- OUSD Enrollment
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-
How can I learn more about public schools in Oakland?
- Visit ChooseOUSD.org to learn more about our beautiful and diverse schools.
- Check out our Events page to find out when schools are offering virtual family nights, tours, and other opportunities to meet people from each Oakland school community.
- Contact schools of interest to learn more.
-
When should I apply to OUSD schools?
- Go to ChooseOUSD.org to apply.
- The on-time Enrollment window for the 2023-2024 school year will open on December 1, 2022.
- During the on-time Enrollment window, you do not need to rush to complete applications. An application submitted on the first day will be treated exactly the same as an application submitted on the last day of the window.
- It is extremely important to submit applications during the on-time Enrollment window. Even if you may be making other plans, you will have far more options during the on-time window than after. Families that wait until the summer may see that only a few schools have space for their child.
-
How do I apply to OUSD schools?
-
Online applications for the 2022-2023 school year are closed, but you can still start your child in OUSD! There are two ways to enroll:
- Email us at Enroll@ousd.org and tell us your child’s full name, date or birth, and the grade they are enrolling into.
- Come by the Student Enrollment Office at 746 Grand Avenue. We are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8-2. You can also make an appointment through Signup Genius here.
-
-
Who needs to apply for OUSD schools each year?
- New students to OUSD at any grade.
- Current students in 5th and 8th grade need to apply for the next grade.
- Students attending Pre-K classes in OUSD’s Early Childhood Education Programs who want to attend an OUSD school for TK or Kindergarten.
- Students attending Pre-K classes in OUSD Special Education programs who want to attend an OUSD school for TK or Kindergarten.
-
My child already attends an OUSD school in a grade other than 5th or 8th grade. Does s/he need to apply for next year?
- If you want your child to remain at the same school next year, s/he does not need to apply. S/he will automatically move up to the next grade.
- If you want your child to attend a different OUSD school next year, you should complete an application.
-
How many schools can I apply to?
- Every student can select 6 schools to apply to. In addition, we will automatically include your neighborhood school(s) on your application.
-
Is it important for me to rank my schools?
- It is very important for you to carefully rank your schools, including your neighborhood school. We always try to give each student her/his highest-ranked school if it is available.
- The way you rank schools also helps determine which waitlists you will automatically be added to.For example, if you rank 7 schools (including your neighborhood school), and we can make an offer to your 4th-ranked school, you will automatically be placed on the waitlists for your higher-ranked schools (#1, #2, and #3) and your applications to your lower-ranked schools will automatically be cancelled (#5, #6, and #7).
-
Can I change the ranking or choice of schools after I have submitted the application?
- Yes, if you want to change the ranking or choices of schools, you may log into your account and click on the Add/Edit Student Application link next to your student’s name. You may add schools, change the order of your ranked schools, or remove a school (but not your neighborhood school). If you are having difficulty updating your child’s application, you text/call the Student Welcome Center at (510) 879-4600 or email enroll@ousd.org.
- After the deadline for on-time applications, schools newly added to your application will be considered late applications.
-
What if I don’t like my offer or my waitlists and want to make some changes?
- If you aren’t satisfied with the offer you received or the waitlists you were assigned to, and you want to make changes, you can log into your account to add or remove schools from your application and re-rank schools. However, schools newly added to your application will be considered late applications. Late applications are less likely to receive offers because some schools fill up with on-time offers.
-
I heard that in the past, families could “appeal” offers/waitlists and make changes. Is that happening this year?
- We do not accept appeal requests. We’ve eliminated the appeals process because it gave some families an extra chance to change their offer, and this was not fair to other families.
-
How do you determine who gets an offer to a particular school?
- We use a system of Enrollment Priorities which are assigned to each application. Here are the Enrollment Priority categories in the order in which they are applied. Applicants within each category are selected for placement based on a random lottery within that category:
- Foster Youth: Students in a documented foster youth program.
- Siblings: Brothers or sisters of students who already attend a school (and will still be attending that school in the following year) are placed next, if they are Oakland residents;
- Opportunity Ticket: Students from schools that are closing or physically moving in order to be merged are placed next, for up to 51% of the remaining seats. Students must be Oakland residents. The Opportunity Ticket does not apply for students applying to grade K, grade 6, or grade 9. Typically, few students will be eligible to receive an Opportunity Ticket priority each year.
- Neighbors: Children who reside within a school’s attendance boundary are placed next. You can find your neighborhood school at www.chooseousd.org by putting your address into the "Find Oakland Unified Schools in my neighborhood" section. Please note that a few OUSD schools are considered “citywide” and do not have an attendance boundary. These schools are Melrose Leadership Academy, MetWest, and all Alternative Education programs (including Oakland International).
- Sojourner Truth: Priority for students currently enrolled in Sojourner Truth Independent Study to enroll in the school they previously attended immediately before enrolling in Sojourner Truth Independent Study.
