Anonymous
Post 04/02/2026 12:23     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Deep breaths, everyone.


OP here: Fine. I will take exactly ONE deep breath to avoid typing what's actually in my head right now in response to this post.

This question is words to you. It's a year of potentially avoidable hell for us.
My younger kid will either jump to the top of the waitlist, with an actual decent shot of attending school with their admitted sibling this fall - or, if the school waits a few weeks and isn't strict about processing enrollments in the order they were received, my kids will almost definitely be attending schools on the literal opposite ends of town for at least a year, if not longer. The schools themselves are each only 15-20 minutes from our home - we're more or less in the middle - but there's no direct public transportation to either and we have only one car, so dropoff during rush hour would be a 20 minute drive in one direction, then a 40 minute drive in the other direction, then a drive to work.

So that means either a year of more than two hours a day of round trip school driving time, on top of the work commute; public transportation - which would mean a two bus, 40 minute trip in each direction TWICE A DAY in all weather for one or the other of these very small children, and that's assuming everything actually runs on time - or daily Ubers, which would be...pricey. Like, $600-$1000 a month pricey. OR, the school just processes the forms asap, and we find out soon whether we actually have a shot at one fairly quick, simple joint dropoff and pickup daily, at no additional cost to our family, at one school located less than 5 minutes by car from my office.

You breathe. I'm holding mine until they process the forms. Thanks.


Just call the school.
Anonymous
Post 04/02/2026 12:05     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:Deep breaths, everyone.


OP here: Fine. I will take exactly ONE deep breath to avoid typing what's actually in my head right now in response to this post.

This question is words to you. It's a year of potentially avoidable hell for us.
My younger kid will either jump to the top of the waitlist, with an actual decent shot of attending school with their admitted sibling this fall - or, if the school waits a few weeks and isn't strict about processing enrollments in the order they were received, my kids will almost definitely be attending schools on the literal opposite ends of town for at least a year, if not longer. The schools themselves are each only 15-20 minutes from our home - we're more or less in the middle - but there's no direct public transportation to either and we have only one car, so dropoff during rush hour would be a 20 minute drive in one direction, then a 40 minute drive in the other direction, then a drive to work.

So that means either a year of more than two hours a day of round trip school driving time, on top of the work commute; public transportation - which would mean a two bus, 40 minute trip in each direction TWICE A DAY in all weather for one or the other of these very small children, and that's assuming everything actually runs on time - or daily Ubers, which would be...pricey. Like, $600-$1000 a month pricey. OR, the school just processes the forms asap, and we find out soon whether we actually have a shot at one fairly quick, simple joint dropoff and pickup daily, at no additional cost to our family, at one school located less than 5 minutes by car from my office.

You breathe. I'm holding mine until they process the forms. Thanks.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 16:49     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
DCPSes have basically no incentive to process enrollments particularly quickly (except for maybe the new entry grade), because they aren't realistically going to offer spots before getting more info on IB families... So processing at a particular speed before May 1 doesn't mean much except the registrar had free time. Charters may be a bit different, because if they get "nos" they may look to fill right away.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 16:25     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Deep breaths, everyone.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 16:24     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that nothing on MSDC changes until May 1st. No waitlists move, no status update, nothing.

I'd be interested in counter-takes on that - has anyone seen waitlist movement before May 1st?

Also - it varies school to school, but the last time we enrolled in a school, we got nothing from that school (no outreach, no nothing) until August.


This is patently incorrect. Enrollments are processed and reflected once the school completes enrollment paperwork. And then sibling preferences update.


Oh my gosh.

I'm the poster who said nothing changed until May 1st and you folks are right, I was TOTALLY wrong. I'm so sorry. My punishment - I just looked at my waitlists and for the school I most want, our number is one higher than it was on results day. Major bummer.

Well, great, now I can obsess every day for an extra month.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 14:51     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that nothing on MSDC changes until May 1st. No waitlists move, no status update, nothing.

I'd be interested in counter-takes on that - has anyone seen waitlist movement before May 1st?

Also - it varies school to school, but the last time we enrolled in a school, we got nothing from that school (no outreach, no nothing) until August.


This is patently incorrect. Enrollments are processed and reflected once the school completes enrollment paperwork. And then sibling preferences update.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 14:27     Subject: Re:How long does enrollment take?
I submitted my kid’s enrollment for Walls over the weekend, and got emails from both the school and MySchoolDC on Monday saying enrollment was complete. Status is now showing as “enrolled” on MSDC.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 14:15     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
This is blowing my mind.

Has anyone gotten an offer SINCE 3/27? Any first hands accounts?

Does anyone's account show "enrolled" instead of "enrollment pending"? Or has anyone's account reflected that they rejected an offer?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 14:03     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:

Wait, really? You're 100% confident? That really changes things IMHO. Because I can't see any way in MSDC to remove yourself from the waitlist (and I tried, there's one school we decided we're not considering) so the only way that would happen is if DCB offered two slots. Do schools really do that before May?


I took a screen shot from Friday morning 3/27. DCB was originally 262, then 260 and actually now 261. Powell moved from 65 to 66. Bruce-Monroe moved from 40 to 41. The other 9 schools are the same. No clue what's going on but definitely different from 3/27!
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 13:47     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that nothing on MSDC changes until May 1st. No waitlists move, no status update, nothing.

I'd be interested in counter-takes on that - has anyone seen waitlist movement before May 1st?

Also - it varies school to school, but the last time we enrolled in a school, we got nothing from that school (no outreach, no nothing) until August.


Look like I moved from #262 to #260 at DCB - my offer is probably coming any day now.


Wait, really? You're 100% confident? That really changes things IMHO. Because I can't see any way in MSDC to remove yourself from the waitlist (and I tried, there's one school we decided we're not considering) so the only way that would happen is if DCB offered two slots. Do schools really do that before May?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 13:23     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I submitted forms right away, got a system confirmation - but no communication from the school, the website still says “awaiting enrollment,” and my other kid’s waitlist status there is unchanged. How many days/weeks does it usually take for the system to reflect actual enrollment?


Someone at the school has to process the forms.


And the time it takes can differ between schools. I submitted for my kids on Friday and the middle schooler was confirmed by Monday morning. The elementary school usually takes a few weeks.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 11:54     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that nothing on MSDC changes until May 1st. No waitlists move, no status update, nothing.

I'd be interested in counter-takes on that - has anyone seen waitlist movement before May 1st?

Also - it varies school to school, but the last time we enrolled in a school, we got nothing from that school (no outreach, no nothing) until August.


Look like I moved from #262 to #260 at DCB - my offer is probably coming any day now.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 11:42     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:I submitted forms right away, got a system confirmation - but no communication from the school, the website still says “awaiting enrollment,” and my other kid’s waitlist status there is unchanged. How many days/weeks does it usually take for the system to reflect actual enrollment?


Someone at the school has to process the forms.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 11:41     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
My understanding is that nothing on MSDC changes until May 1st. No waitlists move, no status update, nothing.

I'd be interested in counter-takes on that - has anyone seen waitlist movement before May 1st?

Also - it varies school to school, but the last time we enrolled in a school, we got nothing from that school (no outreach, no nothing) until August.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2026 11:35     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
I submitted forms right away, got a system confirmation - but no communication from the school, the website still says “awaiting enrollment,” and my other kid’s waitlist status there is unchanged. How many days/weeks does it usually take for the system to reflect actual enrollment?