tutoring sessions to boost your student’s academic performance and self-confidence for the rigorous private high school admissions process.
We’ve helped students earn over $238,000 to Marymount.
If you want to increase your daughter’s chances of attending Marymount High School, start her early with private or group tutoring sessions. Most students take a practice test before their first lesson to identify areas of improvement and potentially group similar students with similar goals. We also use this to compare to future practice tests to determine what is working. Together we can prepare her for success in high school and beyond.
Call, text, or email us to discuss the best options for your daughter, including individual one-on-one tutoring or in a group for Marymount admissions or a combination of goals.
You can view availability for groups and tutoring at Book Me.
Have any more information about Marymount School of New York? Let us know in the comments and we’ll include it above.
If you want your daughter, kind and innocent, to be exposed to indoctrination by the far left to woke and open sexuality (meaning equality means for your daughter to forget science and DNA in favor of treating girls and boys as contenders for her love and affection) then by all means send her to Marymount High School. The girls most vulnerable are those who are new in 9th grade when The Prism Club actively recruits these girls. The head of the upper school Sabra McKenzie- Hamilton supervises this club. The students of the upper school is confused and being indoctrinated .Unbeknownst to us, the Prism Club took our daughter by telling her men are toxic and women are superior. As with many parents during the covid times, we found out late what our daughter was being brainwashed and forced to accept this garbage in order to have friends at Marymount NY. On top of this, our daughter was told to be ashamed of her white skin and her country. Lessons were rewritten to show my once proud American daughter to hate the Founding Fathers and to rewrite history to serve the liberal agenda of the teachers and the Board of Education. Freedom of speech and expression are no longer respected by this school. PLEASE SEND YOUR DAUGHTER TO A CO ED SCHOOL and preferably in a RED state. This epidemic of Marxism, hatred of America and men (especially white men) and the propaganda of systemic racism has infiltrated what was once a respected academic institution. (former Parent who had the means to remove their daughter from this cesspool and indoctrination)
After reading these 2 blog articles, if your daughter is Catholic, I would say no, she shouldn’t attend this “Catholic” school which is Catholic in name, but not in substance.
My links above were erased but if you google or internet search TFP Student Action “Reparation! Our Queen Was Muzzled With a Perverse Mask” and The Federalist “Exclusive Pricey Manhattan Catholic Prep School Makes Students Undergo Gender Training” you will find the articles.
After I read these 2 blog articles, I would say no, your daughter should not attend this “Catholic” school which is Catholic, in name, but not in substance.