Chicago has been killing trees since before my D16 enrolled in her college. They did send out free tees at one time, so my kiddo has a pink University of Chicago tee. Long-standing joke from S21 is
if his tee has arrived in the mail yet. Alabama should be in by tomorrow. Also received the Tulane waiver today - but he will not be applying there.
Just got word that our August SAT site is canceled. Nothing within 75 miles of our zip code for September. Really looking to take the ACT but Iām sure it will be similar. Sigh.
Common App Demographics question. Iām Irish-American born in the US, my wife is Spaniard/Cuban American born in the US
Is my daughter hispanic? Does it matter?
Honestly pissed she has to answer it
According to the principal of the HS where D21 is registered to take the SAT on 8/29, they are āmoving forward with the plansā.
This all sounds good, but then they say that if the test center is closed for health and safety reasons, āstudents will be notified via the College Boardās SAT e-mail system.ā So, who knows what will happen?
In any case, thank you @homerdog for the tip about emailing the principal! I got an answer right away, and I will ask again as we get closer to 8/29.
Following ACT on twitter tonight ā theyāve been emailing some students who had multiple cancellations with rescheduled dates/test centers. The problem is folks are reporting long drives to test sites. One parent even said his daughter was registered for a test in Georgia. They live in Massachusetts. WTH?!?
OMG. What a joke.
Our school district pushed back in person learning until Sept 8, everyone will be starting remote Aug 19ā¦so that means no Aug 29 SAT at any of the district high schools/facilities. All the surrounding school districts are doing the same. We havenāt gotten official word of cancellation from College Board, but I reached out to one of our school board trustees and they confirmed no SATā¦so yea, 6 cancelled test date.
S21 is registered for the Sept dare but weāre not holding our breath on that one eitherā¦heās going to move forward with TO.
@AlmostThere2018 D got an email from ACT This evening saying that the test she signed up for on Sept. 12 has a change in her test site. The new location is 7.5 hours away. And she never scheduled a test on Sept. 12 - never got past the ādown for maintenanceā screen. She has had three tests cancelled - but so have many others! ACT needs a new CTO stat!!
We will not be submitting any applications for a while. D has scheduled several virtual interviews, though, so at least still moving forward. This may be a dumb question, but where do you learn about merit scholarships offered by each school? On their individual websites? Thanks for any insight! 
@BmacNJ does your daughter identify as Hispanic? If so, go ahead and check it.
I recall reading an article once, I think one of the Ivys was sued and had to produce AO comments, and just checking the Hispanic box doesnāt mean anything if the AOs canāt tell you are involved in the community from the rest of the app.
@BmacNJ, I imagine that having a parent who is Hispanic would definitely qualify. Even without actual involvement with a larger Hispanic community, I would think that subtle values and cultural traits of the parent would be passed down and shape oneās identity, however indirectly (to the extent that there IS an array of traits that define āHispanicā and maybe that idea is what you are objecting to). But for purpose of college applications I think itās when a student only has some distant Hispanic relative or ancestor AND has no community involvement while claiming the designation for advantageous admissions that it is considered a problem.
We have the opposite situation. My D is Asian by physical race but raised since infancy by white parents in a mostly-white community. Even though we tried to include Asian friends in her life, traveled to her place of birth, and tried to to convey something of her birth culture to her over the years, she is definitely not Asian by cultural ethnicity and does NOT identify with it beyond the physical features of her face. Yet, she must check the Asian box (unless she declines to check any) because she certainly cannot check the āwhiteā box! People can now choose gender identity but not race! I think part of the problem is that race and ethnicity are two different things (Hispanic is not a race, of course) and the classification system does not reflect real diversity. I support giving unrepresented minorities a better chance at college admissions to level the playing field but I look forward to the day when there is no reason to have to report any of this at all (but It will probably not be in my lifetime).
I would probably encourage my D not to check any race box except Iām afraid it would be seen as attempt to avoid being classified as a ORM (even though at most LACS sheās applying to she may be a URM). One more crazy unknown college admissions thing to worry about. ?
@Solstice155 We have found merit scholarship information and deadlines on all the individual schoolsā websites. There is some info in the Common App as well, but more detailed info is on the financial aid pages. Obviously, these are the school-specific merit opportunities, not outside scholarships or programs.
