Atlanta Private-School Admissions Timeline

One family calendar, every exception

Put these dates on the wall first.

AAAIS publishes mailed decisions April 2, electronic decisions April 3, and parent replies April 13. That backbone applies to general-purpose member schools. It does not establish an unstated application, aid, specialist, public, or boarding deadline.

Testing, visits, and teacher forms

Book the appointments before the application rush.

For Kindergarten, families schedule JATP directly, and useful appointments begin filling in September and October. Paideia and TCS do not use JATP, so their visits follow each school's own schedule.

For Grades 6 and 9, count back from the last score each school will take. Marist calls January 9 the last likely first-score date for its file, and Pace and HIES accept a standard SSAT through January 30. HIES schedules its on-campus evaluations by grade in January and February. Which schools use JATP, SSAT, or their own evaluation is set out in the admissions guide.

Teacher-release timing is another gate. Several schools ask families to wait until December 1, while Trinity uses January 1 for certain records and forms. Authorize the request early, but tell the current school when the receiving school permits transmission.

Current anchors and unresolved pages

Use the confirmed dates and turn missing ones into calls.

Woodward confirms the February 1 application and April 3 decision on its main page. AIS explicitly offers rolling and virtual review, but its public admission calendar still shows older dates. Missing does not mean optional.

Public answers follow different clocks

A five-day public offer can arrive before private decisions—or months after them.

Fall 2027 APS dates remain unpublished. The prior cycle produced open-enrollment offers from late February into May, with five calendar days to accept. Atlanta Classical’s Grade K lottery fills a planned cohort, while later grades mainly fill attrition; its current information sessions are public, but application dates are not.

Drew’s prior lottery resolved in May, after April private contracts. Fulton Innovation Academy opens October 1 for eligible rising Grade 9 students, but has not published the closing or lottery dates.

When the ideal plan slips

A missed gate needs a recovery tree, not wishful calendar math.

First ask whether the school will accept the missing item, place the child in a wait pool, or consider a late file only after on-time applicants. Ask the aid office separately; an open seat does not mean an open aid budget. Save the answer, the contract deadline, and the amount at risk in one place.

If testing is late, identify schools that accept an alternative current score, ordinary school testing, or their own evaluation. If the private list fails, keep the zoned public school, APS transfer or charter, district magnet, and a credible current-school return active. A May public offer can be worth more than an April private deposit, but only after the private withdrawal clause is understood.

For a late relocation, call rolling schools, specialist programs, and nearby boarding schools with four questions in the same email: exact grade capacity, remaining aid, remote steps, and the date the contract becomes binding. Do not let “we welcome applications” stand in for a usable seat.

Keep going

Add fit and money to every date.

For how each school reads a file, start with the Atlanta private school admissions guide. Then continue with the Atlanta list and commute guide and the financial-aid guide.