Changes for D15 Middle School Applications

By Joyce Szuflita
There is one big admissions change for families applying in the fall of 2016 (5th grade families) for middle school in 2017. Your rankings on the application will be "blind". The schools will NOT know how you have ranked them. While this is not the major overhaul to the system that many feel is needed, it does make the process easier in the short term for families. You no longer have to 'strategize' about your first two choices. Rank all schools in the order that you like them with no fear of being 'out of the running' if you place a school 3rd or 4th or lower.

Then next big question (and it is unanswered right now) will be whether the schools like Math & Science or New Voices will be able to continue their in-person meetings (activity, audition, interview, etc.) with the kids. Even though over 1000 kids were seen at these schools, they were the ones that ranked the schools first or second. Can the schools actually manage to see all the kids who ranked them anywhere on the app? It may be a blessing in disguise for all if they are not able to call the kids in. Less pressure on the kids and less resources taken from the schools for admissions. It could also make their rankings more of a blunt instrument (lets face it- they aren't very precise right now). It may be that this change will force admissions to become more random. People can argue whether that is more fair or not. In my opinion, if all the schools adopt the same method of ranking (random lottery or ed opt) and you can rank in the order that you like, everyone will have a fair shot at any school. This process will continue to unfold in the next few months.

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