Magnet Application Process for 2025-2026
The electronic application for the lottery will open November 1, 2024, and close on February 17, 2025.
Students do not have to reapply for admission into the same magnet program in which they are currently enrolled.
What happens if I am offered a seat and it is not my first choice?
Be sure to select your choices in the order of preference. If you are offered a seat from the lottery, this seat offer will be the only magnet seat offer you will receive. You may apply again once the magnet summer waitlist application is available in May.
Procedure
- Only one application per student is permitted.
- You will need your student's 10 digit student ID number (available from your child's school, OCPS and OCPS Charter school students only).
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Magnet enrollment is established by grade level and school capacity.
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Applying for a magnet does not guarantee a seat offer.
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Applicants must meet eligibility criteria for the selected magnet and be able to take magnet courses.
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All eligible applicants who meet the application deadline will be considered for available seats. If there are more eligible applicants requesting admission to a specific magnet program than the number of seats available, a computerized lottery selection process will provide an equitable opportunity for all eligible students seeking to enroll in a magnet program.
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Please advise School Choice Services if you have a change of email address and/or phone number.
Eligibility
- Orange County Public Schools offers magnets for students entering grades Kindergarten through 10th grade.
- Elementary applicants applying for kindergarten must be five years old on or before September 1, 2025. Parents of rising kindergarten students should select the non-OCPS option on the magnet application. No OCPS student ID is required.
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Applicants for the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet at Dr. Phillips High School and the Performing Fine Arts Magnet at University High School must meet or exceed audition requirements in order to be considered for placement.
Please note: Due to audition requirements, the Visual and Performing Art magnet at Dr. Phillips High School and the Performing Fine Arts magnet at University High School are only available as a first choice selection. You cannot select and audition for both magnets. You may select a second and/or third choice magnet program.
Lottery
- For those magnets whose number of eligible applicants exceeds the number of seats available, a computerized lottery will be held in late February, 2025.
- Prior to the selection process, the magnet programs identify the number of available seats for the program.
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And additional lottery, if necessary, will be held in April for any remaining spaces in magnets from the eligible applications received during the November 1, 2024, to February 17, 2025, application period.
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For high school applicants, 60% of the available seats will be assigned by a computerized GPA ranking system and 40% of the available seats will be assigned randomly via lottery.
Required Documentation
- Middle and high school magnet program applicants who are not currently enrolled in an OCPS school, for example, your child is currently enrolled in a charter school, private school, or home school, must upload student report cards showing final grades from the previous two years, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
- The application will not continue without uploading these documents.
- You will need to upload one document for each required school year within the application. Multiple pages or pictures for one school year should be scanned and saved in one document. Only .pdf, .jpeg, .png, or .gif files may be uploaded.
Notification
- Eligible applicants who submit applications by the deadline of February 17, 2025, will be notified of their status via email sent to the parent email address listed on the application. This email is considered the official notice of a magnets offer or wait pool status. Applicants who are offered seats in programs must register at the school during the registration dates listed in the notification email
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Eligible applicants who are not offered a seat in the first lottery will be placed in a wait pool. A second lottery, if program seats become available, will be held.
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Eligible applicants who are not offered a seat in the first or second lottery will be sent their waitlist number via the parent email address listed on the application. If magnets seats become available, applicants will be notified via email sent to the parent/guardian email address listed on the application.
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If you did not receive an email by concerning the lottery results, please email [email protected], and include your student’s name, student ID number, and the program(s) for which you have applied.
Siblings
- School Choice Services may give a sibling preference to siblings of elementary and middle students already admitted and attending an elementary or middle magnet school or magnet program and who will be returning to the same magnet school or magnet program in the year for which application is being made. Siblings must meet magnet program requirements. For purposes of this preference, siblings are brothers and sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters, or half-brothers and half-sisters living at the same address.
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To be eligible for this preference, the sibling must meet any academic or related criteria for this next level and must submit an application per the application requirements.
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Consideration for sibling preference is given to eligible applicants on a space-available basis and must be indicated on the application.
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Failure to apply by the deadline or indicate sibling preference on the application will result in denial of the sibling preference for the younger sibling.
Non-Magnet Sibling Transfer
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Siblings of a magnet student already admitted to a magnet program are eligible to apply for a sibling transfer to attend the school as a non-magnet student, so long as the school has an available seat for the sibling(s) per Student Enrollment Policy JCA. In addition, the transfer for the sibling(s) is available so long as the magnet student maintains enrollment in the magnet program.
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For purposes of this transfer, siblings are brothers and sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters, or half-brothers and half-sisters living in the same household.
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Magnet schools (e.g., Howard Middle School, Orlando Gifted Academy, Hillcrest Elementary) are not eligible for this sibling transfer.
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In addition, the following will be considered before the sibling transfer to a school is granted: If the student has an IEP at the time of application, the school will review the IEP to ensure the school can appropriately implement the student’s IEP.
PLEASE NOTE: Magnet sibling transfers are only good while the magnet student is enrolled in the magnet. If the magnet student graduates or otherwise leaves the magnet, this magnet sibling transfer will be revoked.
Non-Magnet Sibling Transfer Application
Transportation
- Transportation is not provided for elementary, middle nor high school magnet programs.
Questions?
Email us at [email protected]