<p>I've heard conflicting advice from several parents on this issue. S applied ED but continues to work on all his RD applications, and will have them all ready by the end of this month (his high school requires that they all be in at the GC office by this date for review). GC has been cooperative and told me that they can prepare all the documentation on their end (transcript, recs, etc.) and will hang on to them until we hear the ED decision (assume 12/15), and go from there.</p>
<p>By waiting until the ED decision and if he gets in, there is a potential of saving application dollars. The GC office is 100% reliable, and I have no doubt those transcripts, recs, etc. will go out immediately. S will have completed all the college applications online, and will simply have to hit the submit button and pay the fees if ED does not work out.</p>
<p>I can't seem to come up with a concern on waiting until ED decision to submit the RD applications, but I am also new to this college application process and may have missed something. S is aware of what is involved and is perfectly fine with sending in the RD applications at the later date.</p>
<p>Please share what worked for you or worked against you in a similar situation.</p>
<p>Guidance can send all the recommendations, transcripts, etc, before your son submits his application. It will cost you nothing more than the stamps if you're going to have everything lined up to go anyway. The colleges file everything away waiting for all the pieces to come in. Most of D's supporting docs and test scores went in before her actual applications and all but one portfolio made it to the right place. Why wait until the holiday rush to have the supporting materials sent in? Not only will the mail be crazy then, but the admissions offices get bogged down then as well.</p>
<p>As for the applications, if any of S's other choices have rolling admissions or deadlines for scholarship consideration, you should be aware of these. Your shot at rolling admissions decreases the longer you wait.</p>
<p>Yes, you are absolutely right - the GC office can send everything as soon as possible and then my S can just submit online. This did not occur to me since they had mentioned in a parents' meeting that they need a confirmation that the student has submitted the application online before they send out their documentation. I am sure they will accomodate my request. </p>
<p>None of his school choices have rolling admissions, and he has already initiated the application to the one with a scholarship deadline. </p>
<p>S and D followed the procedure you first mentioned, just waiting (as you can see neither got into their ED schools Ed. One was accepted RD; one deferred and then rejected). </p>
<p>It probably doesn't matter much as long as the applicant submits the application before the deadline. I really don't think schools would invalidate an application because supportive materials did not arrive. And schools use post mark date, not received date in most cases. In addition, materials will certainly not be immediately logged in.</p>
<p>If you are of the better safe than sorry mentality, by all means send guidance materials first; however, taxpayer money will probably be wasted. Not judging, just mentioning.</p>
<p>Best, best of luck!</p>
<p>PS Our guidance department refused to send things registered mail, but it did keep receipts in case of dispute. We had no problems; in toto with two kids we sent materials to twenty schools.</p>
<p>I know that our high school held on to all the recommendation letters and transcripts and then didn't have to send them when my two older kids got in to their ED schools. I think we did go ahead and send their SAT scores to all the colleges though. It was so much less expensive to do it that way than to try to rush them.</p>
<p>Puzzled88, SAT scores when November results come out. I've added schools to the four free ones. </p>
<p>mythmom, S attends parochial high school and they charge a processing fee (covers copying, postage, etc.) per application. Not too bad a charge.</p>
<p>I read in another forum that when GC documentation go out way before the application is submitted, they can get misplaced by the college since the submitted application usually starts the application folder.</p>
<p>Why not send everything in when it's ready, except the check? If you never send the checks, they won't be applications. If you send the checks December 16, they will be.</p>
<p>S has applied EDI to his top choice, but refuses to do anything else regarding the back-up RD apps until we hear in mid-Dec. Is it correct to assume that he will have enough time to send SAT scores before the Jan.1st deadline if he does it right away? In the meantime, he seems immovable in terms of getting the rest done ahead of time.</p>
<p>Two kids: one ED, the other SCEA. We sent in all scores, recs beforehand. True, we spent some unnecessary money on score reports, but it was worth it for our peace of mind. Turned out that the ED was defered and the SCEA was accepted but child still wanted to apply to other schools. We sent out the apps and fees after Dec. 15.</p>
<p>momoschki: You will have enough time to send scores, but you will pay a premium. As I've stated, schools don't need all this info. by that date usually, just apps. Schools take scores off a feed they get directly from testing service. Each school has a different schedule of how often they download the feed.</p>
<p>Many schools have a log-in site that records state of application. It is routine to have some columns filled in and others left blank. Schools take a lot of time logging everything in. </p>
<p>We had a lot of fun last year following this process on Chicago's admissions blog which is probably the wittiest creation in the entire college admissions game. They adcom ran pictures of piles of apps. and even had a video of the scanning process. It was the only thing that got me through the waiting period. DS was less interested. That was my first clue that Chicago would probably be a better fit for me than him, and sure enough, he did not choose it in the end.</p>
<p>Anyone can go; you don't need to have applied.</p>
<p>Yes, the Chicago admissions blog on this subject was hilarious. The general theme was "You think we start reading applications on January 2, but really what we do is open envelopes."</p>
<p>
[quote]
S has applied EDI to his top choice, but refuses to do anything else regarding the back-up RD apps until we hear in mid-Dec. Is it correct to assume that he will have enough time to send SAT scores before the Jan.1st deadline if he does it right away?
