Does anybody have any tips or suggestions for me? My D19 has psyched herself out of being about to write even a very preliminary draft of her common app essay, somehow. She’s intimidated, I think, by how important it is (her grades and test scores are done and set in stone, so this is the thing she still has control over). I find myself getting very frustrated with her, even though she’s not being lackadaisical about it…just…blocked.
@JenJenJenJen maybe she’s trying too hard to write something profound and that’s why she is feeling pressure? Have you tried suggesting she write about something fun that makes her happy, without worrying if it is profound and fits prompts? Something like the best morning of surfing or playing whichever board game with her friends or catching a giant yard lizard… maybe just write a story first about her life and then see later, with editing, if it might fit a prompt somehow?
D19 took the June SAT and despite our urging did little to no prep. She scored 170 points lower than her March test. She scored a 1290 in March and we were hoping to super score to something over 1300 but no such luck. She has decided not to take again so we are going to work with the 1290. We offered to pay for one more sitting but she declined.
Thanks @mom2twogirls – I’ll talk with her once she gets done with this pretty high quality mope she’s got going on right now.
It’s definitely a psychological thing.
Just jumping in on this thread to say that my D is also struggling with the essay. She keeps reading advice that she needs to show “impact” and then freaking out because she doesn’t feel she has had any impact on anything, ever. This is going to be a hard slog.
@gallentjill Maybe we should get our daughters together for a week of entropy.
My D has been stressed out about all of this lately too. She has the ACT tomorrow and she is sure she will never do better than last time, she just worked on her “resume” and she is sure she hasn’t done enough stuff and then she knows the essay is coming next week and I’m sure she has no idea where to start with that.
Have you guys read the free online book How to Hack the Essay? It is very short and easy to read - I thought it seemed really helpful. I told D I want her to read it but am letting her hit until next week when the ACT pressure is gone.
D19 was finally able to get a transcript from her HS, which will allow her to finish a few applications (Alabama and Kansas).
@DCNatFan we just requested one last week to be ready for Aug 1 applications.
D19 took the June and stayed exactly the same 1200. It was a little disappointing b/c hoping to get higher but we are done testing. It is what it is at this point. College list looks like Salisbury, Towson, CNU and East Carolina at this point. I ‘think’ these are matches for her. Community college is our local safety.
Can I just call the school and ask for a couple sealed transcripts and send them myself? Not sure how the process works. Couple of these schools don’t need recommendations or essays so thinking of just using school application and foregoing Common App. TBH, no real clue what we are doing over here…LOL. Our school isn’t terribly helpful with college stuff.
@Cotton2017 D19 applying to several of the same schools (Salisbury and Towson). I believe the transcripts have to be mailed directly by the HS. We actually have to pay $5 for each transcript after the first free one.
The packet from the high school contains more than just a transcript… it contains descriptions of the courses and other info. I would go through the school.
The more we think about it the more we think D19 should focus her attention on small to medium size schools. We hope this will mean smaller class sizes and get her more involved in the classes instead of just skating by at the larger state schools. We are thinking schools in 5,000 to 10,000 size. Schools on her list that fit this criteria so far are: High Point, Elon, Salisbury, Tampa and Dayton. She has has Furman (little smaller) and College of Charleston (little larger).
Any other good match schools in that size (1290 SAT, 3.44 UW GPA, 3.7 WGPA, education major, price not an issue) that we should consider?
@Cotton2017 we ordered a transcript for us to use for self reporting on the application , but every school that my DS16 applied to required an official copy from the school.
@DCNatFan you may want to look at Winthrop University in Rock Hill , SC. They were Clemson’s “sister” school before Clemson went coed. Rock Hill is basically a suburb of Charlotte , right over the SC line. They also have an Honors program with amazing dorms. I want to say that they have about 6,000 students. It’s on DS19’s list and was in DS16’s list.
We are also touring Flagler College this week. It is in St Augustine and they also have a strong education program , including a deaf education program. It is a little smaller than your target with a little less than 3,000 students . It’s an urban school, right in the middle of St Augustine. The main building was the old Ponce DeLeon hotel. It is absolutely beautiful and reminded us a lot of CofC. They also have an Honors program . It is private with a " public " pricetag of approx 30,000 before scholarships. If you would like, I can try and get more info about the education major while we are there. Also, they have some great You tube videos and a virtual tour available on their website.
Thanks for the info. I guess I’ll call the school and get a copy for me. We don’t have Naviance at our school and basically P/T counselors for 400 seniors. Should be interesting.
@DCNatFan - High Point looks amazing but too $$ for us. Did you tour Elon? It’s a beautiful campus.
@Cooton2017 We did tour Elon on the same day as High Point. Our tour guide at Elon was not the best but I’d be thrilled if D19 selected it. I loved it.
@carolinamom2boys Thanks for the suggestions. I will mention them to D19 and see if it generates any interest. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Flagler.
At our high school, the way to send in transcripts was to order them, they came sealed in an envelope, and you sent them in yourself. No way for the college to know that you sent them in rather than the secretary at the high school. I think I ordered 5 for each kid and opened one to check it and used the others for applications if needed.
I love Flagler. Like being on vacation all the time because it is right in the historic district.
Just chiming in about the many disappointed with June SAT scores…have you seen the controversy on the harsh curve for June? Many reports in our local news about kids answering many more questions right, but having lower scores. There’s a thread on here’s about it too.
I truly don’t understand SAT scoring . My DS19 took it twice and got the exact same score , distributed exactly the same way. So did 8 of his classmates.