<p>If ED applications are due November 1 with notifications going out mid-December, what is the time line for preparing back-up applications for Regular Decision by Jan 1? Does the student just write additional essays, request recs and transcripts and not hit "send" until the decision is received?</p>
<p>I depends on how superstitious you are.</p>
<p>I’m not particularly superstitious, but I’m a planner and think a couple of weeks with winter break in the mix could have the potential for disaster.</p>
<p>@Hunt So true!</p>
<p>I think you request all the transcripts and recommendations now and have them sent. You should have as many applications prepared as you can stand. It’s not easy to write some of the supplementary essays and Why X College statements, especially during the winter holidays depressed that you’ve been deferred or rejected from your ED school. No need to push send and pay all the application fees now.</p>
<p>Gemini, I’m totally with you. The SAT report requests, recommendations and the Common Apps/Supplements don’t have to be sent until after D hears from ED–but she’ll have them ready. At D’s HS, they say to request the transcripts right after Thanksgiving for Jan. 1–so basically, we’ll pay $4/school for the transcript packages for RD schools and have them sent out, but wait on every other piece until Dec. 15th decision comes in. If/when she gets in ED, she’ll just contact the other schools and say, “Ignore the transcript, I won’t be applying.”</p>
<p>Both of mine applied ED I, but they also worked their way through their ED II applications / essays and their RD applications / essays on a rolling schedule throughout the fall, such that they’d be able to press the buttons on the remaining applications should the ED I fall through. </p>
<p>Their ACT/SAT II/AP scores were already sent to all of their schools (yes, I knew it cost more, but there was a peace of mind component for me to know that it was already done). Teachers’ recs were also submitted. I think you need to treat the ED as your “early extra” versus a reason to procrastinate on the rest. Good luck!</p>
<p>Both of my sons applied ED, but completed and submitted most of their RD applications before getting their ED acceptance. Their high school strongly recommends having all applications done by early December even if you apply ED. Yes, it cost me some $$, but I think it was a prudent approach. If one of my sons hadn’t gotten in ED, he would have only had a couple of applications left to finish up in a grumpy mood. Their high school provided form postcards for withdrawing the RD applications.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. There is way too much going on in our house and I am worried about the possibility of inadvertently overlooking something critical or else running out of time. Of course, the best case scenario would eliminate the need for a Plan "B’!</p>
<p>Your student should have all their transcripts and recommendations sent now – in order to meet the high school’s deadline for requesting them, which may be before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>The actual applications can wait. The deadlines come after the ED notification dates. Of course, letting them wait means a busy December if the student is not accepted ED, but on the other hand, if the student is accepted, a lot of work will have been avoided.</p>
<p>If the ED school is close to a sure thing, then DC could wait on writing any other essays. But, if it is at all a reach, or there is any risk, I would have DC write the essays now. It is really, really hard to write a good essay after being rejected by your number one. It is also hard to write a whole pile of essays in two weeks during the holidays. Our HS emphasizes that applications should keep getting done while waiting. You don’t have to hit submit, but if there are essays, get them written.</p>
<p>We went through this with D, except before ED, she applied through Questbridge. When she was not selected through Questbridge, she applied ED. Then when she was deferred to Regular Decision, she had all her apps ready to go. </p>
<p>Since the ED result would be received right when her school was in final exams, she had transcripts already requested and teacher recommendations already taken care of. She knew she would have time to work on/finish essays during winter break, before the January 1 deadline. But she made sure anything that involved the school was taken care of early.</p>
<p>If you have plans for winter break (vacation, etc.) then essays should be done earlier.</p>
<p>She was able to re-work most of her college application essays into scholarship application essays, so even if she had been accepted ED, the effort was not wasted.</p>
<p>“If the ED school is close to a sure thing, then DC could wait on writing any other essays. But, if it is at all a reach, or there is any risk, I would have DC write the essays now. It is really, really hard to write a good essay after being rejected by your number one.”</p>
<p>True.</p>
<p>My son applied EA, not ED, and his #1 was RD (because we didn’t want to do ED for financial reasons). He continued writing the custom essays during the waiting period, and I highly recommend this for all the reasons above. Also, as with college_query, most of those essays ended up being reused for scholarships, so the time was not wasted. I wouldn’t hit the submit-and-pay button until the ED results come in, though.</p>
<p>My older son’s college counselor thought it was very likely he would get in ED - by the time he applied, his stats made his ED school very close to a safety school for him. Nonetheless, the school strongly recommended getting RD applications done by early December. I guess this comes down to your family’s tolerance for taking the risk of a living through a last minute scramble by a grumpy kid to get applications done in December.</p>
<p>Why not just send the RD applications NOW. If your child gets accepted ED, they can immediately inform those schools to withdraw their applications for acceptance…or their acceptances if they happen to get any.</p>
<p>For the love of me, I can’t imagine why students apply to their ED schools and then wait to submit the other applications. Just apply NOW.</p>
<p>^Because if they get in ED they have to go to that school, and many $$$$'s in application fees can be saved by having everything queued up but not pressing “send” until the bad news or deferred news comes on Dec. 15th</p>
<p>Also, thumper, many of these schools have extra essays and such, so it takes time to everything done.</p>
<p>Believe me, I would LOVE to have the whole process over and done with as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the ED app is not finished, the backup list has not been refined yet, and there is too much going on now to comfortably carve out the time for the RD apps. Hopefully after November 1.</p>
<p>One other reason to at least complete (and maybe submit) the RD applications now is that if your kid is rejected from the early school, you might want to add a few more schools. That would be a lot easier to do if all the other apps were already complete.</p>