I have a question for those pros out there…do you see any benefit to applying via the school’s own online application versus the common app?
D20 is 95% done with Common App – just working on finalizing her essay.
But one school is on Coalition App (ugg) so do Coalition App or just the school’s own online app?
At my daughter’s school, the school’s online application was free and the common app $40(?). Easy decision.
@scoutmom2002 my D19 is also an equestrian, which is how we ended up looking there too. We visited with lots of equestrian coaches during our search and I was really impressed with the RMC staff and program.
Regarding common app, coalition app, or school app, my D upset her guidance office and went with school app most of the time. She reviewed each app and found less character limits and more room for what she wanted to add on school apps. The free app certainly helped make that decision.
DS20’s Common App is “complete”… except for essay and supplemental essays! I would love to have this done before he goes back to school but with life guarding and so many camps he has not made the time, nor has he done much of his AP summer work. The next two weeks will not be fun at my house
@twoinanddone thanks, I will double check our schools and make sure there isn’t a savings to applying on the school site. Since most of our are public I doubt there will be any difference. The one private that applied to was free since he applied so early.
D’s 4th application is officially submitted. one more before school starts. Essay for the last school has been drafted. She likes to let is sit a few days before she goes back and edits it. She says it helps her really read what she wrote. Whatever makes her happy as long as it gets done. If rolling admissions don’t go her way, she has a few more to add before November 1st. Fingers crossed that we can skip those.
We toured San Jose State yesterday and S20 liked it enough to put it ahead of San Francisco State, but Sonoma State is still his favorite. The San Jose campus is pretty and the our was good, but the surrounding urban areas didn’t appeal to so much to S. Definitely preferred the suburban vibe around Sonoma better, plus they have a lake and trails on campus which he thinks is really cool (also loves the apartment style dorms for all years better).
So Sonoma will be first choice with San Jose his second choice and San Francisco third. I suspect he’ll get into all of them, and will pick Sonoma and be done. Glad he knows what he likes 
@thedreamydaisy That’s great that he has his ranking set. Good luck!
Yeah – S20 just completed his main college essay and it actually reads better than D20’s!
S20 is working on his essay. He had to work on it in June in his English class, and he got a good grade on that one so he should be close. But - the stress of it being so important just freezes him! Poor guy, wish he could just be done with it!
D20 was dealt a blow yesterday…had her senior year course load all set…had applied for and was admitted into Leadership class. Now, with less than 2 wks before start of school she received email from her counselor stating there was a schedule conflict with Leadership (only offered during 3rd pd) and her Dual Enrollment 2 credit Early Childhood (only offered during 3rd-4th pds). Ugg…she is so dissappointed. She was already dealt a blow in the spring when she really wanted to take Teachers for Tomorrow and was told it would not be offered due to low enrollment.
She has decided to keep her Dual Enrollment EC class. But now has to pick an elective when most classes are already full. She has put in a request for Sign Language elective…fingers crossed! She begrudgingly listed her 2nd and 3rd choices as Speech Communications/Debate and Spanish 1, respectively.
Update…ugg…playing musical electives instead of musical chairs it seems.
She can take Speech Communications/Debate…but American Sign Language course conflicts with Chorus (which she has taken for past 5 yrs)…and there is wait list for ASL. Told to wait until next week to see if ASL is available; D20 is willing to swap chorus for ASL.
S20 just received acceptance call from Longwood!! They actually called his cell # and told him he was accepted and that a letter would be forthcoming in the mail! Woohoo!! Now hopefully D20 gets a call too…her stats are lower…but hopefully…fingers crossed!! This is what I’m not looking forward to with twins…with one having higher stats and applying to same school.
S20 now knows he is going somewhere! He was so excited he called me at work to tell me right away.
@scoutmom2002 congrats to your S20 and fingers crossed for your D20.
We are still waiting here since the Cal State app doesn’t open until 10/1. In the meantime, S20 is taking the SAT again this coming Saturday. He took a Kaplan prep-course in July through his school so we’ll see if that paid off any (if he remembers any of it). He won’t be taking it again no matter how he does this time around, but I’d love to see him better his 1090 by 100-150 points.
He is enjoying his senior year so far and seems more relaxed than his junior year.
We are in VA and S20/D20 applied summer decision/rolling admission to Longwood which is the only one that does not require “official” transcripts. We have to wait for official transcripts to be sent to all others which won’t happen until next week at the earliest when school starts. But having one in the bag is such a great feeling for S20 and he is definitely more relaxed now knowing he has a place to go.
D filled out her Common App today. It’s getting so real. She has started her essay several times but hasn’t made much progress. She was shocked today when she realized it can only be 650 words. She is a great writer but a horrible editor so this is going to be tough for her.
We did lots of college visits this summer so her list is really coming together. So far, she has almost all matches & safeties on her list. The few reaches we looked at she didn’t like. She started off the process wanting a medium sized school in a big town or city. However, all the schools currently on her list are small LAC’s in small towns. We’ve been really impressed by the personalized attention at these schools as well as the academics they offer. A couple of them are CTCL schools so I think she has some great options. We have one more visit trip planned to DC but I’m thinking that will seal the deal that she doesn’t want to be in a city .
Congrats to everyone on their acceptances.
@MAmom111 that common app essay can be tough to work through. Think about it, the colleges are saying ‘ please write us an essay so we have every reason to love you, here are a few topic questions but really, tell me anything you want. Oh and keep it under 650 words. ‘
Most high schoolers have trouble editing their own work. This just adds stress to the mix. Best of luck to your D getting it where she wants it. My D reviewed her top 5 schools. Turned out, if she used their website application, the questions were all very specific, mostly why your major and why here. Much easier for her to deal with.
Regarding college essays…just found out that the College & Career Center Specialist at our high school will review student’s college essays for FREE! I simply asked their guidance counselor if she knew of anyone who would review essays for a nominal fee (I refuse to pay $$ for essay reviews) and that’s when she told me that the school’s College & Career Center Specialist will review and provide feedback for free. Only recommendation is to get the essays to her during first weeks of school before it gets too crazy. So we have final drafts ready to go!
While I personally have been reviewing their essays (which has been really hard since I’m an English major), I think it best to have someone who comes at it from a different perspective…someone who is not the mom or dad.
@scoutmom2002 Congrats to your son! I find it fascinating that they actually called him rather than sending an email.
@Johnny523 - I was shocked about the personal call too. D20 also got a call, but as she’s been at a job shadowing all week they’ve been playing phone tag. Longwood is a small LAC (5K students) in VA and while it is a good school, it has a high acceptance rate and is considered a safety school. Not many from NOVA would even consider applying over the summer as we did or even at all. I’m learning that it is more of a hidden gem. It is also one of only 3 public universities in VA with student population around 5K which affords the smaller class sizes (others are UMW and CNU…also on our list to apply to).