Apply online, right here in the Magnet & Academy Applications portal, between November 16, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. and February 5, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. MCSD Online Registration must also be complete, with every required document, by that same deadline; an application without a complete Online Registration is not considered.

1. Choose Log in / Create Account on the home page. If you are a guardian of a current MCSD student, your Infinite Campus Portal login makes things quicker.
2. Choose New Application, then tell us how your student is applying.
3. Work through each step. Your answers are saved as you finish each one, so you can stop and come back later from the home page or from the link we email you after your first saved step.
4. When every step is done and signed, you will see your Review page. That means your application is complete.

You may apply to as many programs as you like. Each student applies on their own; brothers and sisters are welcome to apply, but they are not admitted automatically with an accepted student.

• November 16, 2026, 8:00 a.m. – applications open
• November – January – open houses at every magnet school (in person and/or virtual); each school posts its dates
• January 11, 2027, 8:00 a.m. – MCSD Online Registration opens for 2027–28. Upload every required document and any transportation request there.
• February 5, 2027, 11:59 p.m. – the hard deadline: applications close and Online Registration must be complete with all documents. An incomplete Online Registration is not considered.
• February 6 – 19 – entrance exams, auditions and interviews (none during Mid-Winter Break, February 11 – 15)
• March 22, 8:00 a.m. – decision statuses post in the portal and the first offers go out
• March 22 – 31 – every offer has its own 72 hours. When a seat opens it goes to the next student on that school's waitlist, who then has 72 hours. The last new offers go out March 28 at 8:00 a.m.
• March 31, 8:00 a.m. – the online offer season closes

When you start a new application you will see a few choices:

• Select a student I have a guardian relationship with – shown when your login is linked to your student in Infinite Campus. This is the easiest choice.
• Currently attending an MCSD school and know my GTID – type your student's state ID number.
• Currently attending an MCSD school but do not know or have my GTID – enter your student's name and date of birth instead.
• Applying from outside the district – for a student who is not enrolled in an MCSD school this year.

Families from outside MCSD are encouraged to apply through this same online application; it is the preferred path. Ask your current school for your student's academic records early, because transcripts are part of Online Registration, which must be complete by February 5. By completing Online Registration you allow schools to send a Records Request to your student's previous school; if the records cannot be obtained, the application may be incomplete and no offer can be issued.

Pick one email address that the whole family checks, and use it for the application. Every notice from the portal goes to that address: your application link, confirmations, your decision status on March 22, every offer and its deadline, and reminders.

If you realize the address on your application is wrong, contact the coordinator for the program right away.

Every application gets a Magnet Application Number that looks like M27-004821. You will find it on your application's Review page and in the emails we send you.

Write it down or save it. You will need it to complete MCSD Online Registration (open January 11 – February 5), where it is used to match your application to your student's record. If you apply for more than one student, each application has its own number.

If an application is not finished yet, you can cancel it from the home page after you log in: choose Cancel beside it. Cancelling hides the application; it does not delete it.

Changed your mind? Choose Restore beside the cancelled application on the same page. You can restore it yourself while applications are open. After that, or if your application is already complete, please contact the coordinator for the program.

Some programs do. Each program's requirements are listed on the Programs page. When a program you choose needs an appointment, your application adds a step where you pick a date and time. Times that are already full are marked Full.

Entrance exams, auditions and interviews are held February 6 – 19, after applications close (none during Mid-Winter Break, February 11 – 15).

If your student needs accommodations (an IEP, a 504 Plan or another documented need), note it in the application as directed. A designated staff member at the school, who is not on the selection committee, will arrange them. Ask early.

Once your application is complete, your Review page shows a Change time button beside each scheduled appointment, as long as another open time is available. Pick the new time and you are done; changing a time does not reopen your application.

You can do this until decision statuses are released. If you do not see the button, or no open time works for you, please contact the program's coordinator.

Some programs ask for recommendations. On the References step you enter the name and email address of each teacher. It helps to ask the teacher first.

The request is emailed to each teacher only after you fully complete your application. Your Review page shows whether each reference has been completed.

If a teacher says they never got the email, check the address you entered and contact the program's coordinator, who can send it again.

On March 22 at 8:00 a.m. the portal posts your student's status for every program you applied to. Each one is accepted (a seat is offered to your student), a waitlist place, or a denial, and every status is official when it is released.

We email you at the address on your application, and you can always see your status on your application's Review page. No school issues decisions on its own that day.

When a seat is offered to your student, you have 72 hours from the moment the offer posts (3 calendar days, and weekends and holidays count) to accept or decline it in the portal. The exact deadline is shown with the offer, and we send a reminder when about 24 hours are left.

The offer is official when it posts; there is no further review after you accept. Your Online Registration must already have been complete by February 5 for your application to be considered.

The seat goes to the next student in line, and your student moves to the bottom of that school's waitlist. Your student stays eligible there and may be offered a seat again, with a fresh 72 hours, once every other waiting student has had a turn, while offers are still going out.

If you do not want any further offer from that school, tick Also take my student off this waitlist when you decline.

When a seat opens, because a family declined or an offer ran out, the portal automatically offers it to the next eligible student on that school's waitlist. Students who have never had an offer from that school come first, in waitlist order. Students who moved to the bottom come after them, in the order they moved.

Your Review page shows your student's place on each waitlist. The last new offers go out on March 28 at 8:00 a.m., and the online offer season closes on March 31 at 8:00 a.m. After that, a school may contact waitlisted families only through the district's offline process.

No. A family may hold only one accepted offer at a time. When you accept a seat, your student moves to the bottom of the waitlist at every other program you applied to, and stays eligible there.

If another school offers your student a seat later, you may accept that one instead. Accepting it releases the first seat to the next student in line.

First, check your spam or junk folder, and check that the email address on your application is right.

You do not need the email to respond. Log in and open your application from the home page: your Review page always shows your current status and any open offer, with its deadline and the Accept button.

If the email address on your application is wrong, contact the program's coordinator.

Your MCSD Online Registration was due, complete, by February 5 (it opens January 11, on a separate website from this portal). It includes:

• your Magnet Application Number
• proofs of address
• IEP or 504 documentation, if your student has it
• for students new to MCSD, transcripts and school records
• your transportation request, if you want the bus

If the school or Central Registration asks for anything more, send it promptly.

Yes. Free transportation is offered to every officially accepted magnet student. Request it in Online Registration, which is due by February 5. It is not requested in this portal.

While the offer season is open you can change your answer on your application's page: Decline gives up this program's seat, and Withdraw from all takes your student out of every program. The seat is offered to the next student within minutes. If another school offers you a seat and you accept it, your first seat is released automatically.

If you give up a magnet seat and return to your zoned school, the seat is released for the rest of the school year. Your student may apply again in the next application season.