<p>I am curious how everyone keeps track of all the college information, applications etc. for their kids. With my first, I kept a portable file with all of the important information that he would need to apply to schools. Grades, awards, test scores, recommendations, essays, scholarships etc. Then each school he applied to had its own file with everything pertaining to the application shoved inside. Glued to the top of each file was an application checklist that I created, detailing important info. My son is a soon to be college junior so it has been a few years since doing this. Now I have a daughter who will be applying to schools in the fall. </p>
<p>There are alot of online tools and checklists available today and I was curious how people plan to keep track of the mountains of information that comes with the college application process. My daughter is very organized and I think she would prefer using something online but I tend to lean towards the old tried and true file system. Doing both would seem redundant. </p>
<p>How do all of you keep organize everything?</p>
<p>I started a spreadsheet on Google Docs & “shared” it with my D & DH. The good thing about that is that it online, it can be edited by anyone you’ve shared it with, and that way you don’t have to worry that someone is working off an old document. </p>
<p>I have to say that I was pretty hands off with D1. Once she got her final list nailed down, we looked at the app requirements together, and double checked dates. I was only involved when it came time to submit apps (for my credit card) and when she sent test scores (also for my credit card.) I’ve still never seen her essays. But I’ve heard boys may need a little more prodding than girls. </p>
<p>ETA: I printed out a 1 page document that had all the pertinent info: GPA, class rank, test scores, SS#, honors/awards, etc. so she had that all in one place.</p>
<p>I did keep everything that we received from the schools that she applied to in a single folder for ease of keeping track of things.</p>
<p>Like RobD, I recommend the Google Docs spreadsheet. Besides the fact that we could all view the documents simultaneously (on our individual computers) and have access to all the dreaded passwords and usernames, an additional advantage was that we were able to access these files from any computer with internet access (ie, as we traveled for college visits and music auditions)</p>
<p>The spreadsheet developed as we went along:
one tab per college
a tab dedicated to date-related deadlines
a tab where we compared certain aspects from school to school
a tab to track audition requirements per school (and pre-screen, if applicable)</p>
<p>Separately, she had a resume (1 page for repertoire, 1 page for music-related activities, and 1 page for academic and general clubs); granted this is more than is needed for most kids, but it worked out perfectly for us.</p>
<p>We had a 3-ring binder with dividers for each school; the idea was to store her applications and any correspondence but we didn’t use this much; she stored stuff digitally on her laptop in folders per school.</p>
<p>Once we started the financial aid process and got back acceptances -> my husband had a file for each school.</p>
<p>I just went ahead and uploaded D2’s resume to Google Docs as well. Realized I wasn’t “sharing” that.</p>
<p>When mtpaper mentioned the 3 ring binder, I remembered we did that too. D and I had brainstormed all the different things that were important to her, DH & I during the college search (ranging from driving times, flight possibilities, cost, average GPA, test scores, division 1 football, etc.) and I came up with a template sheet that listed all the criteria. I then asked her to go ahead, do some research and fill in all the blanks. I think I’ll be posting that to Google Docs as well. </p>
<p>One thing I did (at the end of junior year before she started her apps) was pull data points out of the various lists and rank them. This really helped D & DH put things in a more concrete perspective.</p>