A Deep Dive into Whitney Young: What Makes this CPS Selective Enrollment High School Special?
Leading up to the PreACT 9 next week, Test Prep Chicago is spotlighting all eleven CPS selective enrollment high schools, along with some of the city's top AP, IB, and Honors programs, right here on our blog. This week, we're taking a closer look at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.
Whitney Young stands out for its history, its academic depth, and a competitive track record few schools in the country can match. The school is at 211 South Laflin Street in the West Loop, on Chicago's Near West Side. It opened on September 3, 1975, as Chicago's first public magnet high school, and is named after Whitney M. Young Jr., a prominent civil rights leader. Its alumni include former First Lady Michelle Obama, who graduated in 1981 as her class's salutatorian.
Academically, Whitney Young is consistently one of the top-ranked public high schools in Illinois. In the 2026–2027 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings, it placed sixth in the state and No. 107 in the nation. It has also been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, in 2009 and again in 2020. Students follow a rigorous college-prep curriculum with a wide range of honors and Advanced Placement courses.
Whitney Young is well known for its dominance in academic competition. Its Academic Decathlon team won its 20th consecutive Illinois state championship in 2023, competing across ten events ranging from economics and literature to music, science, and speech. The school also has a nationally competitive policy debate team. Beyond these, students have joined clubs like Math Team, Science Olympiad, Model UN, Robotics, the Chess Team, and the Certamen Latin Club. Cultural groups such as the Asian-American Culture Club, Latinos Unidos, and the Muslim Student Association are active too, along with service organizations like Best Buddies and Habitat for Humanity.
The arts and athletics are also notable at Whitney. The Young Company, the school's student-led drama group, puts on two mainstage productions each year and a full musical every other year, with student crews designing and building the sets, lighting, props, and costumes. On the athletic side, the Whitney Young Dolphins compete in the Chicago Public League. The boys' basketball program is one of the most successful in the state, with IHSA state championships in 2009, 2014, and 2017. In 2019, the school opened the $4.3 million Michelle Obama Athletic Complex, which includes football, lacrosse, and soccer fields, a running track, and softball and baseball diamonds.
Overall, Whitney Young offers students a uniquely well-rounded high school experience. The school remains one of Chicago's most sought-after (and most competitive) selective enrollment programs, and it tends to be a great fit for students who thrive in a highly rigorous academic environment and want to test themselves in competition, on stage, or on the court.
Admission to Whitney Young is competitive and based on seventh-grade core grades and the new PreACT 9. If your student is interested in attending Whitney Young or another selective enrollment high school, Test Prep Chicago can help your student prepare for the new PreACT 9, helping them develop the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to succeed. As a licensed participant in the NTPA ACT Affiliate Tutor Program, we had been aware of the change from the CPS HSAT to the PreACT 9, and our team had already begun creating new PreACT 9 Secure curriculum. As such, students enrolled or looking to enroll in any courses or one-day workshops, or students beginning individual tutoring, can be assured that the content and test-taking strategies they are being taught will reflect the content seen on the new exam. While all of our courses have begun, you can still sign up for our self-paced course (sign up here), one-day Palooza workshops (sign up here), or individual tutoring sessions (sign up here), which all include the new PreACT 9 Secure content and test-taking strategies instead of the old CPS HSAT curriculum. Sign up now to help your student prepare!