School Fit
Decide whether NCSSM fits your student
Look beyond selectivity to the daily realities of a two-year residential school.
Checked against NCSSM's published admissions pages on October 18, 2026.
School fit
Is NCSSM a fit?
- The school
- Public, two-year residential high school for North Carolina students with an interest in STEM, part of the University of North Carolina System
- History
- NCSSM describes itself as the nation's first public, residential STEM high school.
- Durham
- NCSSM-Durham sits among historic in-town neighborhoods within walking distance of Duke University.
- Morganton
- NCSSM-Morganton is a newer campus of new and newly renovated historic buildings on a ridge-top setting in western North Carolina.
- Cost
- NCSSM says there is no application fee and no cost for tuition, meals, room and board, or textbooks for its Residential, Online, and Summer Ventures programs.
- How applications are read
- Selection committees of educators from across North Carolina, in teams of three each assigned to a congressional district, review applications and score each candidate on a rubric.
- What NCSSM looks for
- NCSSM's criteria include academic rigor, community involvement and interaction, critical reading and writing ability, enthusiasm for STEM, grades, need for NCSSM and enthusiasm for learning, work ethic and initiative, the Math Assessment, and evaluations from a counselor, an English teacher, and a STEM teacher.
- Grades
- NCSSM considers only grades from high school courses completed in ninth and 10th grade. High school-level courses taken in middle school are not factored in.
- Course rigor
- NCSSM says it is looking for students who consistently excel, earning mostly A's in their most challenging courses.
- Showing STEM interest
- NCSSM suggests students show an interest in STEM through clubs, competitions, supplemental programs, leadership positions, and other related activities, and take accelerated and challenging courses.
- Decisions
- NCSSM says all decisions are final and there is no appeals process. It does not review applications with students or families and does not share Math Assessment scores.
- 01
Talk through what it means to live away from home for two years with your student.
- 02
Ask what kind of classroom brings out their best work, and what they would want from a school that their current one cannot offer.
Residential life
Life on campus.
NCSSM Residential is a residential program for juniors and seniors. These are the details NCSSM publishes.
- Living
- Residential students live in residence halls on campus with support from full-time Community Coordinators.
- Roommates
- At NCSSM-Durham, juniors have one or sometimes two roommates, are matched using the Roommate Preference Form, and learn their roommate assignment the summer before junior year.
- Meals
- At NCSSM-Durham, the dining hall serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner Monday through Friday and brunch and dinner on weekends, at no cost to students.
- Laundry
- At NCSSM-Durham, laundry rooms offer washers and dryers for a small fee.
- Weekends
- All residence halls close about once each month for holidays and extended three-day weekends, when students return home.
- Activities
- All students do campus and community service activities, and NCSSM has dozens of student clubs.
- 01
Ask your student how they handle schedules, laundry, and asking for help when no one is down the hall.
- 02
Check NCSSM's housing details for the campus your student would choose.