<p>Just wanted to enjoy the comforting conversation of those on the board. This week my S has - through sleeping very little - completed his first two college apps, and his first three scholarship apps. It was harrowing.
I'm living for the notion that the rest will be much easier now that several essays have been written and can be tweaked in a variety of ways for the rest of the apps. But watching all this anxiety is tough!! It makes me think April seems a very very very long time away.....
Tell me it will get better, time will go by fast, it will all work out, and eventually I'll stop having panic attacks when I see the words "CSS Profile".
I know - but somehow it's more believable when the lovable strangers on this board tell me so!</p>
<p>Well, the hardest part is done! Time for a bit of relaxation and patting your S on the back.<br>
It looks, however, that he will want to compare offers, so after a well-deserved rest, he should look to produce a few more essays. Chances are that the two he has already written will serve for other applications or can be tweaked.
I do think nothing will be as hard as the first two applications.</p>
<p>"I do think nothing will be as hard as the first two applications."</p>
<p>I agree, but I do wish Stanford's questions were a little less unique! However at least it's not the U. of Chicago!</p>
<p>Here I am, one year after. Time went fast when trying to get daughter to complete applications. While they weren't last minute, they were last "week". Time went slow waiting. Time went fast when scholarship deadlines and financial aid application deadlines approached. Time went very fast when a decision needed to be made. Time went very, very fast when it was time to pay tuition. Time slowed once again in the summer when separation anxiety set in. Then it sped up again when it was time to go. I think Time is now exhausted and has settled down.</p>
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I agree, but I do wish Stanford's questions were a little less unique! However at least it's not the U. of Chicago!
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<p>Go take a look at the admissions essay requirements of Deep Springs College. When you recover, give thanks for Stanford's prompts...</p>
<p>Oh, please. Deep Springs gets like, what?, 100 applications? It's a very, very, very unique school that is most certainly not for everyone (or even, maybe, for almost anyone). It can be forgiven for having an idiosyncratic, difficult application (not to mention, if you make it past the first cut, a required personal interview with, well, everyone).</p>
<p>(Also, if memory serves, Penn is more unique than either Chicago or Stanford.)</p>
<p>JHS, it was meant as a casual, off-the-cuff bit of literary frippery. I've written way-worse things that didn't elicit an "oh, please." By the by, just because not many people apply doesn't mean that they love writing 30 or 40 1,000-word essays. </p>
<p>I admire DSC. They are SO idosyncratic that the must get exactly the sort of applicant they want. If my son wasn't so sure that he wasn't meant for two years of bull castrations and floor polishing he might have applied, although I think it was the lack of high-speed Internet that sealed the "no application" decision.</p>
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Tell me it will get better, time will go by fast, it will all work out, and eventually I'll stop having panic attacks when I see the words "CSS Profile".
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<p>It definitely WILL GET BETTER once the applications and financial information is all in. Time both WILL AND WILL NOT go by fast from then until April, depending on what else is going on in your lives at that time. And not only WILL YOU STOP having panic attacks :eek: but by this time next year you will be busy advising other parents through these boards based on your experience.</p>
<p>One other thing. Between now and April you are likely to see some surprising changes in your S, including changes in what he likes and dislikes about schools. And you may see further changes between April 1 and April 30. A number of us parents have found that the school the kid finally chooses in Aporil was not high on the list in October.</p>
<p>So hang in there. All of us who have gone through the experience are rooting for you.</p>
<p>You've definitely got the worst behind you-CSS isn't worse than doing your taxes--even somewhat easier-- and once you've got all that stuff together, taxes are easier too. Wherever your S goes to college will primarily be a testament to his accomplishments but you will also be able to feel some pride in having steered him through and helped him to negotiate the rapids.</p>
<p>Actually, S found the Stanford prompts easier to deal with than the bland Common App ones (he did not care for the Chicago prompts, but I do not want to resurrect this particular food fight).</p>
<p>I do think that once one has produced an essay or two, the others come more easily. This is why so many applicants say their RD applications essays are better than their EA ones. They do not miraculoulsy become better writers in a few weeks; but they do get the hang of writing college essays.</p>
<p>In addition to being a very unique place, DSC gives all of their students a full ride, don't they?</p>
<p>Well worth requiring the kids to use new essays, not recycled ones!</p>
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It makes me think April seems a very very very long time away
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Unfortunately, it comes all too quickly and before you know it your S will be off to college and your house will seem a bit empty. I'm not trying to depress you but even though it's hectic now, try to enjoy every bit of it.</p>
<p>oh that's so true,dad. I am beginning to get over being teary just thinking about him leaving (oldest, don't ya know) but I am using the coming distance as a way of appreciating almost everything.... just think, someday there won't be muddy soccer shoes (or at least one less stinky pair), that loud music I hate will be missed next year..... on and on
Just as I thought - this group is awesome! Thanks for cheering me up. I think there are 6 more apps. to go</p>
<p>tonight was probably the last father daughter dance for my oldest D, she will be off at college next year at the time of the dances (they are not school related) - they have been going for 12 years now...</p>
<p>that is tough for me</p>
<p>for my D, the stress of the applications is balanced with the knowledge that next year at this time she will be off at college....</p>
<p>Marite is spot on, as usual, in this case on the subject of the later essays being better.</p>
<p>A perhaps superfluos cautions: all the stuff that seems so monumental now will have diminshed to distant inconsequentiality (?) by a year from now. Your sons & daughters will have moved on, you will have moved. New challenges, new opportunities, new tenterhooks. I'm beginning to think it's a whole new meta-phase that begins with college applications and doesn't end until first job and/or marriage. It's not our lives but neither are we detached and distant observers.</p>
<p>My kids actually finished Stanford application first, and then used two of the essays from there for the common app (since common app allows "topic of your choice", and the "most meaningful EC is almost identical)</p>
<p>"My kids actually finished Stanford application first, and then used two of the essays from there for the common app (since common app allows "topic of your choice", and the "most meaningful EC is almost identical)"</p>
<p>My son used the same principal with MIT's essay, since MIT's EA deadline is before Stanford's regular deadline. I think Stanford's essays are quite reasonable - they just don't quite fit with what has already been written. :)</p>