So, You Want to Apply for an MSCS Optional School?

We are a public school family. If you are a private school family, this post is likely not for you, but if you are like us and navigating the world of MSCS optional schools, keep reading. Last year was our first year embarking on this process, and I feel compelled to share what we learned.

We are zoned for a great elementary school, but when our oldest was at the crux of middle school, it became time to explore our options for the next stage. This is a foreign concept to me, having grown up in the suburbs out of state where everyone just attended their neighborhood school. But Memphis has a plethora of wonderful choices (and maybe some less-than-optimal ones), so it can be a dizzying process to figure it all out.

We decided to narrow our search to the handful of schools that most alum of our elementary school attend. We eliminated a couple due to distance and early start times–sometimes; the best school is what is best for the entire family. We then toured our top choices. Many schools are good about advertising tours and Open Houses, so keep your eyes and ears open early in the school year.

Even though we had a pretty good idea of what school we ultimately wanted to apply to, we still visited a couple of different schools, if only to solidify our top choice. Plus, we then knew that if it didn’t work out, the remaining options would have been just fine. I highly recommend visiting any schools that you are considering and take your prospective student with you.

That was the leisurely part of the process. The stressful part was the actual application. I felt pretty prepared, but even so, was still keyed up on the big day. My next piece of advice is to be as prepared as possible. Know exactly what information the application requires and have that information at the ready. A lot of schools are highly competitive and operate on a first-come-first-serve system (provided your student meets the qualifications), so time is of the essence. One friend suggested typing all the information in a document in advance and just cutting and pasting in the appropriate blanks.

That brings me to my next point: get in touch with people who have gone through the process before. They will be your best resource for any questions, tips, and tricks. Through this network, I learned what information I would need to have (primarily demographic information) and what the application itself would look like.

Keep in mind that optional schools have certain requirements based on grades, attendance, and conduct. Fortunately, my daughter’s elementary school went to the trouble to provide everyone’s testing results and percentiles so that we knew which schools she would be eligible for. If your current school doesn’t do this, ask! If you are already in the MSCS system, then there is no need to provide these scores separately, but if you are coming from a different district or private school, you will need to mail this information by a specific date.

In addition to veterans, have some folks at the ready who are also going through the process at the same time. The day the application opened in 2024 was a hot mess, and the system completely crashed. It was stressful to be sure, but slightly less so because I was involved in at least three message threads that assured me I was not the only one having problems.

On the rescheduled date, everything was very straightforward. I made sure to be sitting in front of a computer (it was recommended to me to not rely on a tablet or phone) several minutes early, clicking “refresh” so that I would have access to the site the minute it opened. I then went through the short fill-in-the-blank application methodically so I wouldn’t have to go back and waste precious minutes. I actually did have to go back, however, which was the inspiration for this post.

This sounds dumb, but I feel like it is my calling to inform all the people of my (minor) mistake. Pay attention to the specific format required for each blank. Like everyone, I have filled out plenty of online forms. Often, when filling in a date or a phone number, the slashes, dashes, and parentheses auto-populate. I assumed the same would occur and so typed my daughter’s birthday as MMDDYYYY figuring that the / would be filled in automatically. Not so, my friends, not so. And typing in my phone number as a straight 7-digit number did not result in the (XXX) XXX-XXXX I was expecting either. Again, I feel dumb even mentioning this minute detail, but it did take an extra minute to go back and make those corrections. And when people are quibbling over a 10:03am vs. 10:04am optional school submission, it does matter.

When I did actually get the optional school application right and clicked “submit,” a huge wave of relief washed over me. (There may also have been some choice words and hand clapping as well.) Spoiler alert: everything worked out, and my daughter was accepted into her first-choice middle school. Now we can relax…until high school (and kid #2 and 3 are ready for their next schools). Hopefully college applications will be a piece of cake after this experience!

We all want what’s best for our kiddos, so it’s worth the planning and preparation, but hopefully sharing what we’ve learned will help with the anxiety and stress of applying to an optional school. Good luck, mamas!