Thank you so much!!! The support is SO appreciated!
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Congrats! Go Choate…and GO @CavsFan2003 !! 
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THANK YOU!!! Proud to represent the Boars at Caltech!!
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Woo hoo, @CavsFan2003 ! Really happy for you!!
Congratulations @CavsFan2003!!!
Thank you so much @gardenstategal @chemsider!!
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Anyone else have a student applying for fall from an LPS that has written no papers yet this year to submit for the graded essay part of the application? Ugh! And two teachers (including guidance counselor) have not submitted their recommendations yet.
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I feel your pain. 4 years ago kiddo had that problem. For his entire 8th grade there were two graded written assignments. And they weren’t very long. Hopefully you can sort it out with the schools.
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We do have graded papers (but with no comments) from LPS. BUT, still waiting on recs, only one teacher has submitted after multiple very pleasant reminders to them. All the other recommenders have agreed to write, but haven’t done it. We actually are not applying to Mercersburg and other SAO schools because I know we can’t get the teachers to send recs to two different platforms! So, we are Gateway or bust. And local private schools require their own forms, so we can’t do those, either. Extremely frustrating as a parent to see your child held back by their own teachers.
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So I’m applying to Exeter again for 10th grade instead of 9th like last year (fingers crossed this time!). On Gateway to Prep Schools, it says that the Transcripts are still pending, but on the Exeter Applicant Portal, it says that the Transcripts have already been received. Is this just a glitch? I know the Exeter Applicant Portal recently got a big overhaul but this was on the 15th after the change.
We had this problem last year. My daughter asked her history teacher if she could write a longer version of a paragraph writing assignment the class had done and then the teacher graded it and added comments. It ended up working out great and I think asking for the favor was the hardest part. Teachers aren’t new to kids applying to private and they’ve pretty much jumped through the hoops all before.
And yes, her English teacher (an absent-minded professor type) sent in the recommendation the night of January 13 - Stressing about it may or may not have ruined my Christmas last year 
So try to have faith it will work out okay!
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The K-8 school I attended before Lawrenceville, which sends >80% of its students to boarding schools nearby (though usually as day students), had every single teacher send their recommendations on January 14th for every student. It was incredibly nerve-wracking—I still wonder why the school, despite its experience in this domain, always chooses to do so.
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I should add that my kiddo hasn’t even started his essay, or his planned multi-media supplement. Deep breaths! Thankfully, he is only applying to the school his sister is at, and isn’t even 100% sure he would go if he gets in (he is kind of a home body) My part (the FA) is almost complete and I had to do it anyway because of kiddo #1 to renew the aid.
My k-8 will send in recs at the last minute, January 14th, in case a student adds or deletes a school unexpectedly. I think it helps the counseling office keep on top of last-minute changes.
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For sure. Only paper available is a first draft with comments, so that is what is getting sent.
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Also struggling with the graded essay. Kiddo2 is at a LDS, but an English teacher quit early in the year, so his teacher now has twice as many kids as she was supposed to have. He wrote one essay the first week, but never got it back and has only had short group essays since then. Only one of his schools requires it, and that school is test optional, so since he’s sending test scores, I wonder if they still need the essay?
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Sounds like our kids aren’t writing much! My son has a 1,000 word English assignment tonight that consists of several questions about short stories they are reading. I told him to do his best and ask her to make comments and send him a copy so he can submit. My other complaint with his current school is that they rarely get any work back, or get a chance to see what they missed even. How does one learn that way?
Middle schools that have a machine in place for sending kids to BS have well-trained teachers as part of that machine. They’re used to writing recs every single year and are not likely to drop balls. The stakes are WAY too high and they know it. Plus let’s face it, many of these middle school SSC offices will just call the BS AO to let them know if something goes amiss at the last moment.
I get the nerves but if you’re at one of those schools I wouldn’t sweat it.
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My initial comment specifically referred to public schools. No one here goes to boarding school, so the silence from them is nerve wracking.
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Anyone on this thread worried about our BS’s starting up again on time?
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