Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our application was in online at 8:04 for a first grade slot. Now I'm wondering about our chances if we don't get a lottery spot.

I'm sorry to say they are not good. Next year's first grade is the jumbo class. I've heard they're not accepting new students, they're hoping that attrition (families do move, especially the kind of international families that choose Yu Ying) will bring that class down to the size of the other classes, over time. I've also heard that if you get a child into a different grade, that they'll squeeze you in because of sibling preference.

I'm not swearing on this, just sharing the gossip.

I asked them a question about keeping the size of the jumbo class and was told that they would...they would not lower the number. There were no slots for the lottery but eventually accepted 4 off the wait list. My thought was that funding is associated with the class size and they don't want to lose that count.

Close. This is the hair-splitting: Funding is applied at the student level. So, yes, losing 7 students would mean losing the funding that goes with each individual student, just as adding 7 students increases funding by 7 individual students. In other words, it is assessed at the level of the student, not the level of the class. Presumably that's what you meant, but just putting it out there for anyone who might be confused.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our application was in online at 8:04 for a first grade slot. Now I'm wondering about our chances if we don't get a lottery spot.

I'm sorry to say they are not good. Next year's first grade is the jumbo class. I've heard they're not accepting new students, they're hoping that attrition (families do move, especially the kind of international families that choose Yu Ying) will bring that class down to the size of the other classes, over time. I've also heard that if you get a child into a different grade, that they'll squeeze you in because of sibling preference.

I'm not swearing on this, just sharing the gossip.

I asked them a question about keeping the size of the jumbo class and was told that they would...they would not lower the number. There were no slots for the lottery but eventually accepted 4 off the wait list. My thought was that funding is associated with the class size and they don't want to lose that count.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our application was in online at 8:04 for a first grade slot. Now I'm wondering about our chances if we don't get a lottery spot.

I'm sorry to say they are not good. Next year's first grade is the jumbo class. I've heard they're not accepting new students, they're hoping that attrition (families do move, especially the kind of international families that choose Yu Ying) will bring that class down to the size of the other classes, over time. I've also heard that if you get a child into a different grade, that they'll squeeze you in because of sibling preference.

I'm not swearing on this, just sharing the gossip.

I know kids who were accepted into the current K class due to sibling preference. No one was accepted from the lottery/waitlist. The current K class is not shrinking. If another pp is correct and they have 114 kids, it's grown from 107 kids who started preK last yr. I would not count on getting in even if you are #1 on the waitlist since in all likelihood, any open slots due to people moving will be filled by sibs. I also heard through gossip that they are trying to shrink the size of this class - rising 1st grade.

Anonymous wrote:Our application was in online at 8:04 for a first grade slot. Now I'm wondering about our chances if we don't get a lottery spot.

I'm sorry to say they are not good. Next year's first grade is the jumbo class. I've heard they're not accepting new students, they're hoping that attrition (families do move, especially the kind of international families that choose Yu Ying) will bring that class down to the size of the other classes, over time. I've also heard that if you get a child into a different grade, that they'll squeeze you in because of sibling preference.

I'm not swearing on this, just sharing the gossip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For people wondering about next year it seems like things tapered off pretty quickly, my DH got there at 7:40 and was around # 24 or 25 in line, got the application in by 8:02. (We have two DCs seeking spots so thought it would be quicker to submit both at once in person.) We'll see how the waitlist looks but really, it doesn't seem necessary to get up at the crack of dawn. I know someone in the K class this year who got in with a spot in the 20s so you really don't have to be in the first ten.

This year. But next year, that jumbo K class will have a lot of little sibs entering the school with sibling preference. This year's PreK sibling preference took 39 slots (most sibs seem to be two years apart, IOW, their older sibs are in 1st). Camp out like it's a Star Wars movie opening.

Also, this year's K class is the jumbo class - LOTS of kids got in off the waitlist, but that was last year when they were entering PreK and there will never be another jumbo class like that. Nobody got into K this year from the lottery, that class isn't accepting new students, unless you have a sib who gets in.

Anonymous wrote:For people wondering about next year it seems like things tapered off pretty quickly, my DH got there at 7:40 and was around # 24 or 25 in line, got the application in by 8:02. (We have two DCs seeking spots so thought it would be quicker to submit both at once in person.) We'll see how the waitlist looks but really, it doesn't seem necessary to get up at the crack of dawn. I know someone in the K class this year who got in with a spot in the 20s so you really don't have to be in the first ten.

This year. But next year, that jumbo K class will have a lot of little sibs entering the school with sibling preference. This year's PreK sibling preference took 39 slots (most sibs seem to be two years apart, IOW, their older sibs are in 1st). Camp out like it's a Star Wars movie opening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So do online applications get mixed in with the in person ones by time stamp, or do they all get pushed back regardless of time. My online time was 8:03 which I was thinking was good, but maybe not!

They are going to be mixed in. Based on what's been written so far, if you got your app in at 8:03, there were at least 14 people ahead of you, just accounting for in-person apps. Wow!

I heard there were 70+ spots for PK4, and about 30 expected to be filled by siblings.

I suspect there will be 72 total slots for PK4 (four classes of 18 kids) and that siblings will fill closer to 60 of them. There are 114 kids in K this year (DC1 is one of them) and, based on the decent sample of families we know, I'd say ~30% of those K'ers have younger sibs extremely likely to be in the PK4 cohort next fall. So that's ~34 slots. I think there are 72 kids in PK4 and 60 in 1st this year. Say 15% of those 132 kids have a younger sib planning to start PK4 next fall and you're up to ~54. Toss in half a dozen sibs from 2nd graders and above and you hit ~60.

Anonymous wrote:Dumb question (from someone who's kid goes to a charter school in Baltimore, where all the charters are decided by lottery): How does enrollment work in DC? Lottery, but then wait list is determined by time-stamp of application?

(Good luck to all parents!)

All initial spots are awarded by lottery, and does NOT take into account when you submitted your application...this is true for DCPS and charters. There are preferences that are applied to the lotteries. For DCPS schools those include: in-boundary with sibling (for PS/PK), in-boundary (for PS/PK), out-of-boundary with sibling, proximity, out-of boundary. For charters, preference in allowed for siblings of enrolled students (and I think founders' children might get preference...and maybe employees' children too?).

The only way "when" you apply comes into play is with waitlists...a handful of charters order their waitlists by time of application. So for schools like YY and Stokes applying on that first day (or even that first hour of the first day) is pretty important. Of course, you could apply the last day they are accepting applications and still get in if you're lucky enough to have your child's application drawn. Charters are permitted to determine how their waitlist is handled (by date stamp or by lottery) but the charter board has oversight. I can't say with with certainty, but I'm pretty sure that the Charter Board requires charters to honor whatever policy they set out for handling their waitlist. So I don't think they can cherry pick from the waitlist.