hello!

Thank you for your interest in Puget Sound Community School! As Director of Admissions for 14 years at PSCS, I know finding the right school community is an important decision. Our admissions process is meant to be intentional, personalized, and supported. Our staff is committed to understanding both family and student hopes for their education, and in engaging honestly regarding our collaborative approach and community-centered mission.

I see every day how PSCS students learn to build community meaningfully, and how rigorously and passionately our alumni engage in their post-high school endeavors—and deep into their adulthood. PSCS is in our 32nd year, and continues to offer a responsive learning environment where students develop a strong sense of self, rooted in personal identity and meaningfully informed by local, global, and historical contexts. They graduate prepared for life and empowered to meet the most urgent challenges of our time with integrity, creativity, and courage.

As a small school, we offer rolling admissions and mid-year enrollment (most years). If you’ve missed traditional deadlines or are just now discovering us, we’re excited to connect with you. Our academic year is divided into three terms—Fall, Winter, and Spring—and we welcome new students at the start of each term.

We are in an expansion year and that means we can still accept late applications for students entering grades 6-12 for fall 2025. Tours and visits for the 2026-27 school year are underway. In 2024 we opened up our admissions process to consider 11th and 12th-grade applicants. However, because we value student initiative, prospective 11th and 12th-graders are expected to lead their own application process and demonstrate readiness to join our collaborative community.

Applications for all grades should be submitted through our website (we are no longer supporting Ravenna). PSCS is a small, independent, nonprofit organization and we work to offer expansive tuition aid. I'm here to support you throughout the process.

Reach out—I look forward to hearing from you!

sieglinde levery-nicholas
pscs director of admissions
206-324-4350
admissions@pscs.org

admissions at a glance

Sept., 2025- Feb., 2026 — Visits, Tours, & Student Shadowing.

October 19, 2025 — Fall Open House, 11am-1pm.

November 21, 2025 — Applications for siblings due.

December 19, 2025 — Sibling offers mailed home.

January 15, 2026 — Applications for the 2026-27 school year due.

February 6, 2026 — New family Tuition Aid applications due.

March 20, 2026 — Admissions decisions sent home.

March 27, 2026 — Family response deadline.

application process

1. inquiry

Fill out an Inquiry Form, or call 206-324-4350 or email Admissions to get started on a conversation today!

2. visits & tours

At PSCS, we don't simply enroll students, we enroll families. As such, a Visit & Tour is the first step to applying, in order to ensure all prospective students and their parents/guardians have the opportunity to meet our staff and students, see classes, learn about our interactive Schedule Mapping process, and engage with the community early on.

This visit should be made when exploring schools—before starting your application—and is for all involved parent(s), guardian(s), as well as the applying student.

Prospective students may also sign up to shadow a current student at any point.

3. online application

Our goal is to understand each child as best we can through the application process. The PSCS application process involves 4-5 steps:

Family, Family Structure, & Guardianship Information
Essay sections for both students and parents/guardians
Prospective student "How To" project submission
Teacher recommendations
Attendance/transcripts from prior schools

Detailed description/FAQ for these steps can be found below.

4. tuition aid application

5. full day student visit

6. parent interview

6a. teacher evals & recommendations

You'll be asked to provide the names and emails of two current teachers, who will fill out and send in an evaluation form to PSCS (we'll send them a link). We ask at least one of the teachers represent a "traditional" academic area of study (math, science, history, art, social studies, etc). Once the teacher fills out the form, they will submit it directly to PSCS.

Those may suffice, but you can also help us understand your learner by providing recommendations from two other sources who know your child well. Coaches, mentors, camp counselors, family friends, etc.

6b. student transcripts

application steps (detail)

family information

Applicant and Household Information on the family information form auto-populates from the information you provide in the Ravenna Student Profile. If you need to update any information, please visit the Student Profile where any changes made will be reflected.

At this point, if the $50 application fee presents a barrier for applying, waivers are available. To obtain a waiver, contact the Admissions Office.

student questions & “how-to” project

Our online application includes an essay section for students to fill out. It's important we hear directly from young people, with little coaching from parents.

Our goal is to understand each child as best we can through the application process. We want to learn from them, hear about their passions and interests, and consider how they might benefit from our collaborative community—and how our community might benefit from their gifts and perspective.

parent questions

This section is for prospective PSCS Parents or Guardians.

Where possible, please collaborate so we hear from all involved parents and guardians.

Sometimes, families omit important history that turns up once a student has been admitted to a school. Information that, had we known in advance, might have prevented surprising challenges and affect our program and approach. It is necessary to fully disclose all supportive resources of a prospective community member so we can best serve your student and all the other students in our small school.

We truly appreciate your honesty and transparency.