@scoutmom2002 @marcie123 @thedreamdaisy do you think this strategy is good for match schools as well? My son ended jr year with a 3.0 gpa but is taking a college course this summer and will be taking another one this fall, plus is hoping to do well in his first quarter of hs (his workload is not as intense as in the past). My initial thought was to wait until after first quarter grades were available before applying to any of his schools, but this is the second time I’ve heard it might be a good idea to apply rolling or EA vs RD. Just wondering what our best plan of attack is.
I’m hoping S20 does as many apps as possible before school starts. He is a good writer, but he’s not good at deadlines, so I’m afraid that once school starts he’ll have trouble finishing the supplemental essays.
@taverngirl I’m not sure about match schools. My son is my third to go through the process but his sisters had much higher test scores and grades. They applied EA where they could but it happened that those were their safety schools. My son is taking the SAT in August as well and then he’s done regardless of the score. His goal is to get all apps in by end of October.
@taverngirl – well…we are in VA and it just so happens that D20’s top choice schools (UMW and CNU) offered Admission Interview option BEFORE submitting applications! She did Admission Interview (plus tour) at CNU already and they recommended EA application to everyone on the tour. She has her Admission Interview scheduled for UMW on 29 July (she’s already toured and attended open house). Her stats are borderline for UMW and CNU, but only because of low GPA…so we haven’t decided yet on whether we want to do EA as we are hopeful that her 1st Quarter grades will boost her GPA. But we have heard that often times if EA application is not strong they will simply defer it meaning postponing the admissions decision and reviewing application with regular-decision applicants.
As for applications this summer to colleges on her list (not just safety schools but schools that actually accept applications over the summer)…D20 actually received emails from Roanoke College, Radford University and Longwood University encouraging her to apply over the summer (likely due to college visits and/or SAT/ACT scores being sent) and offering application fee waivers for doing so (so we will save $$ too!). I should also note that she completed her SATs and ACTs in the spring and has already sent scores to all the schools she plans to apply to thus far.
She just completed the Radford Choice application and also the Roanoke College application – the colleges have their own application so Common App not needed. No essay required…but she did write the optional Personal Statement. Longwood University offers Lancer Summer Decision Days where D20 has simply registered for a campus tour in August and she will apply ahead of time and receive an admissions decision before she leaves campus.
The only thing needed then is to have school counselor send official transcripts/paperwork and letters of recommendation which can’t happen until mid to late August at the earliest. But this does indeed take a lot of the pressure off of D20 who already has anxiety.
When she goes to UMW for Admission Interview she plans to ask recommendation of whether to apply EA or Regular decision based on her current stats. Meanwhile D20 is working on college essay over the summer and attending college application workshop offered at her high school in early August.
@scoutmom2002 , is it just me or are the decision days a terrifying idea? Could you imagine going through the whole day admissions spiel with tour and then at the end their just like, “sike- we don’t want you.”
@milgymfam – actually, yes it does terrify me a little…but as Longwood is actually not one of D20’s top choices we are not that stressed. Also, I’ve heard that they don’t actually “deny” anyone, but might simply “defer” the application.
Let me add…I don’t think D20 would participate in any instant decision day for colleges coming to her high school. For example, I’ve heard that UMW does this at our school…even though it’s her top choice, she would not want to have the pressure of having her peers knowing about it and then asking if she got in…
Regarding applying before schools starts, we can start the process but our school won’t send transcripts and LORs until mid/late September. We spoke to quite a few kids at the schools D is applying to that have rolling admissions and the students had acceptances in hand by end of August, early September. I really wish we could be on that train. D keeps adjusting her list. Right now she has 5 schools and 3 are rolling, one will send results mid Nov, the final has EA results in Jan. If the first 3 don’t go well, she’ll apply to more, but she’s being optimistic that she’ll be set with the original 5.
We seem to be removing schools from S20’s list at a pretty rapid pace. He announced yesterday, he really wants to be close enough to home to drive home every weekend if he chooses to (really hoping he doesn’t do that once he gets there). This is coming from both a place of anxiety about leaving home and the fact that he has his first girlfriend who is a year behind him in school and he is soooo “in love”. Kind of hoping this doesn’t hold him back in school. So his list is now Sonoma State, San Francisco State, Cal State East Bay and I think we’ll add San Jose State. They all range from 1-2 hours away from our home. I suspect he will be accepted to all 4 of them given his stats and he has Sonoma as his #1 right now. If he ultimately decides he doesn’t want to leave home at all, then he could commute to Cal State East Bay or do community college, and I might encourage him to apply to Saint Mary’s College of California which is a commutable distance and might fit budget if he lived at home.
Deep down inside I really wanted him to strive for more and spread his wings, but I’ve learned this is about what he wants and so we’re not pushing too hard.
