The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, a campus of the University of Arkansas System, is a public residential high school serving academically and artistically motivated students of all backgrounds from throughout the state. ASMSAʼs community of learning exemplifies excellence across disciplines while serving as a statewide center of academic equity and opportunity that ignites the full potential of Arkansasʼ students and educators.
ASMSA is one of only seventeen public, residential high schools in the country specializing in the education of talented and motivated students who have an interest and aptitude for mathematics and science as well as a passion for creativity, humanities, and the arts. ASMSA is a specific investment by the General Assembly in the stateʼs most talented and promising young minds. Each year, 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students from across Arkansas come to ASMSA to live and learn within a community of 250 intellectual peers. The residential experience combines college-level coursework, dynamic faculty, advanced research opportunities, diverse experiences within the arts, study abroad trips, and more to create an educational community unlike any other in Arkansas.
Beyond the residential experience, ASMSA serves nearly 6,000 students, parents, and educators each year through a variety of distance education, educator development, talent identification, parental empowerment, and out-of-school enrichment programs.
ASMSA is unique in its mission and service to education in Arkansas. Created in 1991 by an act of the General Assembly, we have the distinction of being one of the nation’s top secondary schools for superior students. The Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Daily Beast have ranked ASMSA among the "Top 25" public high schools in America.
ASMSA instructors hold masters degrees and nearly half have a doctorate or other terminal degree in their discipline. Our more than 3,000 graduates have been awarded almost $350 million in college scholarships. While approximately two-thirds of our graduates continue their studies at Arkansas institutions of higher education, our alumni have been accepted to schools ranging from MIT to Yale to the Air Force Academy.
Application is open to any talented and motivated high school student who resides in the state of Arkansas, with applications typically made during the sophomore year. Since the school opened in 1993, a student from every Arkansas county has attended ASMSA.
ASMSA is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary STEM Schools (NCSSS). The goal of the consortium is to foster, support, and advance the efforts of specialized schools whose primary purpose is to attract and academically prepare students for leadership in mathematics, science, and technology.
