<p>Hi . I am a mother of an 08 daughter looking for a better way. </p>
<p>My son just completed his freshman year of college, so the family is familiar with the process.</p>
<p>What are your best tips for keeping track of the college lists, recommendations requested, tests taken, scores sent?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>I made a big Excel spreadsheet to track everything, with a row for each school, and columns for all of the pertinent deadlines and checkoff items; I also created electronic folders with all of the materials my son submitted to each school. If I were better at Excel I could have done this so that you could do a pivot table with the approaching deadlines, but this system sufficed forus. </p>
<p>My son was not very well organized at first, and needed some hand-holding to get through the process. As senior year went on, he took on more ownership. Fortunately his school was very proactive, and sent emails to the seniors and parents every month saying "Here's what you should be doing in September" etc. good luck.</p>
<p>I also used a spreadsheet. It was really helpful. If you PM me with your e-mail address, I'll send it to you. It tracks both deadlines and expenses.</p>
<p>nervousmommy, LurkNessMonster - Thank you so much.</p>
<p>OK, learn Excel, check.</p>
<p>Keep the suggestions coming, I look forward to a carefree, stressless experience. :)</p>
<p>s used a spreadsheet with above as well as names and phone # of area reps, teacher recs check-off, date scores were sent, passwords, etc. and so forth. Very, very helpful when doing 8+ apps.</p>
<p>You don't have to learn Excel. You can just take a piece of graph paper and make a chart. :)</p>
<p>The spreadsheet idea didn't work for my S#2, who didn't want the hassle of having to open it, fill it in, share it, etc. Plus, "out of sight, out of mind" seemed to be a fact with him.</p>
<p>Our solution? Bought a 2'x4' dry-erase whiteboard at an office supply store. Set it up on two chairs in the living room. Drew the equivalent of the spreadsheet columns on the whiteboard, piled the college materials under the chairs in stacks relating to "top choices" / "others" (and later a separate pile for each school actually applied to, and later still a separate pile for each school that accepted him). Used coordinating dry-erase colors to highlight good news from various schools.</p>
<p>Worked for us.</p>
<p>I kept a folder for each college S applied to. On the front, I stapled a form that I made up with all the pertinent deadlines listed and a line to write in when the various parts of the application were mailed. It had spaces to list which teacher(s) were writing the recs, when those recs were mailed. when SAT/ACT scores were sent, whether separate scholarship apps were required, etc. It was very customizable.</p>
<p>Inside the folder we put a printed copy of all emails to/from that college, a copy of the completed application -- pretty much any piece of paper related to the application process for that particular college.</p>
<p>These folders went into hanging files that were placed inside one of those plastic milk crate things. It was easy to keep everything together and there was room in there for viewbooks, too.</p>
<p>I did the Excel spreadsheet, too, but it was more for my own purposes than for my son's, since the file was accessible to me at work and also on my PDA. You'd be surprised how often you need to refer to it for a date or some other bit of info when you're not at home in front of your own computer. My S preferred the hands-on approach of the folders, but I really like Mootmom's dry-erase board method, too. We didn't think of that.</p>
<p>S started with a 2" binder with tabs, each tab had a different school's name on it. There were also a couple tabs for, "Forms" and "Guidance Information". </p>
<p>Any time something was sent or done for a school, a copy was placed behind that tab. Also, each tab page had the logon ID, password, important dates, etc for that school written on it, and a running "diary" of actions taken, the date, who was spoken to, etc. </p>
<p>When he started receiving correspondence from the schools, that was put into the notebook. (Except for the big giant brochures and stuff like that)</p>
<p>The very first page of the notebook had info like SS #, credit card #'s, test scores, GPA, Sr year schedule, class rank, mom/dad alma mater and degree (some schools ask), his guidance counselors name, phone, fax, and email, school address, etc.</p>
<p>By the end of the cycle, the 2" binder became a 3" binder.
