Two to three years before entering high school

• Begin thinking about your options. Read Finding Your Great School and Choosing a Public High School to help you get started.
• Visit the schools that seem like they might be right for you and speak with principals, teachers and parents. Download this School Visit Checklist to help you ask the right questions.

The year prior to entering high school - September

• Get high-school application forms through 8^th grade counselors, the High School Expo or the District Office of Student Enrollment and Placement.
• Visit the High School Expo and speak with representatives from District schools. This year the Expo was held at 440 N. Broad St. on September 29-30.
• Private schools (Independent and Catholic) begin to hold open houses.

October - November

• Applications to transfer between neighborhood schools are due. This year, the deadline is November 2. Learn more about transferring schools.
• Private schools hold entrance and scholarship exams, and accept applications.
• Some schools hold visits, information sessions or open houses.
• Special admission District schools conduct interviews and evaluate applications. Some application deadlines are during this period. 
• Most charter schools begin to accept applications.

December - January

• Most private-school admission and financial-aid applications are due during this period

February

• Most Philadelphia charter-school application deadlines fall during this period.
• Special-admission district schools release acceptance, rejection and wait-list decisions.

• District citywide admission schools with more applications than spots run lotteries for all applicants. Neighborhood schools run lotteries for transfer applicants.  
• Most private schools release acceptance, rejection and waitlist decisions. 

March

• District school notification letters are sent to students who have been accepted to one or more schools. Students with multiple acceptances are given two weeks to reach a decision and notify their 8^th grade counselor or, if the student is not currently enrolled in a district school, the Office of Student Enrollment and Placement.

April

• After results are in from “multiple acceptance” students to district schools, letters are sent to all students indicating where they’ve been accepted, rejected or wait-listed.

May - September

• District schools conduct a last round of lotteries for the few remaining students.
• Parents, counselors and principals can advocate on behalf of students originally wait-listed or rejected by district special-admission schools through phone calls and recommendation letters.
• The District sends out additional letters notifying some students of final placements.

This information was adapted from a guide in The Public School Notebook.