@me29034 that sounds like tremendous progress
Thanks to a fall break this week, D19 is making headway on applications. I think she is probably typical in that she feels she has nothing to write about in the essay. It has been like dragging an anchor through mud to pull ideas out of her! Well, I went to the high school last week to be a reader for a college essay workshop night, organized by our counseling department, and gave feedback on several essays. A few of the kids I know to be extremely bright and applying to elite colleges and even they struggle greatly with putting themselves on paper. I do not envy them this task. A local admissions rep at this event told the parents that many essays they read are boring and that admissions committees are simply scanning unless something really grabs their attention. It seems a tall order, and a little unfair considering the effort going into writing these essays, but I did come home feeling a little bit better about what D has written. Her essay, while not exciting, is at least sincere.
Received DS19ās senior proofs today. That was way harder than I expected.
Can someone explain how the LORs work with the Coalition App. D19s HS uses Naviance to request the LORās which is linked with the Common App.
Not sure how the LORs are linked with the Coalition App.
@DCNatFan - I think the student sends an invite through the coalition app to the LOR. They then set up an account in coalition. Our school is not used to coalition but so far it has gone smoothly. (Holding breath that it all works the way it is supposed toā¦)
@me29034 Yay for super progress. With Pitt rolling decisions, maybe youāll early something early this fall. I hope so.
We have agreed on a great list ā well unless she doesnāt get into any of the four āfitā schools. They are fit on paper and with a geographic bump, Iām hopeful. Lafayette is back on the list and is more of a reach. She is applying to one school close to home b/c what if she changes her mind about the north east? There is one in state school and a safety.
With twins, the application budget will be hefty, but I feel good about obsessive research for longer than I care to admit. I think we are done with the search part.
The Pitt threads are very busy with acceptance notifications already. DS got his in the mail on Saturday. It sure is nice to have one so early!
Just realized I thought I was posting on the other thread. But get those rolling apps in. Itās nice to know you have one school you can attend while waiting on the others.
@carolinamom2boys we got proofs yesterday too. They are horrible. He looked good when he left the house but I donāt know what he did to his hair before the pictures. Itās sticking up in three different directions. I donāt think you could even photoshop these to be respectable. Fortunately weāre allowed to send one of our own instead. D will be home in a couple weeks for a wedding so Iāll have her take some pictures.
Just as things are going well, S has to throw a monkey wrench into the mix. He hates Stats, currently has a C and wants to drop it. Heās afraid itās only going to get worse and heās going to fail. Itās his only AP this year so if he drops he has none. I donāt want him to fail, but if he drops he has a really empty schedule. He still will have enough credits to graduate, but will only be taking 5 courses this term and 4 next term. And in the spring, one will be gym. Seriously, if he drops stats his spring schedule will be precalc, econ, creative writing, and gym. I told him he has to work with his guidance counselor to find another academic course to take. Sigh.
New here - enjoyed reading what I could so far (I mean there are only 129 pages lol). I have 3 kids - daughter (19 years old), currently a sophomore taking classes (she is a stellar student but ended up playing softball at a JUCO - she hung up her cleats and is now attending a local community college until she can transfer to 4 year school); son, senior in HS, super smart but struggles with ADHD - had bad freshman/sophomore year - hurt GPA and rank, applied to 2 colleges and struggling with essay (his life is boring, he says) for the other 2 on his list; and youngest son, 8th grader - ADHD but more of the absent-minded professor variety. I am so glad to learn all of this now because he will need all the help preparing for success! Anyway, onto the kid relevant to this thread, (I donāt know the acronyms so my senior son will be DS1), He has ~3.4 gpa closer to 3.5, ranks top 13% of his class of 940 kids, and scored so so on the ACT (better than SAT tho). Forgot to add that he has 6 dual credit and 3 AP courses (2 current). We just got back scores from his 2nd retake (from 9/8), and he only gained a 2 pt increase with a composite of a 28. He increased his scores in all subjects but English (he actually thought he did well in English so he was upset by this)ā¦his reading jumped from a 24 to a 30! Frustrating because the two schools requiring essays require score of 30 if in top 25% for auto/academic admit, so now he will be a review admit at both schools. Not sure what else to add here - this whole process is so nerve wracking! My DD has applied to transfer to two schools for Spring admission, and DS1 applied to 2 schools and working on the other two - we are all in wait mode. Iām more nervous about the money, but we will make it work - somehow.
Welcome @JaceyK! As for acronyms, your son would be DS19 (itās the graduation year).
