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Accepting and Declining GoCPS Offers

For offers extended during the initial selections round, applicants need to make a decision to accept or decline on their GoCPS account by the posted deadline, known as the accept/decline deadline. Offers will expire after this date and cannot be reversed.

How It Works

  • When initial offers are released in the spring, all families/students who completed a GoCPS application by the fall deadline will be notified that results are available in their GoCPS account.
  • If you receive an offer for either a Choice or Selective Enrollment program, you must choose to accept or decline the offers by the deadline. Only one offer can be accepted, automatically declining any other offers. If no decision is made, the offer will expire and go to the next student on the waitlist.
  • During the initial selections window, families/students will have three weeks to make a decision on whether to accept or decline their offers. Applicants can change their mind WITHIN this three-week period as many times as they need by simply logging into their GoCPS online account and updating their decision.
  • At the end of the three weeks, once the accept/decline deadline passes, families can choose to decline a previously accepted offer. If a family DECLINES an offer after the accept/decline deadline has passed, they cannot go back and change that decision once submitted. If they decide they want that offer back, they will need to rejoin the waitlist when it opens.

Group of students smiling

Accepting/Declining an Offer

Log into your GoCPS account before the posted deadline.

  • Click “Accept” or “Decline”
  • Click “Submit” to finalize.
  • Once an offer is accepted, the student will have a seat in the program. The school that the family has accepted will reach out with next steps and the enrollment process will begin.
  • If the offer is declined, the seat is offered to the next student on the Rolling Waitlist.
  • Applicants can view the confirmation page on their GoCPS account after they submit their decision. Print this page or save it as PDF.

Accepting Offers

  • Only one offer can be accepted. Accepting an offer will automatically decline all other offers that are open or previously accepted. If you accept an offer for a Choice program, any offers for Selective Enrollment programs will automatically be declined and vice versa.
  • Accepting an offer does not affect the student’s waitlist status for any CHOICE program. You can accept an offer, and if you later receive an offer from a school where your child was waitlisted, you can accept that offer instead.
  • Accepting a Selective Enrollment offer means you will be removed from the waitlist of any other Selective Enrollment program you had been waitlisted for, even if ranked higher. Applicants will remain on the waitlist for programs in Choice categories.
  • If you’re unable to log in or apply via phone, contact the GoCPS Hotline before the offer expires to ensure that it is accepted in time.
  • If an offer is accepted and later you want to decline it, you can do so, but no previously declined or expired offers will be reinstated.
  • If you accept an offer from another school and later want to stay in your current school, contact OAE for next steps.

Declining/Expired Offers

If an applicant declines an offer after the Accept/Decline Deadline, they cannot go back and change that decision after the deadline. If an offer is accidentally declined, the family should contact the GoCPS Hotline as soon as possible. If an offer is declined, in most cases, it has already gone to the next student on the waitlist and will no longer be available to that student so think carefully before submitting your decision. Families should immediately rejoin the waitlist in case the action can not be reversed.

Office of Access & Enrollment (OAE)

773-553-2060

gocps@cps.edu

Chicago Public Schools
42 W. Madison St, 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60602