I’m just wondering what schools in the US do?
Our break is from Dec. 15 - Jan 7.
The counselor has asked all kids to submit a list of applications by December 10. However, she has said in the past that the application has to be submitted first, and then she will submit the transcript, recommendations, etc. Is it not possible for those to be submitted before the common app is submitted to the schools?
That is something you need to work out with the guidance counselor.
My question is - do colleges accept transcripts and recommendations prior to completion of the common app?
I can easily imagine that Jan 1 apps will be finished in this house the day before. Seems unfair for the counselor to have to wait until that time to send everything out.
Honestly, my kids went to a high school where the big bulk of state university applications were sent in by mid-October. The guidance office sent most of the transcripts electronically to those schools. If students didn’t do the October deadline, the next one was in mid-Jan so they do them when they come back from the holidays.
For schools not in the state system, the procedure was to request transcripts (and pay $2) and the office would put them in a sealed envelope and the student picked them up and sent them in to the schools themselves. If you needed them over the break, you had to arrange to pick them up before you left in December.
Colleges accept things before the common app completes - think about those free copies of the SAT report that you get. Whenever they get anything at all from you they open up a folder. Some schools that track interest open that folder when you first contact them.
However, the commonapp doesn’t send anything before the student has submitted (because some students choose not to submit and delete a university that was in their dashboard). Counselors can upload at any time but it’s only sent out when the student clicks submit. If it’s not uploaded before, the counselor has a window of about 10-12 days to upload his/her documents after the student deadline. For instance, if the deadline is January 2, the counselor should upload materials by January 15.
My daughter’s high school (also an international school) used Parchment for sending transcripts, rather than the Common App. The guidance counselor submitted all the transcripts and recommendations in October to every school my daughter indicated she might apply to. This was in advance of her portion of the Common App, and included many schools she didn’t end up following through on.
Colleges generally are ok with accepting things after the due date that are beyond the student’s control, such as transcripts and test results. Ask the college to be sure. They generally aren’t ok with the application itself being sent late.
Yes, items can be sent early, and often are. My daughter sent test scores to a college she ended up not applying to. She simply emailed admissions to say she wouldn’t be applying and to close her file. They responded to thank her for letting them know. She had her guidance counselor send all the the school information to her colleges a full month before she had finished applying. When she checked her portal for one college, they had not yet received the transcript. She let her counselor know immediately and it turned out the counselor had missed out one school.
You bring up a great point. Every year, panicked students will be on this forum because they need to resolve an issue and the counselors are away on the holiday break. Every student would be wise to ensure things are in order before the break, and to avoid applying at the last minute.
Christmas vacation isn’t a surprise to anyone. I don’t think it’s a good idea to assume that the guidance people are willing to sacrifice time with their families on Christmas to send packets that could have been in much earlier. The Common App opened on August 1st!
Or, in other words, “Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
Our College Placement office closes for the calendar year on December 22 at 3 pm. It re-opens on January 3 when school re-opens.
Yes, guidance counselors are on break too. They may upload something Dec 15-19 and/or January 5-7 but don’t count on it. On the other hand, colleges know it’s Christmas Break and won’t expect things that weren’t submitted before Dec 15-20 to appear Dec 25 or Jan 1st.
As long as the student’s app itself is on time, there won’t be a penalty if the GC submits Jan 7.