We seek to enroll students who are invested in community and excited to be active participants in their own education.

Step 1: Read through the PSCS website and contact the Admissions Office to start a dialogue about your child.

Please be prepared to tell us your child's name, age, current school, current grade, some of their interests, some of their challenges, and how your family discovered PSCS.

Step 2: Schedule a Morning Visit

Morning Visitations are a part of the application process and the best opportunity for prospective parents and students to see PSCS in action as a family. These visitations are usually scheduled for a specific day of the week at 8:45am. In these, visitors meet with our Director of Admissions, join us for our daily Check-in (an important part of our day), learn more about PSCS, meet available teaching staff members and current students, and have the opportunity to visit/sit in on that morning's classes. Please read through the rest of the steps below and call or email to schedule your visit.

Step 3: Download and fill out the appropriate application

Applications

Please look over the Application Timeline (below) before sending yours in. If you will be applying for financial support, please also look over the Tuition Aid Info.

Step 4: Creative Project

Completing projects is a big part of PSCS and begins at the point of applying to the school. Along with the written application, prospective students submit a Creative Project, something they create that helps us get to know them better. Creative Projects must be made specifically for this application, should take at least a few hours to complete, and can be anything the applying student is interested in sharing with us. Email or call with any questions.

Step 5: Send it in!

Mail, email, or drop off completed applications, which includes both applicant & parent statements, along with the Creative Project and application fee* to:

Sieglinde Levery-Nicholas
PSCS, Director of Advancement
660 South Dearborn Street
Seattle, WA 98134

*PSCS only accepts checks for the application fee. These will need to be mailed in or dropped off.

Step 6: Applicant Visitation Day

Once our Admissions Office has received a prospective student's application, that student is then required to participate in a Full Applicant Visit Day (by themselves) as part of the application process. These visits take place during the school week (on a mutually agreed upon day)—and are different in focus from our standard visitation/tour days. During these visits, students are present without their parents and are strongly encouraged to participate in school activities, as well as meet and interact with current students and staff.

Step 7: Parent Interview

After your student has completed their Full Day Visit, we will then schedule a 45-minute Parent Interview. All parents listed on the Family Information page of the application are expected to attend, and interviews are conducted at PSCS by Sieglinde Levery-Nicholas, Director of Admissions/Advancement, and Andy Smallman, PSCS Founder/Director. The purpose of this interview is threefold: to help us get to know your family better, gauge your understanding of our specific educational philosophy, and to provide you with a personal opportunity to discuss your child in greater depth and ask us any additional questions.

We ask all guests to arrive on visitation days promptly at 8:45 a.m. Guests will join our Director of Advancement for a tour and a brief overview of the school philosophy.

At 9 a.m., visitors will be seated just outside our daily Check-in, the all-school meeting that starts our day. There, a student—we never know which one—will start and lead the meeting.  Staff and students have the opportunity to share news, information, or reminders to the rest of the community.

The check-in leader will then offer space for appreciations. Inspired by the work of the Positive Psychology movement growing out of the University of Pennsylvania, this practice is designed to elevate everyone’s consciousness of the good things that are happening in their lives. It’s a short, simple, and important daily ritual.

After Check-in, all visitors will have a chance to meet the teaching staff, see the morning course offerings, and hear an overview of how the current term's schedule was co-created. Then guests are free to explore classes and activities at their own pace, opening doors, observing and participating in activities that interest them. Our Director of Admissions is also available during this time to, answer any questions you might have about how the school works.

While we prefer that guests come on scheduled visitation days, we are sometimes able to accommodate visits at other times. To schedule, please call or email the PSCS Admissions Office.

For the 2017-18 school year

Applications

PSCS applications—for those families seeking space in Middle School (grades 6,7,8) or High School (grades 9,10)—should only be sent in once both parent(s) and student(s) have come for a Morning Visitation.

• Early sibling application due November 22, 2017
• Early sibling decision letters sent December 17, 2017
• On-time application, project, $50 fee due January 11, 2018
• Late application, project, $75 fee due January 18, 2018
• Rolling Admissions—fee and due date TBD.

Tuition Aid

All families applying for aid should first visit our Tuition Aid Info page and look into FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment Service, the impartial system that provides PSCS with an overview of what families can afford to pay in tuition. Families might also consider writing a detailed letter to our Tuition Aid Committee, outlining any extenuating circumstances and other monetary obligations not asked for by FACTS. For more information on writing this letter, email or call 206.324.4350. Please

• Tuition Aid applications due (via FACTS) January 20, 2018
• Subjective data letters due January 20, 2018

Applicant Full Day Visits

• January/February, 2018

Parent Interviews

• January/February, 2018

Decision Letters

After the applicant visit and parent interview, admission decision letters will be mailed home by March 10, 2018. For those that are offered enrollment, a contract will be included. Tuition Aid decision letters will be sent home separately—on or about the same date.

Once a student has been offered admission and decides to join the PSCS community, an enrollment contract and deposit are due March 30, 2018. Deposits will be applied toward the full cost of tuition.