A 2-point increase on the composite is great! Are you going to take it again? My kid took it three times and increased her composite to 28 and her superscore to 29, which was good, but bear in mind that sending all these scores costs $13 for each test, to each school 
Welcome @JaceyK ! The acronyms usually are like S19 for a son in the high school class of 2019. It threw me off here because on other forums I use my childās age, not grad year, but here it is more helpful for readers to know their grad year. I put in an apostrophe to remind myself it is for a year not an age! So for now, I have a DDā17 who is 19 and a DDā19 who is 17!
My DDā17 is also at community college like yours, and is very happy there and barely costing us a thing with all the scholarships sheās gotten. She wonāt be transferring, sheāll be done with her program in May.
Iām concerned about the money too. DD is applying to only safeties, so we donāt have that big worry of where will she get in, just where can we afford. There are 3-4 schools in our price range that could work, a couple I think are too far to drive, and one she would have to change majors but it has other benefits she would like. Leaving one that has the right price, right distance and right majors but itās ātoo normalā because other kids from school go there. She might get over that because she had a really good visit there. However, she is currently wishing for a Christian private that is $10K/year over budget partly because itās Christian and partly because her crush goes there. I feel for her, I really do, it would be a great place overall and fun for her to hang out with him, but the costā¦
Ugh, I just got a postcard from a college announcing a program where she would automatically qualify for full tuition. The problem is the religious affiliation makes it one of the few colleges I would not send her to. Why couldnāt it have been some other school?!
@me29034 It was apparently really hot at school (no AC) on the August day that S19 had his photos done. His hair looks terrible, sweaty and matted to his forehead. The cap and gown pics look good because his hair is covered.
Welcome @JaceyK!
A couple of my S19ās senior photos came out well (there are more bad/funny than good though). I really only need an 8 x 10, two 5 x 7s for the grandmothers, and a sheet of wallets and I"m balking at paying >$200 for these ala carte. They keep giving me promo codes for the $500 and up packages! Love my kid - donāt need to wallpaper my house with his grad photos. They take two photos at graduation and Iāll likely get those.
S19 is taking baby steps. The list is finalized with 3 schools on Coalition and 4 on Common App. The last ACT score report has been sent and transcripts will (finally) be requested this week. No progress on essay(s). Most schools want the main essay, but a couple want something else instead or in addition. And then thereās a whole second round of music school applications once these are in, but trying not to think about that at the moment.
Welcome @JaceyK !!
So D19 got our second acceptance today to FIU. She is extremely happy since this was a school she actually wants to attend.
Welcome @JaceyK , sounds like your sonās stats should give him some very good options.
Congrats @cinn124 , what a great feeling. I canāt wait to join the acceptance crowd.
We got senior photos awhile ago and it really did not trigger much sentimentality on my part. I wonder if itās because Iām used to seeing D dressed up, hair done on occasion. Just makes me wonder when I am going to crumble because I know itās going to happen at some point! Itāll just be a surprise I guess.
Hi @JaceyK I have twin D19s. Twin A is the one who I talk about here b/c she has given me a run for my money with her lack of motivation. I would be at a loss without this wonderful group. In fact, several of the colleges on my Dās list are because of friends recommending them here. I only have the two so this is a painful process of learning that will have no value after they are in school. 
What area of the country do you live in? Iām in NC. This group is excellent at suggesting schools with aid depending on your parameters.
@me29034 I was shocked that they turned out well as school pictures typically do not. I plan to have some casual ones done once he decides on his school that he will attend. Welcome @JaceyK
@gatormama Thanks - I donāt know. We are looking into a residual ACT program @ Texas A&M - talking through it to see if worth it. He might get in still via review admission, but that is never a guarantee, ifykwim. He would have to take it before next Friday so that doesnāt give him a whole lot of time to re-review his weakest areas. We shall see.
@bjscheel DD aspires to go to medical school, so she needs to transfer to 4 year school. She definitely has saved a TON of money doing the community college route - the year she did it with softball, everything was paid for - everything. I have had to pay this past summer and now this fall, but that is a drop in the bucket compared to the traditional universities.
We are worried about the financial aspect because we have nothing saved for their schools. Without getting into the deep stuff, we just couldnāt save the monies for 3 kids - the opportunities to do so never arose (seemed like very time we turned around, we got hit financially sigh). But our EFC is too high to get any grants, so we will be helping the kids get loans - I donāt mind paying on the interest while they are in school but I am pushing them to try harder on their own for merit aid and other such fundings - I feel like if I say we will cover the loans, they wonāt try as hard, kwim? Regardless, we are in no shape to pick up loans for 3 kids. LOL.
I feel you though - itās so hard to pick the perfect school for our kids!