Should I get on a pre-school waiting list now?

[Anonymous]

DD is 18 months old and if getting into pre-school was as bad as getting into daycare I'm wondering if I should sign up for some waiting lists. I was talking to a parent of one of the preschool kids in our daycare and she mentioned that 16 families left and that they were soon leaving. They had great experiences with toddler and infant rooms (as I do), but it seems the preschool is not as good. To be fair there's a new director at the center and she seems to be making strong efforts to change the place, but I would feel better with a back up plan.

Any suggestions for preschools nearby either the Smithsonian, Gallery Place, or Foggy Bottom Metro areas? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It varies by school, but it's not too early to start calling places you're interested in and finding out what their system is. Some have wait lists, but the ones I looked at usually had specific days on which they started taking applications (usually in Jan/Feb) for the next year. In some cases, people would camp out overnight to get in line first, others do lotteries or even playdate "interviews." Some preschools start at 2.5, so it would be timely to start looking for next year, if you're interested in that. If you're needing a full-day preschool, please not that some great pre-schools only do half days. However, I did find that, if a school does do full days, it was often easier to get in for full day (vs. half day).