[/quote]
DS did the same. He sent the four free SAT scores when he took his last test. He asked the teachers and GC to write the recommendations for all the universities on his list, and gave them the addressed and stamped envelopes, but asked everybody to hold on to all the paperwork (except ED) until Dec 15. Then he just waited. Actually, he didn't even start his Stanford essay (Stanford deadline was Dec 15) when the ED acceptance letter came (2 days early, on Dec 13) - and was so happy to be saved by that thick envelope... :D</p>
<p>The SAT scores do not have to be submitted by the deadline; actually, it's not unusual for an university to have a November 1st ED deadline and still accept the scores from a Nov. SAT testing date (or to have a Jan.1 deadline and accept the January scores). And beware: many of them do not accept the "rushed" scores, so you will be better off sending the scores in regular way.</p>
<p>Mathson had two EA applications. He did give the complete list to teachers and GC so their stuff got in long before his. While he was still waiting RPI sent him a special application where they said he'd be notified with 3 weeks of getting the first marking period grades and he could write just one short essay. So he sent that one off and heard from them before Thanksgiving. He got deferred at both EA schools so then he sat down with the other applications and churned them out in the order they were due. Stanford mid-Dec the others two weeks later. Though I think in fact I nagged him into handing them all in before Christmas - which wasn't that difficult since he recycled essays.</p>
<p>Using the power of positive thinking, my D handed her counselor the addressed envelopes and the stamps for the RD recommendations separately saying, "My mother believes in me." It worked and the counselor got to keep the stamps.</p>
<p>I think it's wise to have everything ready to go, just in case, while you await the E.D. letter. I remember that one of my D's schools had a deadline which was around the time she was to receive her E.D. notification so that application was actually sent in. The others were complete and ready to be mailed. Fortunately, she was accepted E.D. to her #1 school and didn't have to submit the others. </p>
<p>Refusing to do anything with R.D. apps prior to hearing from the E.D. school can be a big mistake if the letter received is a rejection. The disappointment is bound to affect the motivation to complete the remaining apps. The other issue is that not all E.D. letters are received by mid-month. I know kids that have received them the week between Christmas and New Year's, and, unfortunately, those were rejections. With more and more schools having a Jan. 1 deadline, this obviously is not a good timeline.</p>
<p>I sure admire the OP and student for having it all in hand. It's hard to predict how a kid might react to a negative ED message. We found our S couldn't rally himself to work on the other apps until he heard a "deferral" on the ED. Then he was upset for a couple of days and began to work extremely hard. FOrtunately we had absolutely no holiday plans for late December, no travel etc. It became an intense 2 weeks around the household, and I wouldn't have been able to host my parents or anyone happily during those weeks either. He just hunkered down and everyone helped by keeping conflict to a minimum.</p>
<p>If the Christmas season means a lot to your family, that's a really good reason to get all of this out of the way before you hear back from ED. That way you can enjoy the holiday.</p>
<p>It's also important to check the guidance office to discover when they can mail things out. Obviously all must be sent before school closes for the Christmas break.</p>
<p>Most schools won't require much reformatting. If common application is filled out, there are only supplement questions to complete. Triage is important here -- what absolutely must be done new and what can be recycled. Perhaps your son would be willing to investigate this and come up with a plan even if he isn't willing to start writing.</p>
<p>My S did start working on it before all was clear. However, with on ED school and two EA schools he had already done so much work that there were enough extra goodies floating around for most RD requirements. He did have to write a few more essays, but that was it. His application was formatted and ready to go on the common app site.</p>
<p>S does need encouragement (and yes, I'm being generous here) to write essays for the supplements. He set up a list of essays needed and self-imposed deadlines and so far he has met them, but some of them remain in "draft" form. We usually go away over Thanksgiving, but this year, we've decided to stay put and he'll use this time to finish them up. His GC is really on top of things and has been so good to him during all his high school years that he is going to meet HER deadline of November 30. Fortunately, his high school's GCs are excellent. They will have everything ready and simply mail their documents if things do not work out for ED.</p>