D20 has completed her main Common App essay as well as all individual school supplemental essays! Yeah! She only needs to hit the “submit” button in Common App and she told me “I’ll finish tomorrow”…seriously?!
Wish I could say the same for S20, but alas, not quite there…although I did get him to work on his essays and Common App this past week. So, a little progress is better than none. But he has been working hard on his Eagle Scout project which is labor intensive – painting picnic tables this past weekend to allow time for paint to cure before building them at local elementary school in 2 wks.
On my end, I started the FAFSA and am almost done but have to go home and check something in last year’s taxes. So glad I was able to simply connect my IRS tax filing to fill out most of it.
This coming weekend is S20’s soccer recruiting overnight visit to VMI – (please no VMI bashing). We know VMI well (my brother is an alum) - there are pros and cons. My job is to ensure S20 has all available facts and information regarding VMI so that he can make a well informed decision.
I’m very jealous @scoutmom2002 - those supplemental essays are a bear! My daughter is done with the Common App and is ready to hit submit for a couple EA schools with Oct 15 deadlines, but needs to meet with her GC this week first. Then she has an insane number of supplements to finish over the next few months. I think she told me 17(!) including honors apps. For just 11 schools! I think about half are almost done, but it’s getting from almost done to actually done that is the issue.
D had the opposite problem of one kid having 2 files (not twins files getting combine). The school kept telling us that they hadn’t received things like updated SAT scores or final transcripts. I finally figured it out but it went on until her first semester there (they wouldn’t let her register for second semester).
S20 hit submit on his Cal State app to San Francisco State, Sonoma State and Cal State East Bay (no essays required…yeah). Those are his only 3 apps but he is pretty set on community college at this point so these apps are really just in case he changes his mind.
He has his FAFSA id and I have my parent one also. Now I just need to get the darn thing filled out and completed. Hoping I can connect to IRS to pull most of the data.
I asked D20 if she can hit submit on her Call State app this weekend which will take care of 2 schools. Today during her College App class (yep, she has an entire class this semester dedicated to this process) she texted me and said, “I know I should be working on my Cal State app, but…”
It is such an easy application and would mark off 2 schools on her list so I really just want her to do it already. Plus, I want to break up the $70 app fees as more will be coming with her UC apps.
@MommaCat - I’m with you…all my D20 has to do is hit the “submit” button. Seriously. So frustrating…it’s like she is doing this on purpose to stress her mother out!
D20 met with her UMW Admissions Counselor yesterday. More of a meet n’ greet. We thought it was important to put a face to D20’s EA application, especially since it’s her top pick and her stats are borderline based on her high school’s Naviance scattergram.
D20 was told she’d know decision by end of November. So finger’s crossed - hopefully good news for Thanksgiving!
DS20’s main essay is done and pasted into the Common App. He is still tweaking the small school questions. He seems to want to hit send all at once, I may have him send some of them this weekend. If there is anytime after managing his eagle project all weekend.
This mom is so ready to complete essays and Eagle!
@ITBgirl – great progress! My S20 is also working on his Eagle project the next few weekends (painting/sealing picnic table pieces then bldg on 10/29) while also finessing his main essay and working on supplemental essays.
@scoutmom2002 Right there with you! Good luck with your project. This is our first weekend of building benches, fingers crossed that they get a lot done this weekend. Then they will install at the Children’s hospital. DS turns 18 on 12/23 so we are in crunch mode!!!
We have 25th wedding anniversary trip to Italy in November, so I really NEED to get all of this wrapped up!
My son is trying to finish up his Eagle project too. He did all the work in May, but the write up is killing him. This is pretty funny considering the actual project was huge (put in an amphitheater in at our YMCA campground). If he devoted just a small fraction of the time it took to do the project he’d have had that write up done months ago. The Troopmaster is starting to put the pressure on him now, so hopefully he gets moving. He has lots of time as he doesn’t turn 18 until next July and is actually doing Philmont next Summer before then too, but I’d really like for this to just be done!!
@cshell2 - a mom from S20’s troop warned me that it’s the write-up/final report that is time consuming - recommended that he begin working on it now before even finishing the project. But there are simply not enough hours in the day between college essay writing, Eagle project, homework, soccer, etc. Luckily he doesn’t turn 18 until next May so our goal is to at least get the project done so he can write about it in his essays/college apps and simply note “Eagle Scout Rank - Expected 2020”.
Our Troop requires they do a lot of the write up as they go and there are a couple approvals they need to get showing this stuff is done before they’ll let them go on, so I think he really only has the final “how’d it go” and reflection essay, but to be honest, I’ve been pretty hands off with this, so maybe there’s more left than I think. I just know my son can make a 500 word essay last for weeks, so I’m assuming he’s doing the same procrastinating with this.
He’s already been accepted at the only schools he’s applying to, but it would be nice for scholarship apps to be able to say he obtained Eagle rank. He has done SO MUCH with the scouts… more than a lot of Eagles have…but that rank is what holds all the weight with people.
My D20 was just notified that she has been accepted at the University of Missouri-Columbia. It’s great news for us because earlier this year, she was awarded a $50,000 scholarship to Mizzou by an outside organization, pending her acceptance. She’s still applying a couple other places and we have one more college visit this weekend…but it’s a relief she has been accepted to a school she really likes and that we have a pretty substantial scholarship to.
S20 enjoyed his VMI overnight college soccer recruit visit. He met with admissions, athletic department and coaches. He also got to sit in on a class and get a tour. He said he could see himself going to VMI.
The one thing that was a disappointing eye opener…before going down one of the coach’s questions was what our EFC was. Apparently even soccer scholarships consider EFCs. So it really does bite when your EFC is high and even though it’s a D1 school you are told not to expect much if any soccer scholarship money. And remember…this post is in the “parents…of 3.0-3.4 GPA” kids. We were told he “might” qualify for merit aid if he can get his GPA up at least .1 or .2.
I wasn’t expecting a huge soccer scholarship…but at least maybe $3-4K/year.
I guess it makes sense for colleges to take into account EFC when calculating athletic scholarships.
D1 men’s soccer only has 9.9 scholarships available. Spread that over 29 players and it’s not a lot of money per player unless you’re the top recruit getting the lions share.
Glad he had a good visit though. It sounds like it might be the right fit, so hopefully finances will work out regardless of athletic $$$.
