@kt1969 and @klinska the Goucher waiver showed up in S17’s in box this morning directly from the AO that he had the “informational meeting” with a couple of weeks ago. They really clicked and S actually sent a very sincere thank you email (with prodding from me of course to do it at all lol) So who really knows but there was definitely a very nice thoughtful and personalized email that came with it.
Made our morning 
Hmm, probably too late for D17 to write a thank you note for her interview almost a month ago. 
Darn.
@eandesmom–that sounds very promising–basically a personalized waiver! Good for your S!
@kt1969, I had to nag my D a lot to get her to send thank yous for interviews, which she did, grudgingly. Over a 3 week period she had something like 5 interviews. And then for her last one, at a school she has said she really is interested in, I decided I needed to back off and figured she’d do it on her own, what with all the recent practice. Nope.
@klinska Le sigh.
Lol, I had to argue with him to get him to do it. He still hasn’t done one for UVM and refuses to for Ursinus. To be fair Ursinus was at a college fair and he feels that seems forced and stupid. And it won’t make an iota of difference at UVM. But it’s the right thing to do even if I have to beat good manners into his head.
In this instance he didn’t really mind, just doesn’t quite see the need the way I do. His take was it won’t make a difference and it’s their job. My take is maybe and yes but it doesn’t matter. Good manners are always the right thing. If people took time out of their day or night to meet with you the least the student can do is say thanks.
But this result may have him think twice. At least I hope so. He has two more that he really needs to connect with.
@klinska And mine is working on his EA app as I type this. Trying not to interrupt as I know it will do no good.
@klinska it was. I’m sure many of the kids in the main thread receive things like this but the only waivers my kids have gotten are from schools they never expressed interest in and were clearly mass mailings or emails. Phishing waivers.
So yeah, the personalized email referencing their actual meeting with a PDF versus a generic code gave me all the warm fuzzies the kid has gotten with both of his live interactions.
Then again, let’s be real. He is a boy, from what is likely an underrepresented state interested in a school that is very gender imbalanced. Still, it was nice.
Lol.
@eandesmom That is awesome. I am jealous. D17 has gotten waivers from 3 of her schools–Knox, Wooster [although the CA doesn’t show it as having a fee, so color me confused on that one], and McDaniel. Plus St Michael’s offers a fee waiver if you visit, which we did. They also offer $1000/year towards tuition if you attend after having done a visit. Crazy. But I’ll take it!
@kt1969 that’s awesome! I was happy with no app fee schools, waivers are like getting a refund when you’ve mentally already spent the money
S did get a waiver from Wooster, although it also showed it as without a fee so I was confused. Same thing with Kalamazoo which had me revisiting that one for a second! Wooster looks like a great school. They don’t have his programs though and the location didn’t work for him which kind of bummed me out as it really looks great!
Love the tuition discount if you attend, one of our state schools does that. Sadly it’s not on the list either (ok really not, I’m ok with that one lol).
I’ve heard great things about Knox!
He does have a waiver from Ohio University which was on the list for a bit. I have mentioned it a few times to S but no nibbles lol.
Great news @klinska !
My S17 got a waiver from Pitt after he had started his application in September. The email was something like, “We see you’ve begun filling out your application and sent your test scores, here’s a waiver.” Very unexpected but appreciated; Pitt certainly doesn’t need to fill their application coffers. He had waivers from a few more on his list, some as incentive to get them done early, some because of prior demonstrated interest.
We only got sucked in by one random waiver offer and I wish to God we hadn’t because they immediately began harassing him for his transcript with phone calls, emails, etc. Finally I got on the phone and explained it takes 3 weeks for transcripts to be sent, and if they’re so anxious I could scan an unofficial transcript if they really wanted to assess him right away, and then they backtracked and said all their admissions people were visiting schools through November anyway.
How long after you submit the application does it take to get an acknowledgement email/portal information? Of the 8 D submitted last night, we have heard back from two. I figure it can take a couple of days–but what has been the experience here thus far?
