Hi,
we live in Atwater and did the whole tour/waitlist thing. For some schools, like the one our son is at now, we had to get on a waitlist even to go on the orientation!!! We called in June 2006, got called to go on the orientation in December 2006 and filled out an application shortly thereafter. We were called for a play date (mutual evaluation) in July 2007, and a few days later were accepted for Sept enrollment. We called a handful of times throughout to check in and make sure they hadn't lost our application--and they hadn't; it just took that long! We visited about 5 schools total and eventually were accepted to all of them, so it is possible! but it did take time, some much longer than others. Before getting into it I had no idea about all this. The good news is we are happy with the school and feel we found the right place for our family. ). Regardless of selectivity/waitlists, it's good to have 1) a sense of your own family's priorities (which you quickly figure out throughout the orientation process if you haven't before), 2)a back-up plan, and 3) a sense of humor about it all! Good luck!