The process does change a bit each year, so you should consult the central immersion office. While not mandatory, I believe the open houses are invaluable and they are occurring now. If you are lucky enough to get a spot, it's hard to make up your mind if you actually want it if you haven't been there to get a feel for the school. Another consideration for you should be whether you'll need bussing. Not all school provide this, and depending on where you live the bus ride can be over an hour each way (by car it's 15 min for my kiddo, but one of the magnet busses goes to 5 schools.)

I'd highly recommend going to the info sessions. Dates and times are available on the school's websites. We went to the two schools we planned on applying for, and our minds were changed about which one we'd accept more readily and which one we want to consider a little longer. Its a great opportunity to get a feel for the school and staff.

thanks!

You need to register with your home elementary school and get a MCPS student ID #. No need to get the principals' signatures to sign off. This is will not increase your chances as this is a lottery. The information sessions are good to attend but not required; again, attending/not attending will not do anything to increase/decrease your chances.

Just looking for a little clarification. So the first thing we do is register our child with our assigned school, right? After that, we need to submit the immersion interest form by a set deadline. My question is whether we need to get any sort of signature from the principals of the immersion schools we're interested in or if attending the information sessions at those schools prior to applying for admission is mandatory or just recommended. TIA