The good thing was everything important was in that one binder, and it could be taken with him when he went to meetings with his counselor.</p>
<p>Mootmom--
Why in the living room????????</p>
<p>Dont' start using a program, ie excel, if you havent' before, it will be too frustrating</p>
<p>My Ds system was simple, clear, functional</p>
<p>1- have a file for each school being considered, with hard copies of applications, even online ones, printed out, along with other correspondencem along with whatever contact for the school you can find- just print out the pages the colleges provide, also include hard copies of reciepts for payments, acknowledgements of application recieved, that kind of thing</p>
<p>2- have a file for recommendations</p>
<p>3- have a file with other misc records- transcripts, reports for other classes, awards, etc</p>
<p>4- have a file of blank forms- transcript requests from your HS, and whatever forms the HS uses</p>
<p>5- have on hand envelopes, stamps, folders, tape, lables, folders, extra ink for the printer, pens, </p>
<p>6- buy a BIG bulletin board-</p>
<p>7- for the board- have a list of #s- passwords, pins, ss#s, credit card, all the contact information, HS codes and whatever other #s are relevent</p>
<p>8- have a page for relevent dates - one sheet for the colleges</p>
<p>Davis- first part due, second part due, $ due
XCY- first part due, second part due, $ due</p>
<p>Also, put up the months that are relelavant to the process- August, Sept, etc, through January, fill in with ALL relevant dates, and update as needed</p>
<p>For instance, paid deposit to CYYC Nov 23, having it in a calendar visual for many works better than searhing a spread sheet, you can see the dates coming up and easily add new information</p>
<p>As well, make hard copies of essays and put in a folder for essays, that way, if something happens yo have that copy, and then you can easily take that folder in with drafts for teachers or others to proof</p>
<p>For my D, she printed out the Important Dates pages for each school and filled those in on her calander and put the copy in the folder for each school</p>
<p>Something else we did right away was work on her resume together, as she forgot stuff...we went through each year of HS, and her summers and create the brag sheet, that made it easier for filling in the EC spots for schools. </p>
<p>We also gave her a sheet with OUR information, schooling, etc, so she didn't have to ask</p>
<p>For us the big calander, and the folders were great, if something came via email. she just printed it and put it in the folder....</p>
<p>Made a chart on a piece of paper listing each school, and what info they required (ie: 2 recs or 1 rec, supplement, Fin aid info etc). Listed due dates for EA or Reg. Allowed for a space to check off if everything was received, and by going down that list we found out that a rolling school lost my son's transcript (GC immediately called and faxed this info). As far as for apps in the work, papers/letters brochures from the schools, paper copies of anything sent, we had accordian style folders for each college with the schools name on the front of it.</p>
<p>Carolyn, I believe went into detail about this when her DD was applying to schools. Perhaps someone can find this info in the archives. It was very helpful to me.</p>
<p>BTW, as far as transripts and recs-we never handled these materials. A copy of a transcript was sent home to review for accuracy. Recs were never read by us. Son requested recs and transcripts to be sent either with the paper app that he completed(sometimes he included a check to the college), or immediately after he sent his app. online. The school handled it from there.</p>
<p>patsmom and doubledays systems were similar to mine, so see what works and tweak it</p>
<p>dont' try and set up excel if you are a novice, it will frustrate you</p>
<p>if you use the important date pages created by the colleges, just printing them out, you don't even need to create your own chart, use what they have provided, and just make notes, etc on those pages, fewer mistakes
made that way, and its easy to add information to the pages</p>
<p>I suggested the folder for transcripts, etc as sometimes for EA applications, or others, they do ask for grades, thought they are unofficial</p>
<p>The recommendation folder was in case your child is getting a recommenedation from a job, or other party, my D did</p>
<p>Oh yeah, create a file for standardized tests, etc...though those are also sent directly, sometimes you need that infor for other scholarships, etc</p>
<p>Re: location of our college apps whiteboard:
[quote]
Why in the living room????????
