You have a better chance if the school you are "giving up" is a popular option. So, let's say your home school is Blair but you want to avoid it because it's too big. Then I'd rank Einstein first and you would have a good shot because you are giving up the most popular DCC choice, and asking for the second most popular.

But if your home school is, say, Kennedy, then I'd argue you need a different strategy. In that case I'd recommend skipping Blair and Einstein and ranking Northwood even though you'd need to deal with a year at the holding school.

In that case there is no guarantee. But most people receive one of their top 3 choices.

It does not guarantee that you will either get choice one or two, particularly if your first two choices are either oversubscribed or extremely popular or both.

For HS Choice If we did not want our base "home" high school and do not select it as Choice 1 or Choice 2 does that guarantee we would get either Choice 1 or Choice 2? Trying to figure out if we might end up with our base school even if we don't want it.