4th! Wow. Still wondering if that would happen to someone whose home school was NOT Northwood... (or if it doesn't matter at that point)

To add to my previous comment, our home school is Northwood and at least two kids we know who picked it 4th were placed there. One kid is happy he ended up there because it is a small school and he has been able to participate in every sport/activity he chooses.

A lot depends on how in-demand the schools you pick are. When we made our choices two years ago there was almost no chance to get into Blair or Einstein unless they were your home school. So if your home school is Blair or Einstein it would be a big risk not to place them at least second.

We picked Wheaton second and got it even though it was not our home school. That may not be possible anymore if Wheaton is getting to be a more popular choice.

You could probably have gotten Northwood or Kennedy the year we selected no matter what position you placed them in. I would expect that to still be the case, especially with Northwood being in the Woodward building for the next few years (sounds like 3 at this point).

I would think it depends on your base school capacity. If it’s one of the more crowded schools and you select is as third (where you no longer have a base guarantee), you might not get in. But if that’s the case, your chances of getting one of your first 2 choices are also higher.

I could see a scenario where someone ranked Blair / Wheaton / Einstein (base) and was perhaps shuffled to choice 4. Maybe?

Doesn’t address your exact scenario, I know.

I believe there is no weighting toward the home school unless it is ranked 1 or 2.

For anyone who has a better understanding... I know that if you rank your home school #1 you get it. And if you rank your home school #2, but don't get your #1, you get your home school. But if you rank your home school #3, #4, or #5, how does it work? It is really just a straight-up lottery where they try to give as many kids their #1, and then they take the kids who don't get their #1 through that lottery, and place them in a lottery for their #2, and so on and so forth? Or is there any connection/weight to what your home school is? To make this more concrete, if our home school is Wheaton, and we rank Einstein/Northwood/Wheaton/Kennedy/Blair, are we more likely to get Wheaton than another kid with the same rankings, but whose home school is Kennedy? Or does that kid have the same exact chance in a lottery for third choice? In essence, after the second choice, is there any weight for home school in the process? If you list your home school as #4 or #5, will they stick you there even though you don't want to go there, just because it's your home school?