Admissions Lottery Process
Overview
On May 20, 2025, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved updated state regulations requiring that any Career Technical Education (CTE) school with more applicants than available seats must use a blind or weighted lottery system for admissions. This applies to students entering Grade 9 beginning in the fall of 2026.
In accordance with 603 CMR 4.00 and our admission policy (approved by the Greater Lowell Technical School Committee in October 2025), a weighted lottery and a demonstration of awareness of Career Technical Education are used to determine admission when the number of applications exceeds the number of available seats. Greater Lowell Technical High School (GLTHS) admits applicants through an electronic, third-party, random-number-generated weighted lottery.
Resident students from Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, and Tyngsborough are selected before any non-resident students. All information regarding criteria for student awareness, weighting, and residency is outlined in our admission policy.
Class of 2030 Lottery Process
- Resident Community Seat Allocation: In accordance with our district agreement, GLTHS utilizes a Resident Community Seat allocation procedure. This uses Grades 1–12 enrollment data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s School Attending Report to ensure a fair distribution of seats across our district communities.
- District Community Lotteries: To ensure fairness and compliance, four separate public lotteries—one each for Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, and Tyngsborough—will be conducted. These will use a third-party electronic system that performs a randomized, weighted lottery.
- The Selection Process: To protect student confidentiality, each applicant is assigned a unique Lottery ID. For each district community, the system will randomly select students, taking into account any weights they have earned. Randomly selected students within each district community are offered admission until that community’s specific allotment is filled.
- Waitlist Placement: Remaining students are placed on waitlists organized by district community, ordered from lowest to highest lottery position number.
- Non-Resident & Late Applications: These applicants are drawn from additional weighted lotteries only if seats remain available after all district residents have been processed and the waitlists have been cleared.
Notification of Lottery Results
- Email Notifications: Within two business days following the completion of the lottery, all applicants receive an email at the address provided on their application, notifying them whether they have been offered admission or placed on the waitlist.
- Public Results: The official lottery results for the Class of 2030 will be posted on our website within two business days after completion of the March 20, 2026, lottery. Lists will be organized by community and will show Lottery ID numbers in the order drawn, indicating admission or waitlist status. These lists will be updated on the first business day of each month.
- Waitlisted Students: The waitlists posted on the website will be updated on the first business day of each month, allowing students and families to stay informed on their waitlist status. The Admissions Office will continue to contact waitlisted students as seats become available and will provide instructions on how to accept the offer.
Enrollment
- Securing a Seat: If your child is offered admission, you will have 10 calendar days to log into the application portal and enroll/register the student to secure their seat.
- Declined Acceptance: If we do not receive a response within that 10-day period, the student's acceptance will be rescinded and considered a declined acceptance, and their seat will be offered to the next applicant on the waitlist.
- Promotion Requirement: To enroll at GLTHS for the fall, applicants must have been promoted by their local district to the grade they wish to enter.
- Application Accuracy: Acceptance and enrollment at GLTHS are conditioned upon the accuracy and completeness of the student’s application. The District reserves the right to revoke its conditional acceptance of any student, at any time, if it is determined that the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) or the student’s sending school district provided inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information during the application or enrollment process.
Important Admissions Dates - 2026-2027
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
|
Applications Due (Class of 2030/Grade 9) |
February 2, 2026 - Deadline Passed for Class of 2030 Lottery |
|
Class of 2030 Admissions Lottery for (Fall 2026 Admission) |
March 20, 2026 |
|
Grade 10 Transfer Applications Due (Class of 2029 |
June 1, 2026 |
|
Grade 10 Transfer Acceptance Notifications (Class of 2029) |
August 2026 (anticipated) |
Lottery for Transfer Applicants: If openings remain in grade 10, lotteries will be conducted based on Career and Technical Education (CTE) program interest. Transfer students selected through the lottery will be notified of their acceptance in August 2026.