Parents: When to secure rent/housing if you're on multiple waitlists?

[TJAMJAJ]

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It's difficult to do this med school waitlist dance regardless of your status: single, married, parent, etc. but it is especially tricky for parents of school aged children who also need to secure a spot for them in a local school

My question to all of you:
At what point do you secure a lease/rent/housing if you have one acceptance and are on multiple waitlists?

A little about me:
-I have a child who will begin kindergarten in the fall, so securing a spot at a great public school is my top priority. 2 reasons for this, public school = free and it's too late to apply to private.

-I have one acceptance and am on 3 waitlists, 2 of which are in the same city as my one acceptance; the 3rd school is a top 10, huge reach for me, and not in a desirable area so i'm sort of ignoring it at this point

-we currently live in another state as my acceptance school, our lease is up aug 1st

-I have family in the same city as my one acceptance and 2 waitlists

My options...

should we move in with my family for the month of august and wait it out before signing a lease?

-two possible issues with this... most public schools require that children are enrolled by early/mid august, so it might not be possible for my to get my child into a k program even if we are in the district. Also, I'm afraid that if we wait until the last minute to rent a place, there will be no good deals left.. they'll either be in bad areas or they'll be expensive

should we try signing a lease that begins aug 1st and is near my one acceptance school.. and put in a condition that if I'm accepted somewhere else that we can easily back out of the lease?

-has anyone been successful doing something similar?

should I pick out three public schools for our child,call the schools and set up enrollment as much as we can.. then make sure that wherever I get accepted we move into that district?

-this is like reverse apartment hunting.. we would find our child's school first and THEN be restricted with living options based on location. I would love to do this, but again it's stressful because there may not be any good living options left in that particular district that are nice and that we can afford..


it's not possible to move in the vicinity of all three med school as they are very spread out.. a midway point would be in a bad area with poor schools. if I'm accepted off the waitlist at either of these 2 schools I would almost certainly accept because 1. they both have excellent reputations and more resources 2. they would prob offer me a lot more financial aid (i currently will get no grants/free money from acceptance school)

If you have any opinions or ideas I would love to hear them! Feel free to share if you are in the same position and just want to commiserate 🙂

Thanks

 

[Pons Asinorum]

To those interested, the city is Chicago; not a city I'm familiar enough with to be of any help. I know that if you get into Pritzker, I would figure out how to mkae that happen.

 

[pinkzebra]

im not familiar with chicago, but i have a daughter who is currently in KG. from what i understand, you can enroll them at any time in a public school. kids switch schools in the MIDDLE of the term, even! so as long as your child is there before the KG start date, i dont see why it would be a problem. did the schools actually SAY they do not accept a child past mid august? what happens if a family moves to the area at that time and has to enroll their child? i have never heard of that being an issue, but i only have experience here in massachusetts. it could vary by state?

also, when exactly will you find out about the waitlist results? sorry if this is a silly question, but im not familiar with that process. isnt there a certain date you also have to accept or deny your spot with the school you were accepted to?

 

[ejw5075]

im not familiar with chicago, but i have a daughter who is currently in KG. from what i understand, you can enroll them at any time in a public school. kids switch schools in the MIDDLE of the term, even! so as long as your child is there before the KG start date, i dont see why it would be a problem. did the schools actually SAY they do not accept a child past mid august? what happens if a family moves to the area at that time and has to enroll their child? i have never heard of that being an issue, but i only have experience here in massachusetts. it could vary by state?

also, when exactly will you find out about the waitlist results? sorry if this is a silly question, but im not familiar with that process. isnt there a certain date you also have to accept or deny your spot with the school you were accepted to?

There isn't a specific date. May 15th is when you must withdraw from all but 1 school (the one you intend to matriculate at), so theoretically alot of waitlist movement happens shortly after this date. BUT, consider the case of someone being on multiple wailtists. You get off one, turn down the other acceptance, turn down the other waitlists, and more spots open for other applicants on the waitlist. That was worded really bad, but you get it. People get accepted off the waitlist up until the first day of classes.

 

[ejw5075]

If it is possible for you to move in with family until you are 100% set on the school you are going to, I would do that. I think this may be unnecessary though, you will likely find out whether you are getting off of those waitlists earlier than August (hopefully).

Contact the possible schools, and set up an appointment to talk with them. If you reside in that school district at any point during the school year, your children are automatically qualified to go there. They will be very careful about making sure you have actually moved before your children start. I went to three different high schools in three years, know the public school system pretty well 🙂 I withdrew during the first week of my sophomore year at school a and was enrolled two weeks later at school b in a different county. No problems with being the middle of the quarter.

I do not think landlords would be comfortable including something stating if you were accepted you could get out of your lease, maybe if you went with a very understanding independent landlord. I know this would not be possible at my complex, as they charge beaucoup bucks for the people who are only staying short term for things at PSU.

My situation is a little different, as my daughter will not be in KG but in daycare but I have her on the waiting list at two right now, one in each city we are thinking about moving to for med school. It's difficult not knowing where you end up, but I've found stuff like this works itself out in the end. Going to graduate school with kids is all about flexibility, and finding what works best for you and your family.