How to run admissions and a waitlist at a small Montessori school
To run admissions and a waitlist at a small Montessori school, count your open places first, take applications through one form, give every family a status, visit before deciding, and keep the waitlist as a list with a rule for who is offered next. FutureNerds tracks each application's status.
Count your places before you take applications
Start from the classroom. For each room, list the children who will stay next year, subtract them from your capacity and any ratio limit your licensing sets, and check the balance of ages. A primary room needs children in each of its three years.
The result is a short table of openings by classroom and age. An enrollment timeline for next year has the month-by-month calendar that follows from it.
Use one application form
Every family applies the same way, through one form.
Ask only what you need to decide:
- the child's name, date of birth and the program applied for
- each parent's name, email and phone number
- the start date the family wants
- siblings already at the school
- a few open questions about the child, such as how they spend a free morning
- any documents your school needs at this stage
Save health details, pickup permissions and emergency contacts for enrollment, after you've offered a place.
Give every family a status
Decide your statuses once and tell each family when theirs changes.
| Status | What it means to the family |
|---|---|
| Submitted | We have your application. |
| Under review | We're reading it and will be in touch. |
| Visit requested | We'd like to meet your child. Please book a time. |
| Visit scheduled | Your visit is booked. |
| Offered a place | A place is yours if you sign and pay the deposit by the deadline. |
| Waitlisted | No place now. You're on the list for this classroom. |
| Not offered a place | We can't offer a place this year. |
| Withdrawn | You've taken your application back. |
Visit before you decide
A short classroom visit with the child, and a conversation with the parents, tell you more than any form. Set a standard length and format, such as 30 to 45 minutes in the classroom with a parent nearby, followed by 15 minutes with the head of school. Use the same format for every family.
Open house season covers tours that keep the work cycle running.
Write the waitlist rules down
Write these down and give them to every waitlisted family:
- One list per classroom. Each family waits for a place in a named room.
- The order. For example: siblings first, then children who balance the room's ages, then date of application. Whatever you choose, apply it the same way to everyone.
- How long the list lasts. For example, clear it at the end of each school year and ask families to confirm if they're still interested.
- What happens at an offer. How you'll contact the family, how long they have to answer, and what happens if they say no.
- What the family will hear, and when. Send a short check-in each term.
When a place opens, offer it to the next family on the list for that room, by the rule, and note the date and outcome on the list.
How to run admissions at a small school
- Count next year's openings for each classroom and age.
- Publish your enrollment dates before tours start.
- Take every application through one form.
- Set a status for each application on the day it changes, and tell the family.
- Invite applicant children for a classroom visit in the same format each time.
- Send decisions on one published date: offered, waitlisted or not offered.
- Give each offer a deadline for the signed agreement and deposit.
- Keep a waitlist for each classroom with a written rule for the order, and offer places from it as they open.
Doing this in FutureNerds
FutureNerds gives your school a public application form and one list of every application.
- Form builder. On the web, add a welcome message, your programs, standard fields, starter questions and your own questions. Questions can be required and reordered by dragging. There are 9 question types: text, long text, yes/no, checkbox, single select, multi select, date, number and file upload.
- Applying. Families apply at your school's link without making an account. They can save a draft, upload documents and book a visit.
- Application fee. Charge one through Stripe if you use it.
- Decisions. Approve, waitlist, reject or "Ask to Schedule School Visit". Families get an email for each decision.
- Visits. Connect Cal.com so families book visit times. An optional webhook marks the visit Scheduled when they book.
- Statuses. Each application is draft, submitted, under review, visit requested, visit scheduled, approved, waitlisted, rejected, withdrawn or pending verification.
Staff review applications on the web, iPhone, iPad and Android.
FutureNerds is free for your first 10 students, then $0.50 per child per month with no setup fee, and standard Stripe fees plus 1% apply if you collect family payments through it (pricing). See admissions and applications.
Questions and answers
How should a Montessori school order its waitlist?
Write one rule and use it for every family. A common order is siblings first, then children who balance the classroom's ages, then date of application.
Should a small school charge an application fee?
That's your school's choice. If you charge one, say the amount and whether it's refundable on the form itself. FutureNerds can collect it through Stripe.
Can families apply without creating an account?
Yes. In FutureNerds, families fill in the application at your school's link without an account, and can save a draft and come back to it.
Does FutureNerds keep a waitlist?
Yes. Waitlisted is one of the application statuses in FutureNerds, so you can filter the list to see every waitlisted family. The order you offer places in is your school's rule.
Can families book a school visit online?
Yes. Connect Cal.com to FutureNerds and families book a visit time themselves. An optional webhook marks the visit as Scheduled when they book.
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