<p>Sounds like a Michigan kid with th hard deadline for every piece of the app. I would tell her you will help and to ask for a day and time. Just pull up a chair, provide support and help until she hits submit. I bet it’s just a touch of anxiety, of feeling like “this is it and it’s not as perfect as I want.” As long as the test score is ordered and the teacher reqs are requested she’s there except for that pesky submit button. Been there, done that.</p>
<p>I am laughing because we have a similar situation. Apps with November 1 deadline are 90% done but little things like simple biographical information and list of activities are yet to be filled in. But we are going crazy as each day passes because she is away at boarding school and we really can do little to get things moving. Finally last evening, my H who is a planner and likes to have things taken care of well before deadlines, called her college counselor in utter frustration. Her college counselor who has been doing this for 23 years calmly said “what are you worried about she has another week? No worries we have this covered.”</p>
<p>So we just opened a bottle of wine and figured worse possible scenario she just applies RD, and she will have to live with whatever advantage she might lose through early application/legacy.</p>
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<p>Are you sure she wants to apply to the schools you want her to? Maybe she is afraid to let you down by admitting that her dreams are not the same as yours.</p>
<p>Kids in our mid-Atlantic and northeastern region learned from two successive storms in late October that they should get their applications ready - there were a lot of power and internet/cable outages as the deadlines for EA, ED, and some scholarships hit in '11 and '12. Nobody wanted to take a chance last year, but young people have short memories. </p>
<p>I would tell her this fact: the Common App servers DO go down sometimes, especially the day before and the day of big deadlines like Nov 1, Jan 1, etc. I would tell her she MUST submit by midnight on Oct. 30 to avoid stressing both of your out mightily on top of the current stress. Then… let her know you are available to help in anyway (puzzle through any steps, provide the credit card to pay the fee, proofread when she prints them out, etc). And step back.</p>
<p>@woogzmama - I do remember those storms but also remember that almost all the schools extended the deadlines for that region.</p>
<p>Oh boy, this hits home for us too. I originally gave D an October 10th deadline to have her parts done. I checked with her on the 15th and, although she was 90% done, she was unhappy with a couple of the supplemental essays. She asked if I’d go over the commonapp itself and make sure it was all set while she concentrated on the essays. On Sunday, I gave her a deadline of today and offered to proof her essays which she declined. I did go over each of the schools individually and made notes of what needed still to be done and what she might want to change. This morning I handed her my charge card and told her I wanted all applications in today before I got home. I’m just afraid she will write and rewrite these questions/essays over and over until the last minute hoping for perfection. I don’t like to be so controlling but her anxiety is getting out of hand and I think I’m doing her a favor (or at least I hope I am). She is an IB student and just handed in her 4000 word extended essay draft this week too…she really needs some downtime and this will be the week! Homecoming tonight, Halloween parties next weekend, a few girl scout events and then she can hit it hard again the first of November.</p>
<p>My son has three assignments to make up this weekend, is at a college camp, and he has not started anything on his ED essay (the CA one, not even the extra ones) except written two one-line descriptions of things he might include.</p>
<p>90% done sounds like a dream come true for us.</p>
<p>SOOO nice to read this thread and learn D2’s not the only one! Another boarding school kid, had told me she was working on essays with college counselor and English teacher, I was at visitor’s day last weekend and discovered she had done nothing of the sort! And of course her anxiety is affecting how she’s dealing with the regular coursework as well…We had a good mutual work session Tuesday night by Skype getting the activity section of the common app done, it’s just the essays that are lingering. And the English teacher and college counselor are now in the loop.</p>
<p>I helped my son with some of the “busy” work on the apps. I think it is CRAZY how time consuming these apps are these days. I filled in all the stuff I could for him. The activities, the extra curricula’s, schedule test scores etc. Frankly, as seniors, with clubs, AP’s etc. Its crazy. Why do they have to self record everything and THEN upload a resume or transcript. Once all the busy stuff was done, I handed it off to him and he did all the essays and stuff that needed personal writing. It was a good way to get all the Early action ones done on time. </p>
<p>Plus, once you are done, you have time to get onto the teachers. Their recommedations have to be in too. Most of my son’s apps are done, but he literally has a meeting with different teachers every day trying to help them figure out how to download their recommendation etc. Make sure you D checks on her teachers too, because they are doing lots of recommedations for lots of kids, and she needs to spend this week following up with them, do THEY get their recommdations in. </p>
<p>I project managed D2’s application(s). She was working with a private counselor, and I knew this counselor was going to be swamped the last week of Oct, so we worked backwards. I emailed everyone to let them know when they had to their part done. D2 hit submit third week of Oct. She then used the last week of Oct to submit 2 EAs. Once the personal statement done and why college X essays were done, then for a lot of other applications were very much of cut and paste. She was able to have most of her 12 other RD applications done before the ED decision came out. </p>
<p>We were very inexperienced when D1 was going through the process. She was deferred from her ED and she had to spend all of her winter break to get her RD apps done. She wrote most of her essays through tears. I told myself that we were not going through that again. D2’s process was very stress free relative to D1’s.</p>
<p>My son is applying to 5 schools EA (4 Nov 1 deadlines; one Dec 1) and 3 RD, and we are about to start the submission process this afternoon. There is definitely a lot of anxiety about submitting it, so we are taking it slowly. Our goal for today is to submit the two for the state universities that are his safeties and are not high on his list. This way, the stakes aren’t as high. If we can get through those, we will tackle one more that doesn’t have a supplemental essay, and then MAYBE we will do the other Nov 1 deadline that does have a supplemental essay. I think once we get through these, it will be much less painful to submit the Dec 1 EA and the 3 RDs.</p>
<p>We went through this last year. To me, a dead line meant, finish it a week early. To my son, a deadline meant a couple hours early. It killed me. Nov. 1, dec. 1 and Jan. 15.<br>
I stepped away, and said I can’t want it more than you. This is your thing.
I also wouldn’t pay money to send test scores until his part was done. </p>
<p>@rhandco, reading your post actually made my palms sweat! </p>
<p>Relax. I think this is actually pretty normal for ultra high stats kids. Until now they have felt, and been repeatedly told, they have many many college options. Often they like certain things about a number of schools. Reducing the list down and committing to certain schools over others in ED or SCEA or even EA brings a sense of finality.</p>
<p>My advice to you and others is to ignore the opinions of others and think about the best fit for your own child. That is how you win the college game. Perhaps that East Coast trip showed her that she didn’t like that dream school as much as she thought. Kids change a lot between 8th and 12th grades. Are you sure you are listening to her? Sounds like a few parents are frog-marching their kids through this process; that may prevent the thinking required for the student to find his/her best match.</p>
<p>I agree applying to a school with rolling admissions is really useful. It proves to them they are on the right track.</p>
<p>Good luck finding your very best match. The effort is worth it!</p>
<p>“Frog-marching” - love that term.</p>
<p>I am getting a kick out of reading these responses. </p>
<p>My kid has applied to his safety and been accepted—he will go to college! He has been almost done with his ED app for about two weeks. Just tinkering with it. He has stopped thinking about his RD apps in case ED doesn’t work out. I am trying to keep those alive in the back of his mind so he can finish those up if needed. (Hoping most of them are simple and don’t require more essays.)</p>
<p>One thing that helped with my D2 was reminding her that APPLYING is not making a final choice. She could still make a couple more visits once she knew where she was accepted, and she didn’t have to actually DECIDE until April. That seemed to help keep her moving…</p>
<p>^^That’s a good point. It’s just applying. Decision making happens next spring!</p>