- OUSD Staff: Children of OUSD staff who work at the school (or at a school on the same campus) are placed next.Students who are currently enrolled in an OUSD Pre-K program will be granted an enrollment priority for TK and/or Kindergarten to the elementary school, if any, located on the same campus as the Pre-K program; if no elementary school is located on the same campus as the Pre-K program, enrollment priority will be granted for TK and/or Kindergarten to the closest elementary school to the student's Pre-K program
- Pre-K Priority (for TK/Kindergarten Enrollment only): Students who are currently enrolled in an OUSD Pre-K program will be granted an enrollment priority for TK and/or Kindergarten to the elementary school, if any, located on the same campus as the Pre-K program; if no elementary school is located on the same campus as the Pre-K program, enrollment priority will be granted for TK and/or Kindergarten to the closest elementary school to the student's Pre-K program
- Residents of Oakland: Residents of Oakland are placed ahead of students who live outside of Oakland.
- General Lottery: All remaining seats at a school are assigned based on a lottery for students who cannot be categorized in one of the Enrollment Priority categories above (primarily for non-Oakland residents).
- We use a system of Enrollment Priorities which are assigned to each application. Here are the Enrollment Priority categories in the order in which they are applied. Applicants within each category are selected for placement based on a random lottery within that category:
-
How do waitlists work?
- The OUSD enrollment system allows you to remain on the waitlists at schools you ranked above (more preferred than) the school offer you accept or decline. It also cancels applications and waitlists at schools you ranked below (less preferred than) the school offered or that you accept. Below is an example of how waitlists work.
- Paul ranked 4 schools as follows:
- Rank 1: School A
- Rank 2: School B
- Rank 3: School C
- Rank 4: School D
- Paul got an offer to his 3rd-ranked choice, School C. He also received waitlists assignments to School A and School B. Because his offer was to his 3rd-ranked school, his 4th-ranked choice, School D, was automatically cancelled.
- Paul declines the offer to School C on March 24, 2022. He stays on the waitlists for School A and School B. Later, he gets an offer to School B, which he accepts. His offer to School C is then automatically withdrawn. He will also stay on the waitlist for School A.
-
How is the order and placement on waitlists determined?
- Waitlist assignments are automatically determined by the order in which you rank your schools and the particular offer you receive. For example, if you rank 7 schools (including your neighborhood school), and we can make an offer to your 4th-ranked school, you will automatically be placed on the waitlists for your higher-ranked schools (#1, #2, and #3) and your applications to your lower-ranked schools will automatically be cancelled (#5, #6, and #7).
- Where you are placed on a particular waitlist is determined by the Enrollment Priority (see more information above) that your child has for that particular school. Let’s consider School A. If there are more neighbor applicants for a particular grade at School A than there are available seats, the remaining neighbor applicants who could not receive an offer (because of the order in which they were selected by the random lottery) will be placed at the top of the waitlist in their lottery order. After that, the remaining applicants who could not receive an offer for School A are placed on the waitlist by their priority grouping and their random lottery order.
-
How likely is it that I will receive an offer to a school if I am on its waitlist?
- This varies by school, depending on how many students at each school do not accept their offer or plan on attending the school. There is no guarantee you will receive an offer from a waitlist, even if you are #1 on that school’s waitlist.
- Sometimes waitlist offers can’t be made until later in the summer, as we continue to determine which students plan on attending.
-
How long can I stay on a waitlist?
- We will maintain the waitlists until the 15th day of school in August. After this date, all waitlists are permanently dissolved; we believe it is generally disruptive to schools and students if there is a great number of students moving between schools after the first few weeks of school.
-
How will I be notified if I receive an offer from a waitlist?
- We will send you a text and/or an email.
- You will have 2-5 days to accept the new offer. The time frame to respond to the offer gets shorter in July/August as the new school year nears.
- If you don’t respond to the offer, you will lose the offer and your spot on that school’s waitlist.
-
If I get an offer from a waitlist, can I still stay on the waitlists for my higher-ranked schools?
- Yes. You can stay on the waitlists for your higher-ranked schools until the third week of the school year.
-
I’ve heard that in prior years, people moved down waitlists over the Spring and Summer. Would that possibly happen this year?
- Yes. The reason this happens has to do with Enrollment Priorities and late applicants.
- Let’s consider School C. You and hundreds of other people applied to School C, but you don’t have sibling or neighbor priority, so you’re pretty far down the waitlist at #34. In May, you go on to your SchoolMint account and are surprised to see that you’re now at #36. This is because two families submitted late applications for School C and they both live within the school’s attendance boundary. They couldn’t be offered a space, because there are no available spots, so these two families had to be placed on the waitlist. Even though they submitted late applications, we still honor their enrollment priorities.