<p>Is it acceptable for a parent to contact the admissions department? My daughter couldn't submit her common application last night due to technical difficulties. I emailed them for assistance today while she was at school, so she knew what to do when she arrived home. Did I cross the line or did I do the right thing?</p>
<p>Was last night the deadline?</p>
<p>No. Thursday night midnight is.</p>
<p>Ideally, she would contact them herself, but I doubt you did any harm. Most colleges really want kids to apply, and for help with something technical, I think it’s probably fine. </p>
<p>I’m not of the opinion that colleges are out to “ding” students for this kind of thing, but opinions may vary. Are there campus interviews for this school, or alumni interviews? Let her make the contacts for that and set them up and make any future contacts.</p>
<p>mplsmn,
If she had a problem submitting the common application, she isn’t the only one. Many students have had problems with this. She should be contacting the Help Center at commonapp.org They will get her the technical help and they should be able to do it quickly.</p>
<p>I think a parent calling with a legitimate technical issue while the student is at school is fine (not crossing any line)</p>
<p>Plus if you think about it your D is in school when admissions would be able to help. Most likely by the time she gets home they are gone for the day. I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>It is acceptable under the right circumstances. You may not have reached those yet.
The Common App had system wide problems. They may be fixed. Try again.
You say you e-mailed the admissions department. If you mean you e-mailed the Common App, that is fine. They can help you with this. If you mean you e-mailed the admissions department of the college to which your daughter is applying, I hope you mean you e-mailed all the colleges to which she is applying. If she is applying to just one college, quickly choose other colleges and apply in case she doesn’t get into the one college she wants.
Hopefully the College App will fix things before the deadline. If not, you should expect them to release a statement concerning what to do. And if they don’t do so before Thursday, contact all the colleges to ask what they will do.</p>
<p>This Thu deadline is only for ED, hence only one application for now. I know my kid’s college has moved the deadline to Nov 8.</p>
<p>Completely fine to contact admissions in this case. Everyone understands that this year is more challenging, and the goal for both your daughter and the college is a submitted application.</p>