I am stressed out but can’t say anything. 5 more schools are due this weekend. He is not worried and not rushed. He enjoys his winter break more than I do. As of last check, only one is in the works, barely.
My kid has two more applications due in 6 days. She has been working over 10 hours per day on her essays since the beginning of her winter break.
Nope. D decided that 10 was more than enough and pulled the plug. We have heard from 6-all acceptances, with 2 financially affordable with the merit given or which were lower cost to begin with. We’re waiting on the merit and/or financial aid letters and the final 4 colleges. THAT is stressful, as two in that group are favorites of hers. However, she is practical and plans to attend whoever gives her the best financial incentive. She isn’t stressed at all. I’m stressing enough for everyone, lol. I’m glad she’s done because she was starting to come unglued with all the deadlines between school, applications, honors essays, etc.
The only thing I’d make noise about now is if the safety applications aren’t done. The rest is on them. Although I might say, “No problem, go at your own pace, since the safety school applications are in.” Although the subtlety might be lost on them. 
Try to keep busy with other things and not dwell on the deadlines. My son applied last year so I speak from experience working with a master procrastinator. He applied to many, many schools and each one came right up to the deadline. It drove me absolutely nuts but nothing his dad or I could say or do made any difference to his pace. We just had to soldier through and try not to think about it, and eventually all the applications were submitted and he did very well in terms of acceptances. The main point is that he wasn’t worried at all, so we had to find a way to deal with our own stress about it!
All of mine were still working by this point. Not fun.
My S writes his essays a day or two before the deadlines. I was very stressed out waiting to review his essays and apps, but he was not. He was changing his essays within hours of deadlines. Accepted SCEA to top choice. If S is a strong writer, just set time aside the day app is due to review essays
b1ggreenca, your son and my daughter sound exactly alike! She is sending out 14 applications, 7 are in and 2 more are due on the first. My daughter moves at her own pace and always manages to get it done. I finally stopped bugging her about it because it stressed me out. I tell myself that if she doesn’t effectively handle deadlines on her own by now, she’ll never make it through her first year of college
My D went right up to the deadline on a few last year as well. One thing to keep in mind though - and something you should tell your kids - is that websites can and do crash with heavy traffic, so they need to factor that in when considering the deadline. Good luck to all!
Yes. We are all stressed beyond belief here.
As a huge procrastinator myself, I can’t really say much. D16 is a much better writer than I am anyway. She has 5 applications submitted. There are 6-8 left to be submitted. They are mostly done. She just needs to write one more 150 word essay and then clean up about half of the other essays. At least one application will get submitted today.
Maybe he’s further ahead than you think?
Has your son submitted any applications? Has he heard positively from EA or rolling schools? Does he have other schools with later deadlines on his list?
If the answer is “Yes” to any of the above questions, try to let go a little.
My kid is.
Yep! DS & I are polar opposites when it comes to deadlines so, it drives me crazy.
On the other hand, he has been accepted to his first choice therefore I have not been stressing as much about these deadlines. I’m letting him succeed or fail on getting it done.
He submitted 5 apps before December. 2 acceptances so far. They’re his safeties. The 5 coming up are very very selective and he doesn’t like to write unless he thinks he had a good idea. He told me he’s been thinking.
Still sleeping
Mine has 1 left to go due 1/5. 250 word essay still to draft. But my S and I find those short pieces are the hardest to write. One is supposed to be specific with interesting details, answer the prompt and connect info to both college and back to the applicant–trying to fit substantive content in than less than a page is tough.
My job will be to help revise essay (which based on experience will need significant work from the first draft) and I also have to revise the CSS profile (did earlier for EA college) and submit to 2 more colleges.
Hang in there. They will either get done…or they won’t!
Both of my kids wrote their essays the summer before their senior year, and had all,but one application submitted before October 30. Both did add one school with a January deadline. Both had multiple acceptances before December 15.
Both enjoyed their senior years a lot!
But that doesn’t seem to be the case for,the students on this thread. Like I said…either theynwillmget the applications done on time…or they won’t. At this point, the ball is in the student court!
I had the same experience as Thumper1 last year. D submitted 6 of her 7 applications in October. Had a few acceptances by Christmas. The seventh was submitted RD. She did not submit two or three applications although we had sent test scores and transcripts. She decided she would rather attend her accepted schools than her yet-to-be-submitted schools. I was fine with that decision.
My sense was (and is) of the student really wants to attend the school, they’ll pull off the application. If they don’t really want to go, they won’t. It’s really up to them.
No matter how much time there is and the amount of things to get done, they always seem to expand so that the time and task barely fit together. My D has all of her eight applications in and acceptances back as of the day after Christmas, so all she has to do over break is a Stamps essay for one school, which she finished on the day it was due, and an Honors application for another school. That Honors app is pretty simple, about the only ‘complex’ (I say sarcastically) part of it is that it has to be filled out on paper and mailed, rather than sent electronically. Needless to say that one incredibly simple task has been asked about, promised to be completed and then put off until the fantasy neverland of tomorrow at least a dozen times now since she received it. A little work, tons of apps, it doesn’t matter, they will do them when they do them and not a moment before. (-: