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Wake County's magnet school, early college virtual events planned

Applications for Wake County's magnet, year-round and early colleges schools have begun and the school system is planning a series of virtual events to help families learn more about their options.

Posted 2021-10-29T17:23:46+00:00 - Updated 2021-10-29T17:10:00+00:00

By attracting students from a wider geographical area, magnet schools typically have a more culturally and socioeconomically diverse student body than traditional schools. (Photo Courtesy of Wake County Public School System)

Applications for Wake County's magnet, year-round and early colleges schools have begun and the school system is planning a series of virtual events to help families learn more about their options.

The application periods for Wake County Public School System's Early College and Crossroads FLEX programs, for high school students, runs through Dec. 14.

For magnet and year-round schools, it runs through Jan. 27.

Families will be notified of the results on Feb. 23.

It's important to note that decisions are not made on a first come, first served basis, so you do not need to scramble this month to figure out what schools you're going to apply to. Instead, to determine where students attend, the school system relies on a complicated decision tree that includes the socioeconomic status of a student's neighborhood and the school where they are applying. The goal of magnet schools, in particular, is to promote diverse school populations and make sure schools aren't filled with a high number of low-income students.

Also, families can't apply to any magnet or year-round school in the county. Their application schools are determined by their address. Wake County has an address lookup tool where you can quickly pull up what schools you can apply to

Wake County's website has more information about the application process for magnet schools, along with year-round schools and the early colleges.

To help parents make a decision, Wake schools is offering some virtual parent information sessions and magnet fairs where you can learn more about what's offered.

Here's what's scheduled:

Virtual Parent Information Sessions for Magnet, Year-Round and Early College schools