<p>Its been a real hectic season for all of us. But now the applications and all is over so I was wondering why dont you share your experiences with ur kids applying for the fun part of course</p>
<p>I was thinking like what were the areas in the whole application process boggling the most. When I look down to the last year or two of my applications I can say for sure several big troubling ones exist. So wondering what about others specially all the parents who take in active part in all these.. </p>
<p>So lets confess.</p>
<p>the areas that you feel were most troubling for our kids and you too in terms of information and all the stuff..</p>
<p>Like just list down the areas that troubled u most or questions that got u tangled or things you or your son/daughter wished they knew before
..</p>
<p>I guess I must have a completely different perspective than many posters. My son got accepted at a school that gave him a lot of aid. that's where he went, because we didn't have a choice. unfortunately, the school has been terrible for my son, but he will be done soon and have a degree. my daughter only was allowed to apply to state schools and 1 private school because I simply can't afford 2 kids in college and paying tons of money out, and continue to live a decent life for myself. so the application process has been relatively simple. they both had to write very simple essays with topics they were given (mostly how they took a negative and turned it into a positive). then we just waited for the acceptances or denials the thing that most troubles me is the difference between when my son's school promised him and what actually came to be. I am now very apprehensive with my daughter.</p>
<p>Getting the application essays done was probably the biggest stress producer between me and D in 18 years...that's a winning hand, so I'll take it. Part of it was her not wanting to ask for help but not having any idea of what direction(s) to proceed. And part of it, as I've gleaned from other discussions, is that some of these smart articulate kids freeze up when asked to talk revealingly about themselves.</p>
<p>Sorry about the disappointing outcome for your son, amith1. That's what we parents dread - that our child may wind up in the wrong place, with poor options for making a change. I think your daughter's experience will probably be better, since you're likely to find information that can really make a difference here.</p>
<p>smartmind, something I found a real boggle was the financial aid paperwork I had to do for the 9 schools my daughter applied to last year. The FAFSA was straightforward - arranging to send it to 3 additional schools was no problem. But the Profile was a major deal, and then there were those schools that wanted additional documents. To amp up the aggravation, we knew she wouldn't qualify for need-based aid, but her schools wanted the info for her to be considered for merit aid and unsub Stafford loans, as well. So it's not only the apps that take time and effort - mom or dad will have to log in lots of time at the computer in January/February, too.</p>
<p>So much nicer to only have one school to deal with!</p>
<p>The essays were also the worst here, closely followed by filling out scholarship forms. Producing the videotape she needed as a preliminary audition for one music school was not overly pleasant either.</p>
<p>On the other hand, taking her to various schools for visits and auditions was great.</p>
<p>This is a bit different but maybe it will make some of you feel better... </p>
<p>Our family "shares" a laptop that belongs to my middle S- who has a pretty serious case of ADD and worse case of OCD. He obsessively arranges files on the computer..and deletes a fair share that really shouldn't be too. He has "erased" Microsoft Word more than once from the computer without warning and we lost about 6 finely tuned essays in the process. DD now knows to email all finished essays to herself and keeps them in a folder that DS can't erase.</p>
<p>It has been a challenge letting my son set his own schedule, since he won't follow any that I set. I REALLY like getting things done early, while he gets as close to deadlines as he can, but he says he's completed 8 of the 9 applications & will send in one more by March 1. We have not heard any replies from the schools, other than their acknowledging that they have received his materials & of course deducted his app fees from our credit card.
Things have not proceeded on a schedule I would have chosen, but it is his scheduling choice & he seems satisfied.
He seems to be having a nice senior year, for which I'm very happy.
We decided not to bother with financial aid aps, since we definiltely will not qualilfy for need-based aid according to all the calculators I've tried & the schools he's applied to all indicated that for merit aid we don't have to submit any additional forms.</p>
<p>The most difficult thing for us was just finding the "time". Time to write essays, time to research colleges, time to visit, time to audition and interview, etc. Due to a heavy academic load, ECs and a job, junior and senior years are very busy and scheduling college stuff can be difficult.</p>
<p>Getting my D to understand that deadlines are hard and fast, not guidelines. Found it worked best for us if I functioned as project manager on timelines etc. and kept out of the detail stuff ( essay content, etc.)</p>
<p>atleast kids in the US dont have to worry about the financial aid applications.
here in India we have to do that ourself..we i.e. the students..
and on top of that our final exams of senior year "the Boards" are held in march...so a pretty hell of a year we guys have here.</p>
<p>I have to agree that time is a big factor. my daughter wants to visit 3 state schools, some 6 hours away. my boss proudly stated recently that she had not missed one of her daughter's recitals, yet we as her employees are constantly missing things with our kids. ahhh to be the boss and go to conferences that you have no relationship to your job, but that would benefit your underlings. bitter huh.</p>
<p>I agree with Baseball mom about putting a fire under the kid :D</p>
<p>The thing is trying to get a timetable done so you ae not frazzled at the end. D finished her stuff the last week in December. She would e-mail back up copies of all of her stuff to my work e-mail. On December 29, her computer crashed and we had to go into the city to get my computer so that she could retrieve her back up copies of her essays. Yes she was one of those last minute filers . </p>
<p>February and march can be hellish as you wait, and wait and wait for decisions. Things get really tense. Kid starts worrying about what if I don't get in any where and you don't want the word college mentioned in your house. If I knew then what I know now, I would have made her apply to an EA or rolling admission school so that she would have had something under the belt. </p>
<p>Thank goodness for likely letters as she got 2 over the course of 2 days so we could live in peace.</p>
<p>Thank goodness got to vent on CC and Thedad kept our spirits up be composing the 12 days of admissions.</p>
<p>The best advice we received was to find, love and apply to a school with rolling admissions so there'd be one in-the-pocket by December before all the applications were even sent. After visits to 9 schools, D applied ONLY to the rolling admissions school since it was her favorite. Surprise, surprise!</p>
<p>momnipotent--I can relate to that one. Also, our oldest son used to love to find written documents in the computer and "change" them according to his warped sense of humor. Always a good idea to reread anything filed on the computer around here before sending/submitting it anywhere.</p>
<p>M&SDad, parent-as-project manager works well. Unless a student is a "natural" at it, it's too much of a learning curve to impose on top of everything else, with consequences for a rookie screw-up being too great. Though I think by experience and example, it rubs off on them. My D has been very on top of the multi-step internship applications, semester abroad applications, etc. I think the application experience set her up for it.</p>