Reply to The list for where to apply in Common Lottery

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sorry, my reply came through in the quoted text. I called the Deputy Mayor for Education's office. They emphasized that there is no way to "game" the system by placing a less popular school high on your list. The best "strategy" for everyone is to list in order of true preference. [/quote]

So glad that some are calling and getting accurate info.  There is a lot of MISinformation early in this thread.

I spoke to one of the lead people at "Myschoolchoice.com" (or whatever the website is, don't have it in front of me right now) at the Ward 5 School fair, and I specifically spoke to her about the algorithim (sp?) (but I had a different question, still, we talked about it) and as I was getting ready to leave I asked her if she felt like people really understood how much the order you rank in does matter this year.  She said they were doing everything they could on their part to try to emphasize that.

So if you haven't gotten the message yet, please understand this: the order matters TREMENDOUSLY this year.  I would even go as far to say that if your 1st real choice is a popular school and you don't rank it 1 or 2, you probably have no chance of getting in.  Because if I understand the algorithim correctly, the lottery will "favor" all #1 choices for a top school first, and not even move to #2 choices unless they don't fill the class.

It's possible I have that part wrong - if you're worried or confused you should call the myschoolchoice people and ask them.  But if I were applying this year (which I'm not), I would research the hell out of as many schools as I thought I wanted, and be extremely thoughtful about my rankings.[/quote]

PP you are quoting and I think you do have it wrong. The order really does matter--but it's not because you can't get into a popular school without ranking it high, but rather that if you rank another school that is less popular high and then get into it, you don't have a shot at the popular school. They are trying to maximize the percent of people who get into a high-ranked school, but that's because they try to match you once your number is pulled from the top of your list to the bottom. That means that you should order in your true rank preferences.

I think they need to do a lot more to explain the algorithm online--we should not have to call to find out about it![/quote]

No no no, this is really important to correct.  YES, it is true that if you get into a school lower on your list, you are waitlisted at all the schools above you and you are taken off of consideration for school  you ranked lower.  This is how it worked last year.

The DIFFERENCE is that last year, until you got into a school at all, basically your odds of getting into the schools you ranked ahead of the school you got into were basically the same.  So if you applied to 6 schools, and got into your 4th choice, for you, the fact that you ranked schools 1, 2 and 3 as 1, 2 and 3 doesn't really mean you have a better chance of getting into school you ranked 1 than 3.  Your chances were essentially the same until you got into one and got dropped out of running for all the others.

THIS YEAR it DOES AFFECT YOUR ODDS.  Why does it affect your odds?  Because we all know that once the actual lottery runs and actual open spots are filled, waitlist position means EVERYTHING.  By the end of summer last year we got into 2 of the most sought after charters because of our waitlist number.

This year it's basically that everyone who rates a school number 1 has better odds overall of getting into that school than those who rank it 2, because your number one ranking is weighted stronger (for lack of the correct technical term) than umber 2 or 3.

If you don't believe this, call tomorrow.  I am not even applying and I'm really worried that so many people will not get this right.  Call and ask the school if ranking a school 1st vs. last will actually affect your overall odds of getting in and therefore also your waitlist number..[/quote]

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