We are inbound for Hearst and ranked it second last year for prek 4. We got a bad lottery number and were waitlisted despite being inbound but did get off the waitlist by June. FWIW we are very happy there!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? The way I’m reading that the Hearst spot wouldn’t be wasted sounds like Murch chooses first in the lottery. Just genuinely confused, thanks!

Rank in order of your true preference. Whatever school you get into, your kid will not be admitted to or waitlisted at any schools you rank below it. So if OP ranks Murch first and gets into Murch, that’s that. Meaning it’s important that Murch is actually her first choice. She can’t change her mind and try to enroll at her second choice after that.

She can, through the post lottery process. But she'll be at the bottom of the waiting list for her preference category and the odds of getting in will be low.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? The way I’m reading that the Hearst spot wouldn’t be wasted sounds like Murch chooses first in the lottery. Just genuinely confused, thanks!

My school DC has good explanations on their website. Basically, the lottery lines up each kid applying for a certain grade. The first kid in line for pk4 gets into the highest school they rank that has an opening. If that school is their top choice, that's it. If it isn't, they get wait listed at each school they ranked above the one they matched at. Then the second kid in line gets matched with their highest-ranked school that has space for them, and wait-listed at any they ranked higher. Then on to the third kid in line, and so on. It's a little more complicated than that because of preference categories, but that's the general idea.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? The way I’m reading that the Hearst spot wouldn’t be wasted sounds like Murch chooses first in the lottery. Just genuinely confused, thanks!

Rank in order of your true preference. Whatever school you get into, your kid will not be admitted to or waitlisted at any schools you rank below it. So if OP ranks Murch first and gets into Murch, that’s that. Meaning it’s important that Murch is actually her first choice. She can’t change her mind and try to enroll at her second choice after that.

Can someone explain how this works? The way I’m reading that the Hearst spot wouldn’t be wasted sounds like Murch chooses first in the lottery. Just genuinely confused, thanks!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are extremely unlikely to get into murch out of bounds and with no preference. If you do get in, you will not be on the wait-list for any school you ranked below it (though you can add yourself to the end of the preference category wait-list after the lottery). So rank in order of your true preference.

But if they don’t get into Murch and have Hearst second, it would essentially be the same as having Hearst first, right?

Yes, so they should rank Murch first if they prefer Murch to Hearst. It's likely a wasted spot but unless OP has more than 12 schools she's interested in, that's ok. In the past 5 years there have been 14 no-preference PK4 lottery offers at Murch, and all of them came in 2024-5.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are extremely unlikely to get into murch out of bounds and with no preference. If you do get in, you will not be on the wait-list for any school you ranked below it (though you can add yourself to the end of the preference category wait-list after the lottery). So rank in order of your true preference.

But if they don’t get into Murch and have Hearst second, it would essentially be the same as having Hearst first, right?

Yes

Anonymous wrote:You are extremely unlikely to get into murch out of bounds and with no preference. If you do get in, you will not be on the wait-list for any school you ranked below it (though you can add yourself to the end of the preference category wait-list after the lottery). So rank in order of your true preference.

But if they don’t get into Murch and have Hearst second, it would essentially be the same as having Hearst first, right?

You are extremely unlikely to get into murch out of bounds and with no preference. If you do get in, you will not be on the wait-list for any school you ranked below it (though you can add yourself to the end of the preference category wait-list after the lottery). So rank in order of your true preference.

Looking for feedback on Hearst vs. Murch for pre-k4. We are zoned for Hearst but logistically Murch is much easier. I have heard great things about both. Also curios if we rank Murch first will be cannibalize our chances at our in boundary school. Appreciate any guidance!