Benjamin Banneker Academic High School is a selective DC Public Schools (DCPS) high school. Families do not apply to it directly. They apply through My School DC, the common application for DC public schools, and Banneker scores each application itself. This guide lists the dates My School DC has published for fall 2027 entry, then explains what is not yet published so you do not plan around a guess.
The short version
Three dates are published for the fall 2027 high school application:
| Date | What happens | | --- | --- | | February 1, 2027, 11:59 p.m. | My School DC application deadline | | February 8, 2027, 5:00 p.m. | Selective high school recommendations due | | March 12, 2027, 5 p.m. | Last time to update your school rankings |
My School DC says families can edit a submitted application any time before February 1, 2027. That means you can submit early and still fix things. It also says you cannot submit at all if you are missing required information, so gather everything first.
Who can apply
Banneker takes applications for Grade 9 and Grade 10. Its rubric adds a note about the tenth grade: interviews for Grade 10 applicants are held only if there are seats available for the coming school year. If you are applying for Grade 10, expect less certainty about whether a seat exists.
A student can apply to up to 12 high schools on one My School DC application. The order you rank them tells My School DC the order in which you want to be matched. For a selective school, My School DC says ranking does not affect your chances of acceptance. Rank by where your student most wants to go.
Public school enrollment in DC also requires proof of DC residency. My School DC's residency page says families must provide proof of residency in the District. The page we reviewed does not state a tuition for families who live outside DC, so we do not state one. Read that page early if there is any question about your address.
How admission works, in order
Banneker admits by criteria, not by random lottery. My School DC puts it plainly: admission to a selective high school or program is based on students meeting specific criteria, not random lottery. The process listed for Banneker has three steps: application review, an in-person essay written on site, and a family interview.
In practice the order looks like this:
1. You submit the My School DC application, including the online essay and the required report cards. 2. Recommenders submit their forms by February 8. 3. Banneker scores the report cards, the essay and the recommendations. Applicants who score above the school's baseline are invited to interview. 4. Invited applicants attend an in-person, on-site interview with a parent, guardian or other close family member over 18, and write a short prompt on paper at the end. 5. Eligible applicants are ranked in the My School DC lottery process.
The interview and on-site writing dates are not published in the sources we reviewed. Banneker schedules them for invited applicants, so watch your email and your My School DC account.
What to gather before February 1
My School DC's page lists these items for Banneker:
- Report cards. The listing we reviewed asks for the final report card from the prior year and the first quarter report card from the current year. Both must be submitted for the application to be considered.
- Two essays. One is submitted online in the application, with a 5,000 character limit. The other is written in person on site.
- Three recommendations. The listing names the English teacher, the Math teacher, and a counselor or administrator. They are completed online through My School DC.
Banneker's rubric describes the same three recommendations, from the Principal, Assistant Principal or School Counselor and the student's Math and ELA teachers. Each is worth up to 8 points. A missing recommendation receives zero points, so follow up with each recommender. You can check status and send reminders from your My School DC account.
A caution about the school year on the page
The requirements chart on My School DC is headed SY2026-27 and names report cards from SY24-25 and SY25-26. Banneker's rubric says it is in effect for the SY25-26 and SY26-27 admissions cycles. Fall 2027 entry is the SY27-28 cycle. We did not find a rubric or requirements listing that names SY27-28.
The deadline of February 1, 2027 is shown on the same My School DC page, so the dates above are current. The report card years and the essay question are the parts most likely to change, so recheck the listing when My School DC posts the next one. Do not assume that an older rubric still applies without checking.
What is not published yet
We looked for these and did not find them:
- The date the fall 2027 application opens. The previous cycle's quick start guide listed an opening in mid-December, but that is a prior-year date and not a promise.
- Interview and on-site essay dates.
- Lottery results and enrollment deadlines for 2027.
- Seat counts and an admit rate.
- Any attendance rule. The rubric does not list attendance as a scored part.
If a source later publishes any of these, trust that source over this page.
A simple plan
Treat February 1 as the real finish line, not the starting line. A reasonable order is to set up your My School DC family account, name your three recommenders and confirm their email addresses, ask the school counselor that the report cards Banneker lists are on file, draft the online essay in a word processor, and then rank and submit. Allow time at the end for recommenders who are slow to respond, since those are due a week after the application.
If your student is writing the essay, remember that My School DC says the application has no spellcheck or character count. Write it elsewhere first, check the limit, then paste it in.
For help applying these dates to your own student, you can start with the EduAvenues high school admissions page. The full dates are also on our timeline, with the application overview and FAQ alongside.
Sources
- My School DC: Applying to High School
- DC Public Schools: Banneker Admissions Process Rubric
- My School DC: DC Residency Requirements
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