@klinska, S17 submitted 7/8 via CA in early October and received a couple of immediate acknowledgements, a few that came a day or two later, and portal information within a few days to a few weeks. But what was really frustrating is that several schools continued to email him about getting his application in AFTER the official acknowledgement, causing us to go back and look for those acknowledgement emails to ensure we didn’t miss something. This past week, he got several emails from his schools reminding him of the upcoming deadline too. How hard would it be for colleges to adjust their email lists to avoid these mixed messages?
@klinska Within a couple of days, so far. Although I feel like when D submitted the app for St Mike’s on Sunday night, it said that she would receive portal info by snail mail. Isn’t that kind of weird? Maybe I misunderstood…
@klinska Forgot to say last night. That’s wonderful she submitted them. Sometimes we have to trust our kids…
I probably should not have last night.
Don’t know what happened but S17 failed to finish the OSU app last night. I turned around and he was conked out asleep. (He’s been staying up late the past week & I’m sure he’s been exhausted.) Didn’t bug him about it as he went out the door, but I’ll be very surprised if he manages to finish by tonight. He’s unlikely to be home before 10pm.
Although the kid does do homework & type essays on his phone. So who knows? He takes a break today and writes short answer questions while on his field trip?? Honestly I hope he doesn’t.
I’m trying to be calm about this. (I have other real things to be stressed out and application not turned in EA isn’t the end of the world.) He still has more than 2 months to get this application in regular admittance. He did get UofO in EA so he should hear from someone early. If this was the UC App… I’d be picking him up early and sitting on him till he did it because that deadline is absolute.
OH and no fee wavers here. I was going to say since he’s only applying to public schools. Yet our counseling office actually mentioned UofO as a school that offers fee wavers.
Blargh. D has not yet submitted her American application (she didn’t complete the questions about activities she plans to participate in while in college–no biggie, but needs to be complete before submitting). Back when she registered for a preview day this past summer, she was given a username/password for the prospective student portal. I just checked the portal for funsies, and under Application Status it says “Thank you for applying to American University. Your application is complete and is currently being reviewed.”
What?
I went back to the CA to make sure D didn’t finish up and submit the application, and no, she hadn’t. It’s still sitting there, waiting. What could possibly be going on here?
@klinska I have no idea, but that is worrisome.
@tacocat333 ugh! I need to look away from the computer, while there is no waiver there are a couple of free to apply schools due today that would be a good fit (that S took off the list) and it’s killing me.
@kt1969 and @RightCoaster, @snoozn and anyone else applying to UVM.
Just got off the phone with UVM. Their portal email to S bounced! So they resent to both of us. Still bounced on his end. UGH. But we have the log in info now so that’s good. I am going to have to call back and them them know it still bounced ot him.
I noticed a few things. All S’s materials are showing as in. I suspect that is because it appears our school loads the transcript into the Common App directly (which I didn’t even know was an option until this am when I emailed Ithaca to inquire about it and they said it won’t show until he hits submit if the school loaded it there). So, @kt1969 I would call them directly, they are quite lovely on the phone!
The notification dates on the portal are different than the website.
EA notification is 11/10 and 12/14, online at 5pm ET. It also said deferrals will be notified in March. Bleh on that.
However the portal says they aren’t downloading FAFSA till feb and financial awards aren’t until March. UGH. THis doesn’t really seem to match the website which says late december and has a FAFSA incentive scholarship if you file your FAFSA before 10/31. But the financial aid part of the portal seems to be look
Our FAFSA doesn’t show up yet in the portal though but it was filed before then. Still, I can’t see UVM awarding that to S though it would be nice!
@klinska I think the portal info really varies by school. One was within 24 hours, one said 2 weeks and the other we haven’t heard from at all yet so who knows! UGH on the American app
@curiositycat333 fingers crossed he gets it done, he may surprise you. You really never know sometimes with these kids!
@klinska Oh no! maybe call the school and ask? that’s very strange, let us know when you find out!
Thanks, @eandesmom I just looked at the CA and for UVM it shows that the school report and counselor and teacher recs and all that were downloaded on 10/28. So I’m thinking it just hasn’t been matched up or something. The UVM portal actually says that it may take up to 5 business days after the application deadline for your supporting docs to show as received on the portal. So will try not to stress.