How many Early College STEM schools are there?

About fourteen. CPS's own sources disagree — a May 2026 release says 13 while the STE(A)M Schools Team page lists 14 — so treat any exact number you see with suspicion, including ours.

Can I start taking college classes as a freshman?

No. City Colleges requires you to be a junior or senior and 16 years old. Freshman and sophomore year are when you build the 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance that qualify you.

Is the GoCPS category page a good list of these schools?

No. The Choice programs page files only one school under STEM and STEAM, which is an artifact of how that page is categorized. The school-level designation list is separate and longer.

Code & GamesMake & BuildGrow & Explore

Early College STEM & STEAM

Take real college classes in high school — for free — and some students graduate with a two-year degree already finished.

What you'd actually do

Take City Colleges courses that count for both high school and college credit
Work with a corporate partner — IBM, Cisco, Salesforce, Motorola and ComEd each anchor a school
Build through project-based STEM instead of lecture
Intern in technical settings before you graduate

How you get in

Rank it on your GoCPS application by November 13. The college coursework itself starts junior year: City Colleges requires you to be a junior or senior, 16, a Chicago resident, with a 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance, and to pass a placement check.

Now, later, and after

What this gets you freshman year, by the time you graduate, and after that.

Freshman year
What you'd touch first
- Project-based STEM and a mentor who works in the field
- Freshman and sophomore year build the GPA and attendance the college courses require — 2.5 and 90%
Junior & senior year
What you'd walk out holding
- Dual credit (college course taught at your school, free, up to 4 a semester) and dual enrollment on a City Colleges campus, free including books and lab fees
- Industry certifications, and a paid internship at some partner schools
After graduation
Where it goes
- Class of 2026: 252 CPS seniors graduated with an associate degree, and 1,156 left with 15 or more college credits — about $10.4M in tuition saved
- Credits transfer to City Colleges and most Illinois public and private universities
- Engineering, computing and health degrees entered with credit already banked

Where you can do it14

Selective Enrollment schools first, then ordered by graduation and college rates against the district average.

Solorio HS

Gage Park

Near district average(+2.4 pts)

Carries the Early College designation, but its GoCPS programs are General Education, Pre-Engineering and Scholars — the Early College track is internal.

Early College STEM & STEAM

What you'd actually do

How you get in

Now, later, and after

Where you can do it14

Questions

Where this comes from

Early College STEM & STEAM

What you'd actually do

How you get in

Now, later, and after

Where you can do it14

Questions

Where this comes from