Enrollment Process & Open House

Admissions 2021-2022
Twin Cities German Immersion School (TCGIS) is a tuition-free K-8 charter school conveniently located between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

We are currently accepting applications for grades 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Simply click the below to apply online for the 2021-22 school year. 
Please download our application pdf if you prefer to submit a hard copy. 
Families that receive an offer of enrollment after the lottery will be invited for a virtual open house on March 30th.
Virtual Open House​​
Virtual open houses have not yet been scheduled for the 2021-2022 school year. Please view the virtual school tour and email enrollment@tcgis.org with questions.
How does the lottery work?
The open enrollment period for the 2022–2023 school year ends in February 2022.

​In March 2022,  the Twin Cities German Immersion School (TCGIS) will hold an electronic lottery to place timely applicants on randomized waiting lists by grade for the following school year. Offers for enrollment for available spots in classrooms are made to applicants in mid-March based on the resulting grade-level waiting list order. Click here to learn more about the lottery process at TCGIS.

Age Requirement
Any child who will be five years old by September 1 of the school year in which enrollment is sought is eligible to enroll in the Kindergarten program at Twin Cities German Immersion School.
For higher grades, the same standard of a child being 5 years old by September 1 of the year their grade level peers entered Kindergarten will determine enrollment qualification. If there is no waitlist for a higher grade levels, the early admission policy standards will apply. Please find our Early Admissions Policy 509.2 here (currently under review).

Enrollment Process
Enrollment Process for New Students: Enrollment opens each fall for the following academic year. The enrollment form is available beginning in November of each year and must be submitted by the application deadline for the subsequent school year. The enrollment form must be received by 4:00pm on the application deadline date.

If there are more enrollments than openings in any given class, Twin Cities German Immersion School will hold an electronic lottery. Applications received after the deadline will be automatically added to  the bottom of the appropriate grade’s waiting list in the order they were received.

Twin Cities German Immersion School will maintain a waiting list for every grade level in which there are more students than available spots for the subsequent school year.

Preference Level 1: Siblings of currently enrolled TCGIS students who will be 5 years old by September 1 of the school year for which they are applying. These students will be automatically admitted, are exempt from the lottery, and the number of available kindergarten places will be reduced by the number of children in this category.
Preference Level 2:   Any students who will be 5 years old by September 1 of the school year for which they are enrolling whose parent is a full-time staff member for the subsequent school year. These students will be automatically admitted, are exempt from the lottery, and the number of available kindergarten places will be reduced by the number of children in this category.
Preference Level 3: Any students who will be 5 years old by September 1 of the school year for which they are enrolling and have completed the enrollment application.  If there are more applicants than openings in this category, students will be entered into a lottery and selected at random for enrollment.  A waitlist will be established according to a random lottery drawing after all available spots have been filled.
Preference Level 4: Any student who will be 5 years old between September 2 and October 15 of the school year for which they are enrolling whose sibling has been admitted to TCGIS for the upcoming school year, whether through general admission or via lottery. These students will be admitted after meeting the criteria required in the Early Admissions Policy of the school. If there are no spots available due to preferences 1-3 creating a waitlist, a lottery will be held at random for these students who will be placed at the end of the previously established wait list.
In the event that there is one opening in a given class and the next two or more children on the waiting list for that same class are siblings, possibly, but not limited to twins, all sibling children will be admitted and the class size will be increased over the limit only to accommodate these siblings. No other children will be admitted from the waiting list until the class size drops to one below the limit. If the sibling is on the waiting list for a different class, they remain on the waiting list until a spot opens up.

Enrollment Eligibility
Enrollment in Twin Cities German Immersion School (TCGIS) is open to any child who resides in a Minnesota school district. The school district does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, sexual orientation, age, family-care leave status or veteran status. It does not discriminate in administration of its educational policies, administrative policies, or other school-administered programs.

Knowledge of German Language
German language proficiency is not a legal requirement to enroll at Twin Cities German Immersion School. German Language Proficiency is a skill that can benefit students of all abilities and the school encourages parents of all students to consider whether the immersion setting is right for their child. Research has shown that second language proficiency has a positive effect on first language skill development and that immersion students perform as well as or better than students in a monolingual setting. TCGIS offers individualized German support to students who join us in later grade levels.