<p>“Identifying deadlines, setting goals, writing your own essays, doing research are all skills that are involved here in the app process. If you believe these are different skill sets than what is needed in college, then I am at a loss.” </p>
<p>There is definite overlap of skill sets. But college app process involves goals and checkpoints that are NOT mapped out by the prof in the syllabus. And there are no reminders from teachers and friends of upcoming “assignments” due dates. Yes, college intensity is often much harder than hs, but the academics tasks (homework, projects, papers - all as defined by the prof) are not so different from hs. </p>
<p>Another complicating factor is that some students, particularly modest students, have difficulty getting traction writing essays about themselves. So when busy with lots of demanding schoolwork and EC, it’s easy for them to procrastinate too long while working on more comfortable projects. For example, I had to remind son that polishing his IB extended essay (he’d get the IB diploma even with moderate score) was not as critical as making some progress on college apps. </p>
<p>And… due to financial consideration, students are often applying to many colleges, with varying deliverables and dates. (My son applied to 9. Admittedly it would have been far easier had one of them not been MIT, with intense and unique requirement.) </p>
<p>So that’s why parents like me that would NEVER dream of being involved in a kid’s academic life feel compelled to do some coaching (and occasional nagging) about planning and deadlines. </p>
<p>Sorry to ramble. Just trying to give food for thought to parents trying to judge the best level of involvement in their situation.</p>
<p>Can you please explain how this actually works - for example if the application is submitted only an hour before, how does the transcript, recommendation letter, secondary school report reach the college on time?</p>
<p>I was under the impression that AFTER the submission of the application, the GC typically sends those via naviance or any other mode to colleges. If the submission happens on the last day, how do the documents reach the college before the deadline?</p>
<p>^ Submitting one hour before due date: This means student pay the application fee and press the “Submit” button to make the application become official. But students can edit and save the essays, and teachers and counselors can upload recommendations, transcipts to the Common App server before the official submittal time. Teachers and counselors require students to arrange for these documents days or weeks ahead.</p>
<p>My son submitted the app 5 or 10 minutes before deadline and got accepted EA. He intended to submit 15 minutes before deadline but things did not work the way he wanted: the server spotted some errors and required him to go back to make couple corrections. I was more nervous than him.</p>
<p>Does that mean the counselors need to submit the documents BEFORE the student pressing the submit button?</p>
<p>Also, what do you mean by students arranging the documents days before. They are sent by school, right?</p>
<p>I was thinking the student HAS to press submit and only then the counselors can send the relevant documents. If the student presses submit just 15 mts before, how can the counselors send the documents BEFORE the deadline? Or does that mean, the counselors can send the documents even after the deadline. Confusing…</p>
<p>The colleges will start a folder for a student whenever the first document comes in - it doesn’t have to be the student’s part of the application. Sometimes parts will go missing and the college will get back to you - for example my son got his part of one college’s application before the Jan deadline and heard in February that they were missing an SAT score (which turned out to be some system wide glitch) and a teacher recommendation (which just had gone mysteriously missing - this teacher’s recommendations got to all the other colleges.) It was no big deal to get both of these problems worked out.</p>
<p>Both my kids sent in applications within hours of being due.</p>
<p>Query, all the little pieces of the application arrive separately, either on line or via snail mail. The parts of the application that your child has to complete himself are what can be submitted minutes before the due date/time.</p>
<p>For example, our high school guidance department needs several weeks to actually pull everything together and send the transcripts, guidance counselor’s rec, and school report. The student needs to submit that request in a timely manner. However, many kids will submit that request as early as the first week of October, as soon as the senior class rankings are put on the transcript. </p>
<p>Same thing with teacher recs. Students may ask teachers for recs at the end of the junior year. It gives the teachers time over the summer to work on them. As soon as the kid decides what colleges he wants the recs sent to, he can give the list, the forms, the envelopes to the teacher, and those can be sent asap in the fall.</p>
<p>All of the pieces of the application have an identifier number (usually the social security number of the student). All of the pieces of the application may sit in limbo at the admissions office until the kid hits “submit” on his part of the application. At that point, all the pieces are put together. If any pieces are missing, the college contacts you via email.</p>
<ol>
<li>“Does that mean the counselors need to submit the documents BEFORE the student pressing the submit button?”</li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, if the documents are required by the time students press “submit”, especially when students submit near the deadline. Other documents can be uploaded later by counselor (ex. end of semester grade report) after students pay and submit the application.</p>
<p>Students need to create an account on the Common App first and let teachers/counselors know their accounts.
Once the account is created, students can edit and save essays, teachers/counselors can upload documents. </p>
<p>There are other things that are submited/mailed outside of common app. For example the SAT test results can be sent by the College Board before students submit Common App application or after students submit Common App application.</p>
<ol>
<li>“Also, what do you mean by students arranging the documents days before. They are sent by school, right?”</li>
</ol>
<p>Students need to know the deadline of each type of document and ask teachers/counselors so that they can have time to write/prepare. Many schools require students request teachers/counselors at least 6 weeks before the document deadline.</p>
<ol>
<li>Also, students pay and submit application for every college they apply. This mean they can have multiple submittals on different days (depending of the deadline imposed by each college).</li>
</ol>
<p>Got some great tips about what to do for a procrastinator from our college counseling office. They listed reasons for the procrastination - fear of rejection, fear of the unknown, feelings of inadequacy, etc. They suggest being supportive without putting more pressure on them. Ask what you can do to help and when you can expect certain things to be done and help set up a timeline. Make spreadsheets, keep folders for each college and print out copies of everything. I’m trying…</p>
<p>If the deadline is Nov 1, does it mean Nov 1 midnight (latest)?</p>
<p>Also, is it OK for the school documents (transcripts, recommendations, etc) to reach the college AFTER the deadline?</p>
<p>Is the deadline MET as long as the student submits all his common app and supplements. And can all the documents reach the college say a couple of days later? how does it work?</p>
<p>@query123, some schools do mention that they will tolerate few days pass deadline for counselors’ school reports and teachers’ rec letters. But you have to check your kid’s EA school’s website for specific info.</p>