Manual has posted the 2027 to 2028 checklists for four magnets and linked a score sheet for each. The sheets assign points. They do not print a cutoff, a seat count, or how points become an offer. The YPAS page on the same site is still labeled for last year.
duPont Manual High School has published the file a parent must turn in for fall 2027, and it is not one application. On sites.google.com/jefferson.kyschools.us/dupontmanualadmissions, checked October 3, 2026, both the Jefferson County Public Schools Options and Magnet application and Manual's own online file are due by December 18, 2026. Those links are not live yet. The site says they appear on November 2, 2026. Four magnet pages link score sheets. None of those sheets prints a minimum score for an offer.
A rubric, in Manual's own wording, is the score sheet linked at the bottom of each magnet page.
What does every applicant have to file?
Two applications. The admissions home page says you complete the JCPS Options and Magnet application first, then enter the person ID from the JCPS confirmation email. The JCPS Student Assignment page sets that window as November 2, 2026, through December 18, 2026. Applications are processed together at the end of the period, not in the order they arrive. Files after the deadline depend on building capacity and on admission criteria if a program requires them.
Recommendations are due January 5, 2027. Manual emails a form to the address you type in. Paper forms and letters are not accepted. Confirm the email with the recommender before you submit.
The home page says reviewers look at achievement test scores, attendance, extracurricular involvement, grades, personal essays, and recommendations. It says no single one of those is supposed to decide admission, and that more than one person reads each file. It does not rank the factors. Jefferson County residency is required. Students cannot transfer between magnets after they enroll.
If your child is already in JCPS, the High School University, Journalism and Communication, Visual Arts, and Youth Performing Arts School pages say Manual will pull attendance, the transcript, school test scores, and grades. Math Science Technology limits that line to students who have been in JCPS for the past three years. An ACT or SAT report is optional.
Students outside JCPS upload records, and the pages do not agree on who that is. High School University and Math Science Technology say to upload if the student missed any part of the last three years in JCPS: three years of attendance, test scores, two years of grades, and the current report. The High School University list also prints the word Amplify and does not say what to attach. Journalism and Communication and Visual Arts say upload if the student "has not attended a JCPS school," and they add a behavior report. Manual has not published one rule for a student who split those years.
The attendance note differs too. High School University and Math Science Technology ask for one if the three year total is more than 15 absences. Journalism and Communication and Visual Arts use more than 10. The score sheets then score average absences per year, not that total.
Manual's FAQ says students may use tools, including AI, to organize ideas or check grammar. AI must not write the essays, responses, or recommendations. Journalism and Communication and Visual Arts add that AI must not create the work. The old login at admissions.dupontmanual.com, opened October 4, 2026, showed "The application and recommendation period for duPont Manual / YPAS has ended." A free bus sentence was not on that page. Use the Google site.
The posted High School Choices guide is the 2026 to 2027 book. Its cover window is November 3 through December 19, 2025. It does not print these prompts or these sheets, and it spells two programs High School/University and Journalism and Communications. Day to day differences are in Which duPont Manual Magnet Is Right for Your Child?
What do the score sheets actually assign?
Points by section. Not a cutoff, and not a line that says the highest total gets the seat.
The FAQ says public school applicants do not get priority over private school applicants, and that applications are scored with the same rubric, linked from each magnet page. The four sheets are not one form.
The High School University page says that sheet was approved in September 2026. The Visual Arts page and the Journalism and Communication page say their sheets were approved in September 2025. The Math Science Technology sheet says updated September 2026.
Test scores start with MAP. If there is no MAP score, the sheets name KPREP or Iowa Test of Basic Skills reading stanines. Each says a rubric for i-Ready is pending, and that if both are turned in, the higher score is used. High School University and Visual Arts list reading of 232 and above and math of 241 and above at 5 points each. Math Science Technology lists reading of 244 and above and math of 265 and above at 5 points each. The Journalism and Communication sheet scores reading only, with 244 and above at 10 points.
Behavior is 0 to 5 on all four sheets: 5 points for no referrals and no suspensions, and 0 points for seven or more referrals or three or more suspensions. Only Journalism and Communication and Visual Arts say JCPS will pull a behavior report, and that a student who has not attended a JCPS school must send one. Manual has not published that pull on the other two checklists.
The FAQ says grades 10, 11, and 12 may be accepted based on space and program rules. The sheets are written around middle school grades. Manual has not published a separate sheet for those grades.
What does High School University require?
A student written essay of no more than 400 words, six activities, and two recommendations.
The page asks what school experiences led the student to apply. The six activities go on the online file, with a role, a short impact line, and a time commitment. One recommender must be a middle school teacher who knows the academic work. The other can be a middle school teacher, a coach, a sponsor, or a community member. A family recommendation will not be accepted and could count against the score. The sheet says a community recommendation may be considered if acceptable, and it prints no deduction. Activity points top out at six activities with at least two to three years in each, plus one bonus point for leadership.
What does Math Science Technology require?
Two short answers under 200 words, one essay of no more than 400 words, six activities, a math teacher, and a science teacher.
The page asks why this magnet instead of another Manual magnet, which current Manual clubs the student plans to join, and either the biggest challenge faced or a time the student failed and kept going. A recommendation from a family member, or from a teacher who is not math or science, will not be accepted and could count against the score. The sheet does not print a number for that penalty.
