Lottery Details

Big Picture application is open to students in grades 6-12. Big Picture’s lottery follows the below priority groups:  

Students residing within Highline Public Schools.  

• Students residing within Highline Public Schools.  
• Children of full-time staff members that work at Big Picture.   
• Students with a sibling currently enrolled at Big Picture attending the same school during the same year 

If there are more applications than space at any grade level, a lottery will be conducted and include all completed applications of resident students.  

Waitlist Process: 

Students not accepted in the lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If a student who received a seat through the lottery process, chooses not to attend, their seat will be filled from the waitlist at their grade level.  

*If you reside outside of the Highline School District boundaries and you wish to apply to Big Picture, you are encouraged to apply after the initial lottery. Non-resident applications will only be considered when the application window reopens after the lottery is complete if space allows.  

CHOICE Academy application is open to students in grades 6-12. CHOICE Academy’s lottery follows the below priority groups:  

• Students residing within Highline Public Schools.   
• Children of full-time staff members that work at CHOICE Academy.  
• Students with a sibling currently enrolled at CHOICE Academy attending the same school during the same year 

If there are more applications than space at any grade level, a lottery will be conducted and include all completed applications of resident students.  

Waitlist Process: 

Students not accepted in the lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If a student who received a seat through the lottery process, chooses not to attend, their seat will be filled from the waitlist at their grade level.  

*If you reside outside of the Highline School District boundaries and you wish to apply to CHOICE Academy, you are encouraged to apply after the initial lottery. Non-resident applications will only be considered when the application window reopens after the lottery is complete if space allows.

Highline Virtual Academy application is open to students in grades 6-12. Highline Virtual Academy’s lottery follows the below priority groups: 

• Students residing within Highline Public Schools.   
• Children of full-time staff members that work at Highline Virtual Academy. 

If there are more applications than space at any grade level, a lottery will be conducted and include all completed applications of resident students.  

Waitlist Process: 

Students not accepted in the lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If a student who received a seat through the lottery process, chooses not to attend, their seat will be filled from the waitlist at their grade level.  

*If you reside outside of the Highline School District boundaries and you wish to apply to Highline Virtual Academy, you are encouraged to apply after the initial lottery. Non-resident applications will only be considered when the application window reopens after the lottery is complete if space allows.  

Maritime application is open to students in grades 9-12. Maritime lottery follows the below priority groups: 

Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) application for the academic year is open to students entering grades 11 and 12. Students that apply to Puget Sound Skills Center will select which programs they wish to attend. Counselor input will be considered before the lottery is conducted to support student schedules and pathway to graduation. Each program offers an AM and PM session. PSSC’s lottery follows the below priority groups: 

• Students residing in Highline 
• Students residing in the Consortium including Federal Way, Tahoma and Tukwila school districts 
• Currently enrolled PSSC students who wish to return for a second year. These students must re-apply. To continue in the same program, students must demonstrate mastery of required content and skills to advance to year 2. Those who meet this requirement earn advanced status and receive priority in the lottery to the same program.
• Students who are applying for the second year in a different program will be placed into the lottery as a first year student.

 A lottery will be conducted for each program and each session individually. 

• The session will be divided into 3 waitlist groups based on student residence. 
  • Lottery Group 1 will include students in the Highline School District.
  • Lottery Group 2 will include students in Consortium districts.
  • Lottery Group 3 will include students in other districts. 

• Once the lottery is conducted, students will receive one offer OR can expect to be placed on waitlists according to the programs they applied to. 
• Students offered a seat will not be placed on a waitlist. 
• The decision to accept or deny an offer is FINAL.

Waitlist Process: 

After the lottery, seats will be filled from the matching waitlist. 

• A Highline seat will be filled from the Highline waitlist.  
• A Consortium seat will be filled from the Consortium waitlist.  
• All other non-resident seats will be filled from the other waitlist. 
• Seats will be filled through the appropriate waitlist until there are no students left on that waitlist. Students offered a seat from the waitlist will automatically be removed from other waitlist positions.
• PSSC’s total enrollment will not exceed 55% Highline, 40% Consortium, and 5% other districts. When a waitlist ends, seat offers rotate across Highline, Consortium and other districts waitlists based on enrollment limits.

*Puget Sound Skills Center summer programming follows a different set of criteria. 

All qualified applicants will fall into one of three separate priority groups. 

