TL;DR: The strongest science-focused senior high schools in the country are Philippine Science High School Main Campus in Diliman, Manila Science High School (founded 1963, the country's first), Quezon City Science High School (the designated Regional Science High School for NCR), and the university-run senior highs at Ateneo, De La Salle and Mapua. The thing most guides have not updated: from SY 2026-2027, incoming Grade 11 students no longer choose STEM as a named strand at all.
The rule change to know before you shortlist
If you are choosing a senior high school for an incoming Grade 11 student, the old strand vocabulary has stopped being the right question to ask.
DepEd Order 017, s. 2026, the Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum, issued 4 June 2026, replaces the previous four-track, named-strand structure with two tracks: Academic and Technical-Professional. Within them, students choose elective clusters rather than strands. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics survives as one of the Academic Track's elective clusters, alongside Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities; Business and Entrepreneurship; Sports, Health and Wellness; and Field Experience.
Full implementation for incoming Grade 11 began in SY 2026-2027 under DepEd Memorandum 012, s. 2026, following a pilot for Grade 11 in SY 2025-2026. Grade 12 learners in non-pilot schools stay on the 2016 curriculum for SY 2026-2027, so both structures are live at once during the transition.
Practically, this means one change to how you shop for a school: ask which elective clusters a school will actually offer, not which strands it lists. A school's old STEM strand does not automatically become a STEM cluster with the same subjects. Our strengthened SHS curriculum guide sets out exactly what DepEd has signed and which grade levels each stage covers, and our STEM strand guide covers the science and mathematics subjects themselves.
None of this changes which schools are good at science teaching. That is what the rest of this guide is about.
The Philippine Science High School System
Philippine Science High School Main Campus in Diliman, Quezon City, is the flagship of a sixteen-campus national system run by the Department of Science and Technology, and it remains the reference point for STEM secondary education in the country.
Entry is through the National Competitive Examination, covering English, science, mathematics and abstract reasoning. Applicants must be in the top ten per cent of their graduating class or demonstrate aptitude in mathematics and science. The numbers give a sense of the filter: across the 2022 to 2025 period, 5,544 of 11,351 qualified applicants enrolled across all sixteen campuses. Our PSHS NCE guide walks through the application.
The system's governing law changed recently. Republic Act 12310, the Expanded Philippine Science High School System Act, was signed on 3 October 2025 and repealed the 1997 PSHS System Act. Its practical effect is that more than one PSHS campus may now exist in the same region, provided the campuses sit in different provinces, which is the legal mechanism for the system to grow beyond sixteen. Anything you read specifying exactly how many new campuses are coming and where is a plan, not the law.
Regional campuses worth knowing include the Cordillera Administrative Region campus in Baguio and the Central Luzon campus in the Clark Freeport Zone, alongside campuses in Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Southern Mindanao and elsewhere. All operate on the same scholarship model and the same national curriculum, so a regional campus is not a consolation prize.
Public science high schools
Manila Science High School
Manila Science High School was founded on 1 October 1963 and is the first science high school in the Philippines. The idea traces to President Ramon Magsaysay's 1956 State of the Nation Address, and the school was modelled on the Bronx High School of Science in New York, with Augusto Alzona credited as its founder.
It sits at Taft Avenue corner Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila, a short walk from the LRT-1 United Nations station. Junior high students take multiple science and mathematics courses each year plus information technology and computer science subjects, which is what gives its graduates a running start in senior high. Admission is through the Manila Science Admission Test or the Unified Science High School Admissions Test, with interviews as a further screening stage.
Quezon City Science High School
Founded on 17 September 1967 and designated the Regional Science High School for the National Capital Region in 1998, Quezon City Science High School is on Golden Acres Road corner Misamis Street in Bago-Bantay, Quezon City. It covers Grades 7 to 12.
Its admission bar is unusually explicit: candidates need at least 75 per cent in each domain of the Unified Science High School Admissions Test, a per-domain requirement rather than an aggregate score, which screens out students who are strong in one area and weak in another.