Activity points use middle school activities only. The top row is six activities, including three the sheet treats as math, science, or technology, with samples such as Science Olympiad, robotics, and Math Counts. That is not the high school club list linked from the essay. Schools without those clubs are scored on another column. The sheet does not define how a reader decides a club counts. Recommendations on this sheet are one scale from 1 to 10, and it does not say how two teacher forms become that number. The top writing mark asks for every prompt and a connection to math, science, or technology.
What does Journalism and Communication require?
An original essay of no more than 750 words, one to three work samples, six activities, and two teachers.
The page defines original as wholly the student's work: not generated, suggested, or corrected by AI, not made with another person, and not taken from a template. The essay has to say why the student wants the magnet, and either a time the student took an unpopular stand or a belief the student investigated or acted on. A sole creator declaration has to sit at the top of the essay and again on the slides. New work made for the application is allowed.
Samples go in one Google Slides file. Students may pick up to three categories: design, photos, video, a speech, a podcast, a short story, poems, a news or feature piece, nonfiction, or multimedia. The page sets how many examples each category needs. Each piece needs the software, the reason, and the audience, and anyone with the link has to be able to view it.
One recommender must be the current or last year's language arts teacher. The other must be a teacher who knows the academic work. The sheet deducts 2 points if the language arts form is not from the required seventh or eighth grade language arts teacher, or if the second form is not from a teacher. Those two descriptions are not the same sentence. Activity points here reward leadership over more than one year in work the sheet calls clearly related to the magnet, not a raw count of six clubs. The essay and the samples are 10 points each, under a heading of 20 additional points.
What does Visual Arts require?
A 500 word essay, six activities, an art questionnaire, three artworks, three exercises, and two teachers.
The essay asks for the moment that led the student to apply, and how it points at future goals. One recommender must be the current art teacher. The other must be a teacher who knows the academic work. The page does not add the family warning the other two academic pages use.
The three artworks are favorite middle school pieces, in class or outside it, with size and materials. The page encourages observation rather than copying a photograph, and it says cartoons or similar styles have to be the student's own. Photos should be large and well lit. The exercises are a separate slideshow, with the link placed in the file. The sheet names the three it scores, up to 10 points each: a closet drawing, a notan design, and a glass of water drawing.
Activity rows on that sheet top out at five activities for 10 points, plus one leadership bonus. The application says to list six. The sheet does not say what the sixth does to the score.
What does the YPAS page still show?
A performance resume, a one page essay, two recommendations, and an audition. Not a points rubric.
The Youth Performing Arts School page on Manual's site is still labeled 2026 to 2027. It says selection uses test scores, academic achievement, essays, recommendations, auditions, and a writing prompt completed on site. The checklist asks for a resume, a typed one page essay on a challenge and on preparing the audition, and two recommendations. Those can come from a school teacher, a private instructor, a director, or another community member. The FAQ says YPAS has to be first choice on the JCPS form.
Audition pieces are not on this page. Details are emailed after the application and both recommendations are in. The school admissions page it links did not load on October 3, 2026, so no audition score sheet is quoted here. This Manual page says approved in September 2022, and its attendance note still cites more than five absences in 2022 to 2023, 2023 to 2024, or 2024 to 2025. The Choices guide names the on site writing prompt and attaches no points. Manual has not published a YPAS score sheet next to the other four.
What have these pages not settled?
The second choice date. The FAQ still says second choice applicants will not be notified until March 2025, and that those files are reviewed only if seats remain after first choice decisions. Manual has not published a 2027 to 2028 date there. The district wait list page puts middle and high school second choice processing at February 5, 2027, through March 4, 2027, and says second choice and late applications are not on the wait list. Letters the week of March 8, 2027, are for traditional magnets that use a lottery. Manual is not described as one. The page says a criteria program that is at capacity can contact a family if a seat opens. It does not say Manual will, and it does not issue a Manual wait list number.
Manual's FAQ says bus service is not available to every accepted student, and that only students directly certified for free and reduced lunch get JCPS transportation.
What should you save before November 2?
Open the page for the one magnet your child will apply to and save the score sheet at the bottom. Ask the two people that page names, and confirm the email each one will use. File the JCPS application first, then Manual's file, between November 2 and December 18, 2026. Recommendations are due January 5, 2027, on the emailed form.
The home page lists visits for eighth graders who are not JCPS students, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on October 8, October 15, and October 22, and says the visit is intended for families who are moving into JCPS prior to the start of the school year. Jefferson County residency is still required to enroll.
If your child is new to JCPS, the FAQ says register before applying. It lists the Office of Access and Opportunity at 502 485 3650, and in person help at the Office of School Choice, 4309 Bishop Lane, the Office of Multilingual Learners, 1325 Bluegrass Avenue, or any school. Families moving into Jefferson County are told to call 502 485 6250 about proof of residence. That call is not a cutoff. JCPS has not published one. The same closing line on the admissions home page, and on the FAQ and the High School University page, prints duPont Manual High School Admissions Contact at 120 West Lee Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40208, with 502 315 0984 and manual-admissions@jefferson.kyschools.us.