Enrollment FAQs

A charter school is a tuition-free public school that operates independently from local school districts. As schools of choice, all charter schools are open to any student who wants to apply, regardless of where he or she lives within the state. For more information, visit our "What is a Charter School?" page.

If you are entering 6th grade during the 2025-2026 school year and think that Gateway could be a great fit for you, we encourage you to complete our Enrollment Application online or submit a paper application.

The application will be available in October 2024.

As prescribed by California law, Gateway conducts a lottery for the incoming 6th grade class. San Francisco residents, siblings of current students, children of staff and faculty, and families that qualify for free and reduced lunch are eligible for admission preferences.

To be included in our March lottery for the 2025-2026 school year, you must complete the lottery application by January 31, 2025. Applications can be submitted online or by paper application.

The March lottery is the first enrollment lottery and the majority of our incoming sixth graders are offered enrollment in this lottery.  If an application is submitted after our February deadline or a student is not offered enrollment in March, applicants will be placed in our wait pool. If spaces become available, we will conduct subsequent lotteries from applicants in our wait pool. 

No. Gateway’s enrollment process is completely separate from SFUSD. If you are applying to SFUSD middle schools, do not list Gateway as one of your choices on the District’s enrollment form. Rather, use that form to select the other SFUSD schools that you would like to attend. Please be aware that if you choose to attend Gateway, you will be given a SFUSD enrollment form to fill out. The form is then submitted by Gateway to the Educational Placement Center of SFUSD so that the district knows which students are attending Gateway. Gateway students are part of SFUSD.

No. Students with identified learning differences are enrolled using the same lottery process.

If you’re going into 9th grade and think that Gateway could be a great fit for you, we encourage you to submit an application.  If you are trying to determine whether or not Gateway would be a good fit, we invite you to attend our Enrollment Events this fall. 

As prescribed by California law, Gateway conducts a lottery for the incoming 9th grade class. San Francisco residents, Gateway Middle School students, siblings of current students, children of staff and faculty, and families that qualify for free and reduced lunch are eligible for admission preferences.

You must complete the enrollment application by January 31, 2025 to be included in our March lottery. The application will be available online and in paper form by early October 2024. The March lottery is the first enrollment lottery and the majority of our incoming 9th graders are offered enrollment in this lottery.  

If an application is submitted after the lottery or a student is not offered enrollment during the lottery, applicants will be placed in our wait pool. Subsequent lotteries will be held after this date as seats become available. 

No. Gateway’s enrollment process is completely separate from SFUSD. If you are applying to SFUSD high schools, do not list Gateway as one of your choices on the District’s enrollment form. Rather, use that form to select the other SFUSD schools that you would like to attend. Please be aware that if you choose to attend Gateway, you will be given a SFUSD enrollment form to fill out. The form is then submitted by Gateway to the Educational Placement Center of SFUSD so that the district knows which students are attending Gateway. Gateway students are part of SFUSD.

No. Students with identified learning differences are enrolled using the same lottery process.

The size of the wait pool fluctuates as new applicants join and withdraw from the wait pool. Throughout the school year, the 6th grade wait pool is around 200 students. The 7th and 8th grade wait pools range have approximately 30 students each.

By joining the wait pool, you have let us know that you want to come to Gateway. Though contacting us will not impact enrollment decisions, we always appreciate hearing from you with any questions or concerns. Feel free to write us a letter or send an email to [email protected]

We offer spots to our wait pool as room becomes available in our school. As a result, there are no specific calendar dates for when we offer enrollment to wait pool applicants. 

The wait pool remains active throughout the entire school year. Students in the wait pool may be offered enrollment at any time. 

Yes. It is imperative that you and your family make concrete plans for middle school enrollment, independent of Gateway. Please remember that Gateway's enrollment process is completely separate from the SFUSD enrollment process. Accepting placement at another school will not impact your status in our wait pool. 

Most private and parochial schools require a non-refundable down payment. It is your family's decision whether to accept placement at Gateway once you have paid a down payment and/or tuition.

The regular application is also applicable if you wish  to get your student in the wait pool. For further questions about the wait pool, please email [email protected].