 İstanbul Lisesi is one of the most difficult schools to enter of all the 400 "Anadolu Lisesi"s (special state secondary schools) in the country.Admission to the İstanbul Lisesi requires a tough competition, since only 180 students out of 1,400,000 applicants can make it through every year, and İstanbul Lisesi is usually among the first choices of best ranked students along with Galatasaray High School and leading "Fen Lisesi"s (Science high school).The school usually accepts students from the top 800-1000 in Turkey.