A correction on Makati Science High School
Makati Science High School appears on most lists of Metro Manila science high schools as a Makati option. It is not one any more. The campus is in Cembo, one of the EMBO barangays transferred to Taguig, and it has been administered by the Schools Division Office of Taguig City and Pateros since a 2024 transfer. It is still a tuition-free public science high school worth applying to; just plan the commute from Taguig, not Makati.
University-run senior high schools
These charge private-school fees and offer something the public science high schools cannot: laboratories, faculty and a campus culture that belong to a university.
Ateneo Senior High School operates on the Loyola Heights campus in Quezon City, giving students access to Ateneo de Manila University facilities and faculty alongside Jesuit formation. Ateneo publishes its fee figures, which most schools in this category do not.
De La Salle University Integrated School covers junior through senior high on the Taft Avenue campus in Manila, inside De La Salle University's science and engineering environment.
Mapua Senior High School is the senior high arm of Mapua University, which is an engineering and technology institution first and foremost. For a student who already knows they want engineering, the continuity from Grade 11 into a Mapua degree is the argument.
UP Integrated School, the laboratory school of the UP Diliman College of Education, sits inside the UP campus with access to the university's research ecosystem. Entry is extremely limited: roughly 100 places at Kindergarten through the Kindergarten Admission Test, with 60 reserved for children of UP employees, and Grade 7 entry through the Grade 7 Admission Test depending on how many Grade 6 places are vacated.
Comparison
| School | Location | Type | Admission | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSHS Main Campus | Diliman, Quezon City | DOST scholarship | National Competitive Examination | Scholarship |
| Manila Science High School | Ermita, Manila | Public | Manila Science Admission Test or USHSAT | Tuition-free |
| Quezon City Science High School | Bago-Bantay, Quezon City | Public, NCR Regional Science HS | USHSAT, 75% per domain | Tuition-free |
| Makati Science High School | Cembo, Taguig | Public (SDO Taguig-Pateros) | Competitive exam | Tuition-free |
| PSHS CAR | Baguio City | DOST scholarship | National Competitive Examination | Scholarship |
| PSHS Central Luzon | Clark Freeport Zone | DOST scholarship | National Competitive Examination | Scholarship |
| Ateneo Senior High School | Loyola Heights, Quezon City | Private | Application and testing | Published |
| DLSU Integrated School | Taft Avenue, Manila | Private | Application and testing | Not published |
| Mapua Senior High School | Manila and Makati | Private | Application | Varies by programme |
| UP Integrated School | UP Diliman, Quezon City | State laboratory school | KAT or GAT, very limited places | Not published |
How to choose
Ask about clusters, not strands. This is the single change that matters this cycle. A school that offered STEM under the old structure may or may not offer a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics elective cluster with comparable depth. Get the answer in writing before enrolling. Our tracks and strands explainer covers what maps to what.
Check whether the mathematics and science depth is actually there. Advanced mathematics and laboratory science are what make a science high school a science high school. Ask how many periods a week, and go look at the laboratories.
Weigh funding honestly. PSHS scholars are on a DOST scholarship. Manila Science, QC Science and Makati Science are tuition-free public schools. The university senior highs charge private rates, so compare what the extra buys in your specific case.
Look at where graduates actually go. Ask each school where its recent cohorts enrolled for college. A school that cannot answer that question quickly does not track it.
Do not choose a school for a strand name that is being retired. If a brochure still advertises "STEM strand" for incoming Grade 11, that is a signal to ask harder questions about how current the school's planning is.
Still weighing options? Read our guide to choosing a senior high school strand or cluster, then browse schools by city on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd - DO 017, s. 2026, Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum
- DepEd - DM 012, s. 2026, Full Implementation of the Strengthened SHS Curriculum in SY 2026-2027
- DepEd - Strengthened SHS Program
- Senate of the Philippines - Republic Act No. 12310, Expanded Philippine Science High School System Act
- Supreme Court E-Library - Republic Act No. 12310, repealing RA 8496
- Wikipedia - Philippine Science High School System
- Wikipedia - Manila Science High School
- Wikipedia - Quezon City Science High School
- Wikipedia - Makati Science High School
- UP Integrated School - Admissions
