Moving to Berkeley, school lottery acceptance rates
Hi all,
Our family (girls: 4, 2) are planning to move to Berkeley in the next 12 months. We will inevitably miss the initial lottery rounds for kindergarten this year (Jan-Mar?). I'm curious if anyone can point me to other posts, or knows what the lottery acceptance rates are for: 1) your first choice entering kindergarten, and 2) your first choice entering the system as a first grader?
We suspect it's harder to get into certain schools as a first grader (coming from outside of the district), assuming there aren't many spots available, but that may be misguided. Any guidance on the lottery system is appreciated.
Thanks
Aug 28, 2025
Parent Replies
We just moved here and our 1st grader got into her first choice even though we didn't enroll until mid-July for an August start! I am not sure how it varies with area/school popularity, but it definitely can happen based on our experience.
As many posters will state, the BUSD lottery system mixes everyone around, so there is really no one school that is easier or harder to get into (other than Sylvia Mendez, which as the district's only TWI school is very difficult for English-speaking families to get into). Cohort sizes also vary year to year even at the same school, so a school that had a lot of kindergarten spots last year may have very few next year, because of sibling preference, etc. (Basically, your neighbors' experiences last year won't necessarily be relevant.) Since you can't even apply until you physically live in Berkeley, you really will just have to wait and rank your choices when you apply.
Another thing to keep in mind is that some after school sites will only bus from certain elementary schools. And some day your children will be in middle school, which is also zoned by address. Best wishes in your search.
First, welcome to Berkeley! I can't speak to overall acceptance rates, but we moved to Berkeley last summer and missed the initial enrollment window. Keep in mind that Berkeley operates differently than many school districts, where you can be assigned to any school within your zone (vs. being assigned to a specific school based on your address.) I think it just depends on the popularity of your first choice school, and spots available – both for K and first grade. For later grades it obviously is a bit more dependent on what schools have students leave from that grade... I had an incoming Kindergartener and 2nd grader last year, and we got into our top two schools (yes, they initially got assigned to different schools, but was able to get them into the same one...) but I don't think our top two choices were necessarily the most high demand schools? I've heard of people who were assigned their last choice even though they were in the first enrollment window. What I can assure you is that in the end all of the schools in BUSD are great, and while they do have their differences you will likely be happy with wherever you end up. My recommendation would be to focus less on getting your heart set on your "first choice" school, and focus on finding the neighborhood you want to settle into (and then get involved with whatever school you end up at!)