School Enrolement (Dubai)

Good day, just looking for advice regarding schools. We will be arriving in Dubai in April Protected content .
It clearly isn't as easy as showing up at a school and enrolling your kids. From what we've seen there are a lot of schools to apply to with various different programs and lots of waiting lists.
Should we apply to many schools in hopes of getting into one?
All schools want a non-refundable deposit for the application process and this will cost us thousands of dollars for a "chance" of getting in. We'd be giving money away to schools we don't even get into. Is this just the way it is?
Any advice? How did the rest of you do it?