Anonymous
Post 04/16/2026 15:53     Subject: Re:How long does enrollment take?
It’s dependent by school. We submitted paperwork for Duke Ellington. The registrar is out of office until April 22 according to an April 1 email. It was clear enrollments won’t be processed until then. I appreciate that email.

If we haven’t heard by the 27th we will call.

If you’re worried, just call. It’s ok.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2026 11:15     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.


This post doesn't make sense to me.

If one of your kids has matched with a school, then their sibling already has "Sibling Offered" preference. Which puts them behind "Sibling Attending" and "In Boundary" (if this is PK), and ahead of people with no preference. This should already be reflected in their current waitlist number.

Per this page of the FAQ, under "Sibling Offered Preference": https://www.myschooldc.org/node/116

"If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.”"

So the timing of when your first child's enrollment is processed doesn't matter. Your second child already has their "Sibling Offered" preference - nothing is going to change.

Am I missing something here?
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2026 21:55     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
Anonymous wrote:
Seriously, though: what's the move here? IS the younger kid supposed to jump up the waitlist, or stay put? Should we accept the offer we've received - or would that eliminate the waitlist option, since the sibling acceptance school was originally ranked lower?


i believe you are supposed to reorder the school list to put the sibling acceptance school higher than your offer before accepting anything.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2026 18:43     Subject: How long does enrollment take?
In a similar situation here: the school where our older kid got in - which wasn't our top pick, but we're happy with regardless! - took a couple of days to enroll my older OOB/lottery accepted child...but our younger kid - who had listed a different school as THEIR top pick, and gotten in there, since we hadn't known which of the dozen schools on our older child's list would actually come through - was waitlisted. So, to review, now the younger kid has an offer from one school ranked HIGH on their list, but is still waitlisted at a LOWER school where their older sibling was accepted.
I had thought that after sibling was accepted, younger sibling would move up the waitlist. But their waitlist number has stayed exactly the same. (Unless there really are EXACTLY 32 older siblings who were both offered admission to this school AND had all their paperwork in sooner than 48 hours. Which would be one hell of a coincidence.)
Seriously, though: what's the move here? IS the younger kid supposed to jump up the waitlist, or stay put? Should we accept the offer we've received - or would that eliminate the waitlist option, since the sibling acceptance school was originally ranked lower?
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2026 14:33     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.


Well done. I enjoy when condescending jerks chime in to tell others their concerns are invalid.
Anonymous
Post 04/02/2026 12:27     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.


Call the school. Be really really really nice. Make sure they know you’re not asking for a spot but how likely it is you might get a spot. But also, I don’t think sibling offered versus sibling attending is going to change things too much? Really hope things work out for you so you don’t stress all summer!