How does one stay patient? Got the Math Rec, the English Rec, the Principal Rec… waiting on the school report and one of the non-teacher ones. DD said her teachers were arguing about who gave a better recommendation today - I hope that is a good sign!
Got 1 interview done, 5 lined up, 1 we know won’t happen unless they add another day, 1 we got an email to stay patient about the process, and 2 I am waiting to hear back on.
At least I can see the progress, but I think this is more stressful on myself than I expected it to be!
When I saw the title I thought you meant how to wait until M10. If your school just ended semester then they might not send the school report until semester is over (my kids middle school was on trimesters with T1 ending around Thanksgiving, so they sent school reports in Dec). It sounds like you entered the process on the later side if you are still scheduling interviews, so just keep plugging along. My kids didn’t finalize list until after interviews, but you might not be able to do that. Don’t forget to look at the applications for the parent part - there was more writing for parents than we anticipated for DS1 (knew the drill with second kid). You’ll get through this!
Schools will send the students transcripts after grades are in for the semester/trimester. Could be right before the application due date.
-Go ahead and start the parents section of the application. It can take some time, especially if you are applying to several schools. And if you are asking for financial aid start now!
-How is your kids essays? Make sure to take them very seriously- it’s one of the only areas for the student to distinguish themselves. There has been a lot of discussion on cc about how much a parent can help with the essays. Make them write it, and edit it- but we helped brainstorm ideas, and organize essays from school to school. We also helped create a “things to know about me” list. We would read over her essays and make verbal comments- loved this part, this section could be more interesting, stay on topic here…
-I made my child write down everything she wanted the schools to know about her. She made sure that every application covered those topic- sometimes that meant writing another essay, even if she could have used the same one from another school. It took her longer to finish, but we felt like it represented her better. For example: she’s a dancer. The main part of the application made it very clear @ her dancing background as well as her submitted tape. We advised ( and so did Exeter btw) that she write something else when it came to her “passion or interest” essays. Focus on a community service, or a unique interest or experience.
That is what I did. I was losing sleep until I heard directly from DS’s adviser that they wait until right before the deadline and submit all the kids’ recommendations and transcripts (most of his class is applying to BS or some kind of private secondary school). Now that all of DS’s stuff and the parent stuff is submitted, it’s a lot easier to relax, and DS says that school is a lot more “chill” since everyone’s pretty much done with their applications.