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Maybe. At our high school apps have to be in a week before Thanksgiving just to ensure that they go out before Christmas break. We didn’t gamble on waiting past December for any apps. </p>
<p>Marching band conflicts would be tough if you do competetions. Somebody missing from formation goof things up. It’s too bad that band competition schedulers (and band dirctors!) don’t work around this.</p>
<p>May is often busy with AP/IB tests. But even kids who take tests in May and June of junior year might want a chance to do a retake. Students who need to do SAT1 and SAT2 (ie many student on these CC threads) have a fit in a lot of testing.</p>
<p>Frankly the only reason we knew to hustle to do junior testing was from advise from an SAT/ACT coach (visited once due to concerns on ACT essay score). I was suprised that guidance office didn’t push on the same advise.</p>
<p>Believe me, I understand those with rising seniors who feel stressed out and anxious as to how all this college stuff is going to get done. I’ve been through it with my own two children and lots of other students every year. My own kids had ECs that were every afternoon, every night and weekend (home many nights at 8:30 or as late at 11 PM!). They also were taking the most challenging curriculum. I had thought their lives were full before college admissions came along and wondered how they would fit in another thing. But they did and so do all the kids I work with, many who are also insanely busy. </p>
<p>I prefer to have all testing done, if possible, by the end of junior year as there is plenty to do in senior year. Neither my own two kids, nor any whom I have advised, started apps during the summer. My kids were away at summer programs most of the summer, as are many of my students. They were primed and ready to go with their college list and who they were gonna ask for recs and so on. But they did not start the apps until late August or early September. They were very organized and are good at time management. All the requirements, due dates, essay prompts (and overlaps) were all mapped out and they got the apps done at a steady pace from Sept. through December. They each applied to eight schools (and my younger one had the additional huge audition process on top of the application process). I thought the same thing when D applied to grad school, while still in college with all that college entails, being on a varsity sports team at her college, a TA, and much else. Her grad school apps (10) also had in addition to all the usual stuff, a portfolio process and that was an enormous extra piece. It ALL got done. And every kid I have worked with all got it done (some have to be nagged, some are good at time management).</p>
<p>So, I know it sounds overwhelming but if your kid is organized, and the college list is finalized by late summer, it is possible to do all the apps from Sept. to December, even if taking demanding courses and heavy ECs. In fact, in my experience as an advisor, it is the busy kids with the hardest classes and many EC’s who seem to get it done and it is the kids who have MORE free time who I have to nag. Go figure.</p>
<p>(I forgot to mention that my second child applied to college in junior year which pushed everything up and she still got it all done)</p>
<p>My son didn’t do too much summer prep on college apps, but he did get his IB Extended Essay well drafted before school started. (Then we had a mad dash recovering a crashed hard drive - hopefully he learned his lesson and is backing up to the external hard drive we bought after that.) That helped a lot. </p>
<p>We talked son out of adding an extra “just to learn” IB class so that he’d have one block of 8 free. That was key for having time every other day to visit guidance office etc as needed. </p>
<p>Hint - At the first teacher conference we mentioned our IB workload concerns to the teachers. In some cases they had a choice when to do the Internal Assessement (big projects). I remember telling one teacher that her thought to get ita done before Christmas break was doing them no favor… they’d have more time after the apps were in.</p>
<p>soozievt, that was a nice post. I particularly liked your comment:</p>
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<p>Like they say: if you want a job done on time, ask a busy person to do it.</p>