Last year, Payton College Prep was the most difficult of CPS' 10 selective-enrollment high schools to get into. An application deadline looms Friday. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Ted Cox

THE LOOP — A major deadline looms Friday for parents and students seeking to gain entry to the city's top public schools.

Parents seeking to get their children into kindergarten in a magnet school or into a gifted program in the fall, as well as eighth-graders applying to one of the city's 11 selective-enrollment high schools, all face a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Friday to get in their applications.

Selective-enrollment elementary schools and high-school military and International Baccalaureate programs also have the same deadline.

Chicago Public Schools began the process in October. By now students should have obtained a Personalized Identification Number; the deadline for that passed Dec. 1.

The application rules and acceptance process vary depending on which type of a school a student is trying to gain access to.

For instance, parents can apply to 20 different magnet schools, either online or by delivering a completed application to CPS' Office of Access and Enrollment, 42 W. Madison St., in person during business hours or postmarked by Friday.

Students can apply to only six selective-enrollment high schools, but again can do so either online or by hand or mail.

The 11 selective-enrollment high schools are Brooks, Hancock, Jones, King, Lane, Lindblom, Northside, Payton, South Shore, Westinghouse and Young. Admission to the schools is based on a number of criteria, including entrance exam scores.

Gifted and classical elementary school admission also is based in part on students' scores on entrance exams. Magnet school slots are allocated by a lottery.

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