Hi there. First time poster, long time lurker. We are in Texas and the Apply Texas site opened up for Fall 2020 apps on July 1st. My D20 really only has 2 schools on her list. Her #1 choice is what most would consider a “safety” but it was her 1st choice, so I didn’t even use that term. Her 2nd choice is more of a reach, but after touring it last week, she now really wants to apply there and see what happens. The great part is that the schools are part of the same “system”, so if she doesn’t get in she could transfer later if she wants to go that route. I’m not sure what her end of year gpa was, at mid year it was a 3.67 (I’m sure that went down by the end of there year thanks to some time management issues on her part) with her highest SAT being a 1320 and ACT being a 27. She’s been in honors math since 6th grade and has 3 APs under her belt (World History 3 on the test, AP Lang 2 on the test and AP Environmental Science 3 on the test). She has only ever been involved with 1 club (FFA - showed a lamb in the county show and at the San Antonio Ag Show) and that was just last year, so her “activity and leadership resume” is weak. She was more focused on her classes. Which is why I feel way more comfy here. The other group has such high achieving, super active, on the go kids that I get overwhelmed sometimes reading it all. LOL
I want her to apply to several others, just in case she changes her mind, but she is pretty adamant on just the 2. She did agree to apply to the University of Alabama, because the application is seriously just 2-3 pages long and took all of 10 minutes to complete. We also went ahead and applied to her #1 choice on July 1st (no essay or LORs required), requested her transcript on Monday (the first day the option was available in Naviance), her school’s counselors started back to work on Tuesday, sent the transcript yesterday and we got an email today that she was ACCEPTED. She is super relieved now. Her words were “Mom, now I can start senior year not having to stress for the first half about filling out apps or worrying about not getting in somewhere. I can concentrate on my classes instead.” She’s toured the school twice and loves it there, has already found a few clubs she wants to join (the Purrs and Spurs feral cat advocacy club is her favorite) and is super excited to know that she will have a better shot at getting her dorm of choice as soon as housing opens. All this being said, that YES I would highly recommend applying before school starts. It’s such a load off our shoulders knowing she WILL have a college to go to and we can just enjoy her senior year. Best of luck to everyone out there starting the process. The next process I’m dreading is that dang FAFSA. LOL
@AnRsMom welcome and congrats on the acceptance!
@AnRsMom congrats to your daughter!
@AnRsMom That is wonderful news!!! I’m so happy for you and your D! My D is working on essays every free moment but between work and activities , those moments are few and far between.
@AnRsMom Congrats! Wonderful news!
D20 has applied to her one and only choice. Now, just waiting for school to get back in session so her transcript can be sent. It’s a state school and she meets the qualifications, so the stress is over!
@AnRsMom Congratulations - that’s awesome!
I’ll give another vote to applying early. My S20 is applying to four schools, and three use the common app. They all start taking apps 8/1, and he has all his stuff entered, so it should roll over for this year and he can submit right away. His first choice (as of now) is Arizona and they said they start sending out decisions 9/1. It should be a safety for him - based on their merit aid chart he qualifies for about $14k, so I can’t imagine he won’t get in. His second choice is Washington State, and that should be a safety for him. From what I can find, they take a little longer to send decisions out. So hopefully he’ll have his acceptances early, and we’re going to visit WSU in September and he’ll be able to make his final decision and have a pretty stress-free senior year.
@AnRsMom Congrats - that’s awesome!
@MuggleMom - that is where we are too – even though D20 will have submitted applications to 3 schools this summer, all but 1 will not complete their review until they receive official transcripts and LORs from her school which will most likely be mid-September. That being said, we are in a very large school and it will IMHO be very helpful to get official transcripts and LORs from her school out to the colleges earlier rather than later when all the other student requests start coming in. D20’s boyfriend graduated HS this past year and he told us how many of his colleges had not received official transcripts until late - he had to keep hounding his counselor to get it done. So that’s another added bonus to applying to rolling admission schools over the summer – school counselors will not be inundated with requests to send official transcripts, LOAs, etc. if you keep them in the loop over the summer (as I have been doing) so that you are at the top of the pile for them to begin the paperwork as soon as school starts.
S20 recieved acceptance from a small private here in NC, (Wingate) along with a promise of some money that would make it close to the cost of the state schools. He still wants a larger school but it is nice to have this in his backpocket.
I hope he can work on his common app essay before he goes back to school but it like pulling teeth.
@ITBgirl congrats on the first acceptance! It’s always such a relief to know that they’re in someplace even if it’s not a top choice.
I hear ya on the pulling teeth. My second child was horrible during the process. Every time we talked about college, it ended with me yelling and her crying. I had to give her very specific deadlines for drafts of essays. But now she’s a very happy rising sophomore who gives tours at her school. She tells prospective students that her biggest advice is to get essays done during the summer. ?
Fortunately my S20 is much more agreeable and has been working on his with the goal of having the common app essay finished by the end of July. I’d say he’s about 75% of the way there.
How are you applying over the summer? Our guidance office is closed till we go back to school at the end of August so the kids can’t get transcripts or recommendations sent out before then. Are your guidance offices open all summer?
Also, any thoughts on doing pre-apps? My D has received these from several colleges. Thinking it might show some more demonstrated interest but not sure on this if it’s just a waste of time.
@MAmom111 What’s a pre app? What’s the advantage? Do you still have to do a regular app?