When Anna Friedman was deciding where to go to high school, she looked at two very different places: the private, all-girls Bryn Mawr School and a large public school, Baltimore City College. Accepted at both, she chose the least conventional path for a student who had spent her first eight years sheltered in the world of a Jewish day school.
Now a sophomore at City, she is among a growing number of highly qualified students from parochial, private and even county public schools choosing the revitalized Northeast Baltimore high school for its rigorous advanced-level courses and student body, which is drawn from throughout the city.
"I really wanted to have an experience that would prepare me for the rest of my life," said Friedman, 15, who was first attracted by the academic program but also said she was looking for "a real world experience" after being at a small school.
For the first time in at least a decade, City College -- the nation's third-oldest public high school -- has filled its freshman class for next fall with students who meet its entrance requirements.
That is a far cry from 1994, when a third of entering ninth-graders -- more than 100 students -- were accepted conditionally because their grades or standardized test scores were below the school's standards. It was that or have empty seats in classrooms.
This year, 90 percent of graduates are going on to four-year institutions, about half out of state. They follow in the path of last year's class, which -- guided by an ambitious college adviser who was formerly head of admissions at the U.S. Naval Academy -- sent graduates to such institutions as Princeton University, Oberlin College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Spelman College.
And with a third of its students taking high-level courses, City is competing more successfully with Polytechnic Institute across town for the city's top eighth-graders, many of whose parents view City not just as one of four elite public schools in Baltimore (Western High School and Baltimore School for the Arts are the others) but as a reasonable alternative to private schools.
"It is one of Baltimore's great success stories," said Robert C. Embry Jr., a 1955 graduate and president of the Abell Foundation, noting City's attendance, test scores, competitive admissions, debating program and advanced courses.
Teachers and students say the school has its shortcomings. The average combined SAT score last year was 880, low for a college preparatory program. Some students wish its population -- two-thirds female and 90 percent African-American -- were more diverse.
Still, it is a world apart from the city's nine neighborhood high schools, which take students who can't get into the citywide schools such as City and Poly and have become sometimes chaotic and violent places. Halls at City are silent unless there has been a class change, and classrooms are filled with quiet, focused groups of students.
High demands
Although some students picked City from an array of options, many more have worked diligently to get there as their school of choice -- and know that if their grades slip they can be thrown out.
The demands can be high. In the spring semester of a ninth-grade honors English class, for example, students are asked to read, analyze and write about Edith Hamilton's Mythology; Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey; Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck; The Chosen, by Chaim Potok; Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston; and The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams.
"Students do believe they are doing something special and important," said Louise Jira, who is in charge of advanced-level courses.
Founded in 1839, City had long been considered one of the top liberal arts high schools in the state. Distinguished alumni include two former governors, two former mayors, two current congressmen, author and journalist Russell Baker, a Nobel laureate in medicine, and an array of prominent local citizens, such as businessman Morris A. Mechanic and philanthropist Joseph E. Meyerhoff.
But by the early 1990s, some felt the school had lost its prestige. Many of Baltimore's best students were choosing archrival Polytechnic Institute, the math-science college preparatory public school at Cold Spring Lane and Falls Road. And in 1992, City was given a poor evaluation by a school accreditation team.
In 1994, with the backing of alumnus and then-Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, the large, ornate building on the hill at 33rd Street and The Alameda received an infusion of cash and attention.
That year, an unconventional principal -- Joseph M. Wilson, a former lawyer -- was chosen to turn the school around. He raised the passing grade to 70, oversaw building renovations, and told students they had to maintain their grades and attendance to participate in sports and extracurricular activities.
But perhaps the most substantive changes came as the school began offering a tougher academic regimen.
Academic elite
In the fall of 1998, City introduced the International Baccalaureate program for 11th and 12th grade. Students must take courses from a variety of disciplines, write a 4,000-word essay based on original research and pass exams at the end of their senior year to get an IB diploma, recognized by colleges worldwide.
The IB program began with 21 highly motivated, hand-picked students who became an academic elite that had limited contact with the rest of the school's 1,260 students. The first senior class had five IB diploma graduates, a respectable record for area IB schools.
"They come now expecting to be IB students," said Jira. "I believe our students are more focused on skills required and expectations for college. I think the level of expectations has risen."
Last fall, in an attempt to broaden the program and boost achievement, the school allowed any student to take either IB or Advanced Placement classes, even if teachers were skeptical about the student's chance for success.
"Kids are getting an opportunity, and a lot of kids are being successful," said Wilson, who walks the halls with glasses dangling from a chain around his neck and whose relentless drive to improve the school has occasionally caused dissent among teachers and students.
The improvements have made a difference. Next fall, 20 percent of the 400 freshmen who walk through the doors will be coming from outside the city public school system, said Rodney L. Joyner, the dean of students, whose job includes recruiting.
"I think the word is getting out that City College is a good option," he said.
Poly's program
Higher academic standards and a rich, tough curriculum also attract promising students at Poly, where the Ingenuity Program in math and science had 45 qualified students who were accepted for next year's ninth-grade class, compared with about 25 in previous years.
Three of them are Baltimore County students who will pay $2,000 for the privilege of attending a city school.
And Poly is finding students who have little trouble meeting high standards.
Seven of 23 juniors in Ingenuity's advanced science and math classes scored 770 or higher on their math SAT this year, including two who had a perfect 800.
'One big happy family'
But it's more than just strong academics that draws students such as Anna Friedman and 16-year-old Tuesday Tibbs to City College.
Some are intrigued by the opportunity to get to know a wide mix of students from throughout the city, rather than spend high school in a private school with a primarily wealthy student body.
Students say they are happy at how easy it is to be accepted and how students respect one another, even if they aren't good friends.
Tibbs said she couldn't wait to escape all the rules at Bethel Christian School in Baltimore. Her choice of City was fairly easy -- her sister had gone there and so had her father.
"It seems like one big happy family. I like the activities and the environment. I am really being challenged," said Tibbs, a junior whose combined PSAT score of 1260 put her in the top 5 percent nationally of African-Americans taking the test last year.
Tough transition
The transition hasn't always been easy for sophomore Noah G. Schwartz, 15, who chose City over the Gilman School, a private boys school where he also was accepted. As a white male, Schwartz is a minority at City.
"As a boy it has been a little harder because it has been harder to find guy friends," he said. Schwartz also wishes that the school were more racially diverse, with more Asians and Hispanics.
And though he is pleased with the school overall, he sometimes feels disappointed with the level of class discussions.
"Some students don't try as hard. They are not as motivated and into classes," he said. "It has been up and down depending on the class. It is a good education. If not perfect, it is at least adequate." He is hoping that when he is taking all IB classes next year he will feel more comfortable.
The challenge, teachers say, is to take students from a variety of middle schools and prepare all of them for tough junior and senior year courses.
In addition, the school is trying to find ways to let students who might be the first to attend college in their family imagine themselves at the nation's top universities.
College adviser David R. Gibson recalls that one student, who got into Harvard, had never thought about applying to such an institution.
"We have taken city youngsters ... and caused them to believe they can achieve success," Gibson said. And elite universities more accustomed to looking at private school students are finding that there are "some very interesting kids at this inner-city school."