NCSSM Admissions for Forsyth County Students

Forsyth County Students at NCSSM, 2025-26

Forsyth County's public school district, Winston Salem / Forsyth County, had 4,054 tenth graders in 2025-26, 3.5% of the state's public-school tenth graders. Forsyth County students made up 3.6% of NCSSM's 1,473 Residential and Online students. So Forsyth's share of NCSSM is roughly in line with the size of its public high school classes.

NCSSM does not publish how many Forsyth students applied or were admitted, so there is no official NCSSM acceptance rate for Forsyth County. Any rate you see elsewhere is an estimate; these enrollment counts are the closest official figure.

Forsyth County at NCSSM, Year by Year

Forsyth County had 53 students at NCSSM in 2025-26, up from 35 in 2021-22. Counts include both grades, so each year overlaps the one before it. NCSSM-Morganton opened in 2022.

How Admission Works From Forsyth County

NCSSM does not set aside seats by county. State law (G.S. 116-235) has it admit, as far as practicable, an equal number of qualified applicants from each congressional district, and NCSSM assigns a team of three readers to each district. So a Forsyth applicant is compared first with applicants from the same district, not with the whole state. The exact wording of the law.

Forsyth County is split between congressional Districts 6 and 10, so the district an application counts toward depends on the home address, not just the county. Those districts take in 9 other counties in whole or in part. The closest to Forsyth are Davie (1 student), Yadkin (no students), Davidson (11 students) and Guilford (72 students), counting NCSSM students in 2025-26.

District lines are from the 2025 congressional plan (S.L. 2025-95, which redrew Districts 1 and 3; the rest are unchanged from S.L. 2023-145). NCSSM does not publish which map it uses in a given cycle or how many students it admits from each district.

Durham, Morganton or Online

One NCSSM application covers both residential campuses and NCSSM Online, and applicants rank the programs they would attend. NCSSM describes itself as a public, two-year residential high school for juniors and seniors, and both campuses are tuition-free.

NCSSM-Durham

About 75 miles from the center of Forsyth County, the closer campus. 1219 Broad Street, Durham, NC 27705. Its High School Open House is Saturday, October 24, 2026, and Welcome Day for admitted students is Saturday, April 17, 2027.

NCSSM-Morganton

About 85 miles away. 901 Burkemont Avenue, Morganton, NC 28655. Opened in 2022.

NCSSM Online

A free two-year honors program that students take while staying at their own high school. 17 students from Forsyth County took NCSSM Online in 2025-26, which is 32.1% of the county's NCSSM students (statewide it is 33.8%).

Distances are straight-line miles. Most of Forsyth's residential students attend NCSSM-Durham, the closer campus.

Dates for Forsyth County Applicants

The application for the Class of 2029 opens on CFNC.org Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET and closes Tuesday, January 5, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. ET, the same in every county. The Open House at NCSSM-Durham, the campus closer to Forsyth, is Saturday, October 24, 2026; NCSSM lists it as full. Residential applicants take the Math Assessment at either campus on Saturday, February 13, 2027 or Saturday, February 20, 2027. Every other date, with calendar links, is on the NCSSM admissions countdown.

Counties Near Forsyth

The six counties whose centers are closest to Forsyth County's, with their NCSSM students in 2025-26. Guilford has the most of the six, with 72 students. Forsyth is in the Piedmont-Triad region.

More NCSSM Admissions Pages

NCSSM students from every North Carolina county · Piedmont-Triad region · Free NCSSM tools