In 1878, Harper's Magazine published an approving article about the then-new school: The first thing to excite our wonder and admiration was the number – there were 1,542 pupils; the second thing was the earnestness of the discipline; and the third was the suggestiveness of so many girls at work in assembly, with their own education as the primary aim, and the education of countless thousands of others as the final aim, of their toil.

The catholicity and toleration crystallized in the country's Constitution prevail in the college: about two hundred of the students are Jewesses, and a black face, framed in curly African hair, may occasionally be seen.

The aim of the entire course through which the Normal students pass is not so much to burden the mind with facts as it is to develop intellectual power, cultivate judgment, and enable the graduates to take trained ability into the world with them.The school began admitting boys in 1974 as a result of a lawsuit by Hunter College Elementary School parents, a development which was described in the New York Daily News with the headline "Girlie High Gets 1st Freshboys."

[4] The high school has occupied a number of buildings throughout its history, including one at the East 68th Street campus of the college (1940–1970).

Students from the five boroughs of New York City with high scores on their fifth-grade standardized tests are eligible to take the entrance exam during their sixth-grade school year.

[1] Author and alumnus Chris Hayes stated in Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy that the school's sole reliance on the one test for admissions reproduces societal inequalities – that students whose families cannot afford intensive test prep courses are less likely to earn competitive scores on the entrance exam.

Hayes quotes Hunter College High School's 2010 graduate Justin Hudson's commencement speech: If you truly believe that the demographics of Hunter represent the distribution of intelligence in this city, then you must believe that the Upper West Side, Bayside and Flushing are intrinsically more intelligent than the South Bronx, Bedford–Stuyvesant and Washington Heights, and I refuse to accept that.

[12][13] The Wall Street Journal ranked Hunter as the top public school in the United States and noted that it is a feeder to Ivy League and other elite colleges.

[16] The New York Times called Hunter "the prestigious Upper East Side school known for its Ivy League-bound students" and "the fast track to law, medicine and academia.

The majority of subjects are accelerated such that high school study begins in the 8th grade and state educational requirements are completed in the 11th.

During the 12th grade, students take electives, have the option to attend courses at Hunter College (for transferable credit), undertake independent academic studies, and participate in internships around the city.

Two semesters of physical education are taught each year, including swimming in the 8th grade (held at Hunter College).

Hunter's English Department incorporates reading novels and writing analytical papers beginning in the 7th grade.

Other electives include: Introduction to African-American Studies, "Race, Class, and Gender", International Relations, US Constitutional Law, Classical Mythology, Photography, Astrophysics, Advanced Art History I & II, Organic Chemistry, Creative Writing, Joyce's Ulysses, Shakespeare's Comedies and Romance/Shakespeare's Tragedies and Histories, and Physiology.

The student/faculty ratio is 13:1,[1] much lower than the city's other selective public schools (e.g. Stuyvesant = 22:1;[20] Bronx Science = 21:1;[21] Brooklyn Tech = 21:1[22][23]).

[14] Worth reported that 9.4% of Hunter's classes of 1998 through 2001 attended Harvard, Yale or Princeton (the highest rate of any public school in the United States).

[1] Of particular fame are the winners of the Regeneron Science Talent Search (formerly Intel and Westinghouse STS), of which Hunter has had four: Amy Reichel in 1981, Adam Cohen ('97, now a professor in the Chemistry and Physics Departments at Harvard) in 1997, David L.V.

[32] In the winter of 2006, the boys' fencing team won the PSAL city championship for the second year in a row, beating rival school Stuyvesant in the finals.

Following another undefeated season, the team took first place in 2014, winning in a single-touch tie-breaker against rival Brooklyn Technical High School.

[36] In the 2012 season, the Boys' Middle School Soccer Team were the Citywide PSAL Champions winning the finals against Salk.

[37] In the 2016 season, the Girls' varsity golf team won the citywide PSAL championship, defeating Bronx Science High School 5–0 in the finals.

[39] In the 2021 season, the Girls' Varsity Golf team won the citywide PSAL Championship by defeating Staten Island Technical High School 3–2 in the final.

[40] Students at Hunter can attend social events sponsored by the school administration, faculty and the student-run General Organization (G.O.).