<p>Agent99, you can preview it here: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx</a></p>
<p>Goodness, I’m exhausted just reading about some of your Spring Break plans! Y’all must have way more vacation time than I do! Lol I’m just so happy when it’s Spring because that means it’s not marching season, which means I actually have a few minutes to breathe here and there, and I can’t imagine spending Spring as busy as Fall always is! Of course at the same time it’s bittersweet for me, because I do cherish being a band mom and I’m sad my son only has one more marching season to go. :-(</p>
<p>Reading all of your plans has really made me grateful that my son doesn’t have a list of 15 schools he’s interested in. I think I’m going to give him a big hug when I get home, lol. He has known for a long time that he wanted to be an engineer, and has known for a good year where he wants to go to school. The biggest decision we’re facing (aside from will he get enough financial aid, or will Mom have to decide which bank to knock over ) is which dorm does he want to live in. That, and we can’t decide if he should take the SAT again, take the ACT for kicks, or not worry about it since it’s not really going to matter for admissions. But every higher point <em>would</em> matter for merit aid, and that’s kind of critical, so he’ll probably take one of the two tests once more.</p>
<p>Today’s the last day of Spring Break for him… wish <em>I</em> was home playing video games, lol. :p</p>
<p>-gina-</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, Go2mom. That’s fairly substantial, there’s something like 14 pages. I hope the Captain has the ship ready to go.</p>
<p>Great! Now HS Class 2014 will be the guinea pig for the new Common App. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?</p>
<p>From what I’ve read/heard, it’s a good thing. While there are five new essay prompts to choose from, students can write longer essays. Everything can be done online and colleges will have a more streamlined approach to add their supplements.</p>
<p>If you click on this link, there is a lot more information that can be found under the section Announcements and Resources. <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4.aspx</a></p>
<p>The GREAT news is that once it goes live on August 1, students can start filling it out–a good month before schools begins. And since they already have the essay prompts, there’s really nothing to prevent them from starting to brainstorm/write them now. (Like any of them have time! LOL!)</p>
<p>@BarnardMom: If you get up to Grand Valley during your visits, you might want to consider looking at Calvin College (Grand Rapids) or Hope College (Holland). They’re a bit bigger than Kalamazoo. D10 liked everything about K-College except the small size. D14 won’t consider anything in Michigan other than U of M.</p>
<p>The common app takes 15 to 20 minutes to fill out, maybe a little less. But you have to upload the essays. You need ot take your time to write and edit the essays off-line. Many school have supplements which require short essay answers and, perhaps, another full-length essay. Those take a little while, but you can “save” and come back to it and finish it.</p>
<p>So this is definitely the official new Common App? I would hate to have my daughter start working on her essay to only find out later that the questions are different.</p>
<p>The essay prompts were released in early Feb. I haven’t read anything about this in a month, but my recall is that essay length would be enforced at a max of 650 words. (As in, the essay will be cut off in the middle of a sentence if it exceeds 650 words.) Students will no longer be allowed to upload supplemental info unless requested by the college. I also think an activities/EC essay was eliminated but as I had never looked at the common app before, I do not know what that asked. As others have commented, schools are still free to add their own supplemental essays.</p>
<p>Here are the new essay prompts: </p>
<p>–Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
–Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
–Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
–Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
–Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>I can’t even begin to imagine what one should write in response to any of those prompts. I know I filled out college apps many moons ago but I don’t think the prompts were quite like these. Our greatest concern seemed to be finding the color of white-out that corresponded with the school’s app (green, ecru, white).</p>
<p>I don’t even know how much of a page would be filled with 500 words. Perhaps I should suggest to my son that he start by figuring that out first! Good luck.</p>
<p>I certainly wouldn’t want to have to choose from any of those prompts. I’m curious to see which one my daughter chooses. Good luck to you as well!</p>
<p>I actually like these prompts. I don’t think there’s any responses that an applicant “should” write, just a response that indicates some introspection and self-assessment, to give the AO some sense of the person behind the application.</p>
<p>And as our GC said, these changes won’t really make a difference to our kids, since this is the first time they’ve applied to college!</p>
<p>I also like the new prompts. A few of them seem relevant to my son, who isn’t thrilled with writing. They seem to offer opportunities to deliver a message about who the student is as a student, athlete, artist… They certainly beat “if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?”</p>
<p>My concern is that the responses to some of these prompts could be seen as self-serving or whining, particularly if a child chooses to right about a hardship in their life.</p>
<p>@ ANjintrader, my son is a freshman in college this year. When he did his common app, you were able to upload a resume, but I don’t remember it being specifically called that. So he uploaded his “activity” sheet that he had made for National Honors Society. It was very easy to tweak for college use. It is a repeat of the activity section of the common app, but his looked very nice. If the colleges choose not to look at it, that is fine. But they do give you the option to upload it as a document, just like you upload your essay. Hope that helps</p>
<p>It does help, thanks. I suppose the answer varies, depending on the school and the applicant’s particular situation. You know, I don’t recall things being quite so complicated when I went to college (many moons ago!), or maybe I just have selective memory :-)</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Met with the GC the other day. Nice mtg. I was surprised as I haven’t been too impressed before. Learned a few things and the way the school handles the LORs etc is better–now connected to the Common app…with k1 2011 it was snail mail and a pita.</p>
<p>Have any of you met with your student’s GC regarding college list development etc yet?
I still have to work on the parents questionaire and K2 has to write that part for the GC as well.</p>
<p>We had lovely weather today…sunny blue skies. A great way to end a great week, K2s team competed today and did well. </p>
<p>And—this week I got some spring shopping in–new shoes/dresses/ and a trip to Soma store 
ready to spring into spring :)</p>
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<p>Anchors will be raised at midnight on 1 August 2013 and the SS Class of 2014 will set sail. The first port will be the Common Application. Other ports of call will include final testing dates, EA and/or ED deadline dates, RD deadline dates, FAFSA and CSS due dates, and so forth and so on. The ship will dock on March 31st. The SS Indecision will set sail on April 1, 2014 for a crazy and rocky 30 day cruise (nothing like Carnival, however :eek:) 
Just be organized and well packed and the cruise will be enjoyable. Now, if we can get the kids to cooperate … and understand what the deadlines mean … and get the GC’s and teachers who process the paper and electronic submissions to cooperate … Well, you see that it may be a bit of a bumpy ride. :D</p>
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<p>Based on our experience with DS-2011, start right away. While the administrative parts of the CA are basic, the essays and any free response answers need to be well thought out and reviewed and reviewed and reviewed. The 500 -650 words that our kids put into the CA has to not only stand out to the strangers reading them (Adcons), but also MUST tell a story that helps the Adcons understand who your DS or DD is. It has to bring through some sense of their personality and make-up as a student and an individual. It has to say what they are bringing to the college table. It can be written about just about anything as long as it can be related to the prompt question. Based on our DIL’s prior experince as an Adcon in a smaller LAC, the Adcons can tell within the first few seconds of reading if the essay will tell them what they need to give the applicant a positive score which is what its all about. The more obvious reason to start right away is due to the hectic senior year schedule that seems to fill the days, evenings and weekends. </p>
<p>Before you know it, the deadlines are looming and many families are scrambling to complete their CA and supplements.</p>