MSDC Seats and Waitlist Offer Data - updated to include 2025-26 data

[Anonymous]

I think more people are prioritizing attending neighborhood schools, whether that's an IB DCPS, OOB DCPS, or a nearby charter. I think the benefits of neighborhood schools are especially appealing post-Covid, as people see how nice it is to have the kind of community in your neighborhood that you can only create if your kids attend nearby schools. Pre-Covid, people seemed more willing to drive across town to attended one of the in-demand charters and I just see way less willingness to do that now. I also know people who moved kids mid-elementary to schools closer to home, for this reason.

This naturally results in shorter waitlists at a lot of charters. There are still plenty of people who live near schools like MV, ITDS, Lee, Stokes, Yu Ying, LAMB, etc. and wants spots at those schools. It's not like their are struggling to fill out PK classes. But for instance, I live on the Hill and I hear so much less discussion of those schools now than I did a few years ago. People want a school they can walk or bike to.

I also think the fervor over immersion programs has died down a bit. I think people still like immersion but they are less likely to see it as a proxy for a "good school" than they used to. Immersion can be great but it's not right for all kids and it's also not the only way to get a great education. And there are trade offs involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the first time ever, CMI has (virtually) no waitlist for any grade. Expensive campus sinking the ship?

Not just CMI but all the other HRCS charter schools that used to have 500 plus (MV) to 200 plus (ITS and LEE) WLS for PK3 are way way down

The way I see it, this is a good thing. More people are getting into schools that they want to be at. More schools are seen as acceptable. And people aren't just listing "the usual suspects." Also, demographically, numbers of kids is down (maybe a Covid remnant?).

I agree with this. It also looks to me like MV Calle Ocho offered a ton more seats for PK3, PK4, and K this year (like, 150+ more than last year). MV Cook offered slightly fewer seats than last year, but not nearly enough to offset the increase by Calle Ocho. This likely has a direct impact on reducing overall WL at lots of other schools for those grades. And it means (good news!) that families who prefer MV are getting matched with those seats.

There may also be a demographic factor at play (fewer younger kids entering the lottery) - but myschooldc hasn't put up that data yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the first time ever, CMI has (virtually) no waitlist for any grade. Expensive campus sinking the ship?

Not just CMI but all the other HRCS charter schools that used to have 500 plus (MV) to 200 plus (ITS and LEE) WLS for PK3 are way way down

Maybe more people enrolling at neighborhood school for PK?

No. I think it's just less kids in the system, but also less churn and the sparkle has fallen off a lot of schools. People don't list all 12 spots anymore, and are more okay with DCPS, not that DCPS is that much better than it was (I do think some schools are better) but because the hype charters haven't lived up to expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sela and shining stars are in deep trouble with way less matches than seats

Sela has always been a backup option for pre-k. People LOVE it once they're there, but if you search Sela on this forum you'll find that 80%+ of references are people being advised to add it as a post-lottery option when they strike out everywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Looks like DCI was able to offer spots to most feeder kids this year, with the exception of both Stokes campuses. DCI matches and (waitlist) for:

Yu Ying 49 (1)
Stokes Brookland French 10 (6)
Stokes East End French 10 (3)
DC Bilingual 36 (0)
Stokes Brookland Spanish 10 (11)
Stokes East End Spanish 10 (0)
LAMB 42 (0)
MV C8 42 (0)
MV Cook 27 (2)

For Spanish there were 4 feeder seats not matched that I assume will get redistributed to the other feeder schools. Still not enough for the demand.

[Anonymous]

DC Bilingual offered 0 seats for PK4 and K which seems really different from past years. Anyone have insight there?

[Anonymous]

Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Bilingual offered 0 seats for PK4 and K which seems really different from past years. Anyone have insight there?

I feel like I read in my ANC meeting notes that they are rennovating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

[Anonymous]

- AppleTree Lincoln Park must be a typo. No way they doubled their lottery seats (they didn't expand). AT LP has larger Prek3 classes every other year and that tends to be when the Miner waitlist numbers are lower. So I think you're right there.
- Re: Maury, this year was the first year they did equitable access set asides for Prek. That explains the lower number of inbounds w/out siblings offered for Prek3 than the past two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

Seems a little irresponsible, no? What if all 80 enroll? Even 25 kids could decide not to enroll and that would still be 13 more than AT LP has ever accepted at the PK3 level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

Seems a little irresponsible, no? What if all 80 enroll? Even 25 kids could decide not to enroll and that would still be 13 more than AT LP has ever accepted at the PK3 level.

Maybe.

SY24-25 they made 80 offers (match + waitlist) and ended up with 31 enrolled.

SY23-24 they made 66 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

SY22-23 they made 71 offers and ended up with 24 enrolled.

SY21-22 they made 76 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

It's a backup option for a lot of Hill families. There's always a ton of waitlist movement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

Seems a little irresponsible, no? What if all 80 enroll? Even 25 kids could decide not to enroll and that would still be 13 more than AT LP has ever accepted at the PK3 level.

Maybe.

SY24-25 they made 80 offers (match + waitlist) and ended up with 31 enrolled.

SY23-24 they made 66 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

SY22-23 they made 71 offers and ended up with 24 enrolled.

SY21-22 they made 76 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

It's a backup option for a lot of Hill families. There's always a ton of waitlist movement.

Right, but those excess offers were made as spots opened up at the school? In those other years, there was never a possibility that 66, 71, or 76 people could actually enroll in the school. Here, 80 kids could enroll at the school tomorrow and they’d be screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Bilingual offered 0 seats for PK4 and K which seems really different from past years. Anyone have insight there?

I feel like I read in my ANC meeting notes that they are rennovating?

Oh interesting. I thought they just finished renovating a couple years ago?

[Anonymous]

I see Walls takes a few 10th graders, do they ever take 11th graders? or does someone have to not continue to free up a spot?