[/quote]
There was no way to avoid paying attention to it when it was in that location.</p>
<p>We don't use our living room for much of anything anyway, except the boys watch television there and my H practices guitar in the corner. If we had a "House Beautiful" house where we brought guests and such, we probably would have put it somewhere else. This is a pretty casual household. ;)</p>
<p>I went the manila envelope route, with a chart (made in Word, even though I'm pretty good with Excel) attached to the front of each envelope with the name of the form, the date due, the date sent, and whether I got the postcard back.</p>
<p>Into every envelope that went out, including the ones d gave to her teachers for recommendations, we put a stamped, self-addressed postcard. On the back, we listed what was in the envelope (e.g., History Teacher Recommendation; Guidance packet; FAFSA) and the name of the school. The vast majority had no problem putting the postcard in the mail; those that didn't received a call. All correspondence from the schools went into those envelopes as well.</p>
<p>As d removed schools from her list, I threw away the envelope. She did want to retain the info from all the schools she applied to, even the ones that said no.</p>
<p>I also put the important deadlines on the kitchen calendar.</p>
<p>D set up her own excel spreadsheet and (as is typical with her) made it very attractive with color coding (red for urgent....etc.) It was better that she created it so that she got in to using it and checking it. If I had set it up, it would have gone unused with the rest of my advice and reminders :(</p>
<p>D did a great job staying on top of her deadlines and got a kick out of updating her own spreadsheet.</p>
<p>I agree with Mathmom and CGM. You can use old fashion graph paper and save the frustration of learning Excel at this time. </p>
<p>D's system (designed by essentially by me) was the hanging folder in a big portable filing cabinet. Our categories for each folder were:</p>
<p>School (could keep no more than 20 schools)
Application Checklist - that was on graph paper with schools along the left side and the pin number under the name and the following categories:
Deadline
Transcript
Counselor Recommendation
Teacher Recommendation
Date Applied
SAT's sent
Supplement Y/N
Supplement Sent
Mid Year Report
Misc Info (wide column)
Financial Aid
CSS Profile
Tax form
FASFA
Accepted
Notify Decision</p>
<p>We had folders for essay ideas/essay drafts; Finances; Scholarships; SAT?AP stuff
Can't think of anything else right now!</p>
<p>I used a great big oaktag chart for each kid,as they responded well to visual cue reminders(think the rewards type chart an elementary school teacher would use.
And I put it right in the first room they would see when entering the house so it "smacked them in the face" so to speak.Categories that got finished were marked in red.Might have been embarrassing but it worked.They couldnt avoid seeing the damn thing.
I used a file folder for each school in a hanging folder type plastic box.Everything pertinent to each school went into those files.Checklist for that particular school was taped to the front of that particular file.
D was especially confusing as she was music performance and had sometimes two apps per school plus audition times,etc.
Outside scholrship apps had their own folder and their own line on the big oaktag chart.
D used the same system for her grad school apps process!</p>
<p>DeniseC,
We used a accordian type file folder with pocket for each school, pocket for notices from G.C. financial aid pocket, etc. This worked well for son to put copies of applications, notices from each school, letters we got, etc.
By our computer, I had a small photo album with 3X5 cards. Each school had a card with date application was sent online, confirmation number, school phone numbers, password and application numbers so we could check status, etc. This saved a huge amount of time pulling the papers out of folder when son wanted to log into school websites to check status.</p>
<p>We're an Excel family ;).</p>
<p>But DS has one wall of his room painted in blackboard paint. On that wall, early in the summer before senior year, I wrote the essay prompts for the Common App and several schools he was considering (with his royal highness's permission of course, LOL).</p>
<p>They were just there so he could cogitate/noodle things around in his head.</p>
<p>He still made no visible progress on the essays until October. But I think he truly did run ideas around in his head over the summer. That way, he appeared to feel no paralysis/writer's block when the time came.</p>
<p>We had a folder for materials from Guidance. A folder with blank applications. And a folder for completed applications. Later a folder for acceptances.</p>