<p>DD got a few of those easy, quick, no fee/no essay applications. She was already interested in two of the schools so it was a no brainier. She got accepted to both schools in less than two weeks. </p>
<p>With those two acceptances in hand, she is now chomping at the bit to complete the common app so that she can submit six more. Who knew that two acceptances would put fire under her butt! Yay!</p>
<p>DD has not applied to any colleges yet. Actually, we visited several schools and she received information from others but at this point there is no first choice…or second…or third, etc. Her HS school has a new GC this year and I’m afraid she’s just getting her feet wet. There are only 30 kids in the class, so how can we be this far behind? The previous GC, who had years of experience, left and it’s like we’re starting from scratch…argh!! What do I do in a situation like this? Without some top picks to choose from where does this path lead?? We are totally lost and confused at this point…and I know the clock keeps ticking as we approach the 11th hour. HELP!!!</p>
<p>^^^we have not received much help from the schools GC- mostly they help with the mechanics of getting the CA completed. We consulted a private College advisor to help with the list and also took advice from others on this forum and the parents of 2014 forum.</p>
<p>If your D does not have a first choice that could be a good thing! You could look at the list she has now and try to put them in one of 3 categories: safety, 50/50, and reach. Most of the schools on her list should fall in the 50/50 range. We used Naviance and the common data sets to determine which categories the schools belong. I will add that any school that has less than a 25 - 30% acceptance rate belongs in the reach category. </p>
<p>If your D hasn’t already, she should ask for recommendations from 2 teachers who know her best.</p>
<p>Remember…you have time - I think the deadline for most schools is Jan 1. </p>
<p>I hope this helps…</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks for the great information. A lot also hinges on how she did on the Sept. 21 ACT. This was her third time and my fingers are crossed for a nice score increase. If it stays steady or drops I don’t know what we’ll do. :-(</p>
<p>^^^you may also want to look at test optional schools.</p>
<p>Thanks…I’ve looked at some of those and they may be out of our price range. Her UW GPA is 3.75 but her highest ACT C is 24. Her first ACT was 21. So we’re hoping beyond hope she can get it to at least a 27 this time.</p>
<p>^^^has D considered taking the SAT ? Maybe do a practice test ? My S just took the ACT just to see how he does? He is also retaking the SAT next Saturday. Just a thought…</p>
<p>My friend’s daughter was in a similar position as your D last year and she ended up going to Union college. She got a great FA package.</p>
<p>^^^She did take the SAT and found it to be “more difficult” than the ACT. I don’t recall her SAT score but I believe it compared to a 21 on the ACT. She has no desire to take the SAT again.</p>
<p>scsiguru, there are over 800 colleges and universities that are test-optional. Okay, some may not be in her area of interest (arts colleges and music schools). Surely some are affordable? Her GPA puts her in play for some very good schools. I would hate to see a low test score keep her out.</p>
<p>[SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest)</p>
<p>My thought is that a college has no legitimate interest in asking this question. Wondering if it needs to be answered. Or answered fully.</p>
<p>Your thoughts?</p>
<p>expat—is that a question asked by a specific college in their own pull-down menu? There must be a better title for what I am trying to describe…but it is escaping me at this late hour.</p>
<p>I have not come across that one yet but admit that we are not fully up to speed on the CA in this house. I just went in to look at a few of the schools and did not see that question. I thought I read somewhere that a school might see the names of other schools on the FAFSA form, but I know little about that so probably should not mention. I am hoping one CA school cannot see all of the other schools using same CA.</p>
<p>I do recall being asked that myself when interviewing years ago.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a college-specific question.</p>
<p>For the please list other colleges…for K1s app it was answered with something like…
“other peer schools with a STEM major…”
not anything specific.</p>
<p>As far as essays…Yes we are having a terrible time with K2 …who is tired of revising it…tired of thinking about it…and just wants to slap in whats done…grammar errors, tone and all.
Its been a battle.</p>
<p>^^^Fog,</p>
<p>I have not even seen my son’s draft essays! I asked him how it is coming and he shrugs …he had to pass in 4 drafts for English but I have no idea in what shape the are in…</p>
<p>I did tell him to focus on SAT prep but at this point he us swamped with homework and ECs…hopefully he will get going on the essay after the SAT exam in Saturday. </p>
<p>On a happy note yesterday S received a Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship program. I was so surprised because I thought he had just missed the cutoff. I was very happy but once again - S shrugged …he came close to being a semi finalist and I think it was just a reminder…or maybe he was just tired…</p>
<p>@expatCanuck: We have always left that question blank. Never answered it. The feedback I received from several people that work in Admissions is that they ask that question in hopes of getting an idea where their school lies in the mix of options. Are they the safety or reach school? Our high school GC also recommends that it not be answered since there is really no upside to answering it and the downside is unknown, although probably minimal if at all.</p>
<p>Please take a look at University of Arizona! Fabulous program for ADHD.</p>
<p>Four of the six schools D will be applying to offer early action with a Nov 1 deadline. </p>
<p>Anyone else sweating out the looming deadline? </p>
<p>Although it was looking like we’d be in for 11:55pm deadline send button drama, things have improved dramatically at our house over the last week.
D asked three teachers and a coach for LORs and all responded enthusiastically. Whew~
She finished her common app essay and started tackling the individual school supplemental essays. Common app is completed and just waiting for final proofing.
Once these four are “in the books”, it’ll be smooth sailing because one of the two that is left is an easy in-state safety with a GPA minimum auto-admit deadline of 1/15. That only leaves one school with a traditional 1/1 deadline (no EA option, as we decided not to do ED at this school). Hopefully, the winter holidays will be WAY less stressful by applying EA at most of her schools. Just need to get through the next three weeks…</p>
<p>I’ve been reminding Spygirl that she only has a few more weeks to put the final touches on her supplements and common app and send them out before the early action November 1 deadline. Because she’s not busy enough with 5 AP classes, Constitution Team, and her regular ec’s, DD decided to try out for the school play. </p>
<p>Naturally she landed several large roles, which requires practice nearly every night of the week. I think she’s nuts but she is happiest when she’s busy. As long as she doesn’t miss any deadlines I’ll support her wacky schedule.</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>So K2 got the essay finished (finally–I have been hoping it would be done for more than a month…) and the last essay was approved by the GCs AND I think all of the apps have gone in…several went in here - via priority apps…and K2 took all of the paperwork in for the transcripts etc
and then K2 met with the Gc today to send the others via common app.</p>
<p>Evidently K2 even applied to safety in state because it was free… hahahahah</p>
<p>and K2 sent the tests scores etc…</p>
<p>The follow up is to make sure the teacher who said they’d write the LORs back in Aug–actually have cone it and uploaded it to Naviance because evidently the GC couldn’t find it…yikes</p>
<p>OTOH It looks like by the middle of the month all of the apps will be in…and then WE WAIT…</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else, but my D got her apps done last year in time for the EA deadlines because we had no power at home for a week (thanks to Sandy), so she was hanging out at the public library all day on the computer. It provided a topic for her interviews (one of which took place at a coffee shop packed with people escaping from their cold, dark homes).<br>
But the post-application wait wasn’t as bad as we expected. She heard from the first two schools by Thanksgiving. Good luck to all you class of '14 folks!</p>