Lottery FAQs
Lottery Frequently Asked Questions
Only one of my children got in. I thought her brothers and sisters automatically got in?
It's not automatic, there has to be room in the grade. About 30 new families will join the school because of the lottery. Many of the new students will have brothers and sisters, but the lottery filled all the open seats. There just isn't room for those new students on top of the lottery results. New siblings are granted priority in the order received and will be offered seats as they come available.
And the related question: Why did my waitlist number go backwards?
Enrollment priorities are applied when they are valid. When a Kindergarten student accepts her seat, her brothers and sisters are granted new sibling priority and will move up on their waitlist. New siblings are granted priority in the order received.
Why do I have to go through the lottery?
State law requires us to hold a lottery when our applications exceed our openings. This gives everyone the same chance to get into the school.
But I only live a block from the school, shouldn’t I have some sort of priority?
Sorry, no. The only residency rule is you must be a resident of North Carolina. This applies for the lottery as well; the student or legal guardian must be a resident of the state of North Carolina AT THE TIME OF THE APPLICATION. The only exception to this is for active duty military with orders to North Carolina. They may apply prior to their move to NC.
I thought some people got priority in admissions?
Priority is given to children and grandchildren of employees of the school and brothers and sisters of current students. Their admission is not automatic, they still have to go through the lottery and there must be space available. Brothers and sisters of graduated students are eligible to use the alumni priority for 5 years after graduation if the graduate spent 4 years in the school. Next priority goes to the siblings of students accepted in the lottery. The final categories are for active duty military and then students at other NC Charter schools. There is no priority specifically for athletes, special education or gifted students.
What time will the application be available on Nov 1st, I want to be first on the list.
The whole point of the lottery is to give everyone an equal chance at the openings. There is no advantage to being the first person to apply; applying on Nov 1st or Jan 31st will give you the same opportunity. That’s why the application will NOT be available at 12:01 am. We need our beauty sleep, look for it around 7:30 am Nov 1st.
Why didn't I get a lottery number when I registered?
We don't give lottery numbers before the lottery, we give wait list numbers after the lottery. You should receive a confirmation email when you register.
What are my chances of getting in?
It depends on the grade. Every year is a little different, but it’s hardest to get into the elementary grades. The largest number of openings each year is in the kindergarten class, but the highest percentage of applicants get into the high school grades. Not as many people apply for the 12th grade as they do for kindergarten.
What does my wait list number mean?
It means we filled our known openings for that grade and you’ve been randomly placed on a list with all the other applicants for that grade. There are actually 13 wait lists, one for each grade and we start at #1 when we have an opening. There are almost always more openings than what we know of on the day of the lottery.
I applied two years ago; shouldn’t I be getting close now?
Wait list numbers don’t carry over, you have to apply for the lottery each year or the list would be overwhelmed with the names of people that don’t intend to attend.
Will you let me know when I move up the list?
There are currenlty more than 2000 names on the wait lists and it would be impractical to notify everyone every time there was movement. For updates, please refer to the "Lottery Results" email that was sent to the email address on the lottery application. You can log into your Family Dashboard at any time and it will always show the most up to date wait list position for your child.
I won a 6th grade seat in the lottery, but my son didn’t get promoted out of the 5th grade. Can I have a 5th grade seat instead? Or, I accidentally applied for a 6th grade seat when I meant to apply for a 5th grade one. Can you fix it?
Adjustments can be made right up to the time of the lottery, but once the lists are created, the results are final. In both these scenarios, the student would be moved to the bottom of the 5th grade wait list. Admissions priorities still apply.
My niece is moving in with us while my sister is out of the country. My daughter already attends MICS, can we get sibling priority?
Sibling priority can be granted on a case by case basis, but there must be a long term family situation with legal guardianship involved. Family arrangements or a Power of Attorney are not enough; the new student must live with and share a legal guardian with a student already at the school.
We want a kindergarten seat, when should we enter the lottery?
State law requires a student to be 5 years old on Aug 31st of the year he or she enters kindergarten. Students that are four years old on April 16th can enter the lottery because there is an exception for those that have been independently tested for academic and social ability. The school has the final decision on admission.
My child will be four years old before April 16th. What do I need to do to apply for an early Kindergarten entrance?
You can find the details for early admission in this file.
Got more questions? Send them to [email protected].