Lottery Group #1 

51% of the seats for each freshman class (approximately 55) are reserved for students who live within the boundaries of Highline Public Schools. Students who fall into this category will be placed in lottery group #1 and chosen first. Students in lottery group #1 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If Highline students who are chosen in the lottery choose not to attend RAHS, their seats will be filled through the Highline waitlist until there are no students left on that waitlist. Any additional openings will be filled by the waitlist for lottery group #3. 

Lottery Group #2 

20 seats are reserved for students who reside within the boundaries of Seattle Public Schools. Students who fall into this category will be placed in lottery group #2 and chosen second. Students in lottery group #2 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If Seattle students who are chosen in the lottery choose not to attend RAHS, their seats will be filled through the Seattle waitlist until there are no students left on that waitlist. Any additional openings will be filled by the waitlist for lottery group #3. 

Lottery Group #3 

30 remaining seats will be filled with students from other districts within the Puget Sound Region and placed in lottery group #3. Students in lottery group #3 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If students from lottery group #3 are chosen in the lottery choose not to attend RAHS, their seats will be filled through the lottery group #3 waitlist. *Students who reside outside of the greater Puget Sound region, out of state or out of the country will not be considered. 

Waitlist Process 

Seats that become available after the lottery will be filled from the appropriate waitlist:

• A Highline seat will be filled from the Highline waitlist.
• A Seattle seat will be filled from the Seattle waitlist.
• A Puget Sound regional seat will be filled from the Group #3 waitlist.

All 10th-grade applicants will automatically be placed on the waitlist and will only be considered if space becomes available.

Finalizing Your Placement

If you are selected in the lottery, you will be invited to a commitment meeting with Raisbeck Aviation High School.
Your placement will not be finalized until this meeting occurs and you confirm your intent to attend.

You must confirm your intent and schedule your commitment meeting before the Friday before spring break. Your seat will be offered to another student on the waitlist if you fail to confirm your intent by the deadline. Student Placement will start pulling students from the waitlist in the first week following spring break.

Lottery Group #1

51% of the seats for each freshman class are reserved for students who live within the boundaries of Highline Public Schools. Students who fall into this category will be placed in lottery group #1 and chosen first. Students in lottery group #1 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If Highline students who are chosen in the lottery choose not to enroll at Tyee for the Health Professionals Pathway, their seats will be filled through the Highline waitlist until there are no students left on that waitlist. Any additional openings will be filled by the waitlist for lottery group #2.

Lottery Group #2

49% of seats will be filled with students from other districts within the Puget Sound Region and placed in lottery group #2. Students in lottery group #2 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. If students from lottery group #2 are chosen in the lottery choose not to enroll at Tyee for the Health Professionals Pathway, their seats will be filled through the lottery group #2 waitlist. Any additional openings will be filled by the waitlist for lottery group #1.

Each year, 15 seats per graduating class will be reserved for resident students from each of the following high school service areas: Evergreen, Highline, and Tyee.

If more than 15 students apply from a service area, a lottery will be held. Each high school service area will be placed into a separate lottery group, and lotteries will be conducted in alphabetical order by school name:

• Students who reside in the Mount Rainier High School service area do not need to apply to be considered for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

• Students who live outside of the Highline Public Schools boundaries are not eligible for the IB program lottery. If this applies to you, please do not complete the rest of the application.

Lottery Group #1 - Evergreen HIgh school

Students who reside in Evergreen High School service area will be placed into lottery group #1. This will be the first lottery conducted. Students in lottery group #1 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn. 

Lottery Group #2  - Highline HIgh school

Students who reside in Highline High School service area will be placed into lottery group #2. This will be the second lottery conducted. Students in lottery group #2 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a waitlist in the order their names are drawn.   

Lottery Group #3 - Tyee HIgh school

Students who reside in Tyee High School service area will be placed into lottery group #3. This will be the third lottery conducted. Students in lottery group # 3 who are not chosen in the initial lottery will be placed on a wait list in the order their names are drawn. 

Finalizing Your Placement

If you are selected in the lottery, your assignment at Mount Rainier High School in the IB program will not be finalized until you have confirmed intent to attend by contacting Mount Rainier High School at 206-631-7000. 

All students must confirm their intent to attend Mount Rainer High School’s IB program before the Friday before spring break. 

Lottery information coming soon.