Hi! My school’s university counsellor sets a much earlier deadline for students to send in their Common App. She wants me to send in my application by November 30 (the Common App deadline is January 1). Her reason for this is that she will send in school documents for students only after they send in their application. However, I don’t remember there being such a rule in the application process. For what I know, there is no fixed order for any of the application components for which I have to send in to a university. My counsellor is kinda strict about this, and I am currently very busy dealing with other course assignments. Hence. I’m wondering if I can just lie to my counsellor that I’ve already sent my application to the university so that she’ll send in my school documents first. Would she be able to check that I have not send in my Common App application? Is there a portal in which counsellors can keep tabs of their students’ application process?
You understand that the counselor LoR is one that the colleges take seriously and trying to work around her to suit yourself is a high risk strategy, right? B/c you want that LoR to be positive.
I doubt that she dropped this deadline on you at the last minute (guessing you have known all term), the deadline is still 2 weeks away and your only explanation is that you have other stuff to do. So do all your classmates- who she also has to wrangle. Lying would be a very very bad idea. Procrastination time is up!
Here’s the problem: you’re not the only kid in your school applying to college.
The school will send packets only after you submit your application; that’s a pretty standard practice. But once you submit a request for that packet to be sent, a whole lot of paperwork has to be filed to get your complete packet sent. And that’s true for every member of your senior class, for each and every application that goes out. And the day you submit that request to guidance, your request goes to the bottom of the stack… behind the 10 or 12 requests by each of the kids who have done it before you.
The answer to your question is yes, she can check. As a classroom teacher, I can go to the Common App site to upload a letter of recommendation for any of our seniors. At that time, I can see which schools you’ve applied to, who else has submitted a letter, and so on.
So, should you lie to your counselor about having already submitted an application? One that opened on AUGUST 1st, with essay prompts that were out last spring?? Because you’re busy?
Well, you can try. And hope that she’s not too “busy” to get around to your paperwork before the deadline. Or too busy to write the kind of letter you want from your college counselor, as opposed to one that says you’re willing to manipulate the truth if it’s convenient to do so.
Spend the time necessary today to get the paperwork done, and hit SUBMIT already.
Also, just as an FYI, you’re aware that the Common App experienced some real issues just before the ED deadline a week or so ago, right? Anyone who waited until the last minute experienced a couple of real angst filled hours.
I bet they are tired of students changing their list over winter break, and they have students (and parents) bugging them over the holidays for transcripts and recs. Making you apply by Nov 30 solves that problem, and they have a few weeks in Dec to get their components done.