D mentioned today that sheād gotten a million college emails. I told her it was because the Common App and school-specific applications opened today. She said, āOh, really? I didnāt read any of the emails.ā We chatted for a bit, and she was surprised that not all of the schools require supplemental essays. She said, āThatās great! I thought there were going to be a bunch of essays for each school.ā Maybe that will inspire her to create a Common App account?!
S18 is a poor test taker anyway, and he knew that his score wouldnāt matter for where he wanted to go so he prepped for his ACT accordingly, i.e. he just showed up and took it cold. Scored in the Low 20ās. From U Chicagoās recruiting efforts, you would have thought he was up for a Fields Medal. He was probably 10 ACT points deep into the auto-deny pile, but they sent A LOT of expensive mailings to him.
What is the Tulane waiver?
Can we talk email? How many of you have access to your childās ācollege appā email account? I do not, DH does but only to read the subject lines. D21 is not great about checking hers. On the one hand I want her to own this, on the other I can only ask so many times whether any of her emails have had fee waiversā¦ we could use the $$! I donāt have access to ACT or CB account either.
I told her we needed to have a conversation about the āPlan for Augustā this weekend and she could pick the time. Along with another conversation about what sheās wearing for senior pictures, and one about one other topic. Asked yesterday morning so she could spread said topics out over 2 daysā¦ she wants them all today. That should be fun. ?
Test sites 7 hours away! Yikes.
I donāt have access to her email, but I could probably figure it out it. I just stay on top of her to check it- she found a fee waiver the other day to one of her safeties! That kind of motivated her to check more often since sheās been trying to cut her last partly to save app fees!
We had a great, relaxing weekend at friendās lake house, but she still woke up early yesterday get her first app in! We considered going by Cornell on the way home but a little further away than we thought and weāre all exhausted so probably just home! Doesnāt really seem to be a fit for her anyway.
I do not have access to S21ās email account that he created just for college apps. I do have access to his Common App account.
S19 was the tough one over here. S21 is the one who is on top of everything. He had the Common App filled out yesterday and then provided me with a sticky note containing his password so I could proof it all.
S19 never checked his college email account. He would never have known he was accepted to any colleges if it wasnāt for me checking for him. Iām kicking back now because I know that S21 will be checking and will let us know himself.
Iām kinda laughing at myself today actually. After my Pitt freak out here, the Pitt rep who posts to CC started a thread yesterday once the app actually opened. Because of course. Hey, CC prepared me to freak out early. And often. LOL!
I donāt think I have access to her email. At one point, when the account was first created, I had the password, but I have to imagine sheās changed it in the past 10 years or however long sheās had it.
I do have the ACT and SAT log in info because I was involved in the payment of exam fees.
I do not have access to the log in for the one application she has turned in. Not sure if I should ask for that.
No access to his email account, but I do have to hound him daily about checking his email to make sure nothing important was missed (or that something important was indeed sent/replied to lol!)
He maid his Apply Texas account yesterday and I do have the login and password for that.
Once his apps get submitted, I will most likely have him share the individual college portal login information with me.
I have access to D21 college application email account as I am the one who set it up for her. I didnāt want any important emails to get lost in a general email in-box. We both have the email app on our phones and have equal access.
Also, I am very organized and can help her stay on track of her āTo-Doā list. I am all for having the student take charge, but I just feel better knowing that both of us are involved in ensuring things are completed by deadlines. She is overall very responsible, but she has many applications with lots of specific/different requirements (donāt they all? haha) that itās difficult to keep track of each one.
I donāt have access to my Sās email he uses for college stuff. I mentioned to him this week he needs to start looking for app waivers since that seems to be a bigger thing this year. Iāve also told him to click through emails of colleges on his list to show interest. I donāt know to what extent heās doing that.
Weāve started a weekly college meeting with each other. He didnāt like me asking for updates while walking the dog and such, and I told him I was tired of getting rebuffed by him when I was just trying to help. He said he recognizes he doesnāt fully understand all the steps and timing of what he needs to do ā so we landed on the weekly check-in, and Iām trying to avoid much discussion in between.
On a positive note heās scheduled two interviews for this month (Case and WPI) and he has firmed up his recs. Heās still working on his common app essay, and hasnāt started any supplementals.
Heās going to set up his common app account this week. He wonāt be submitting any apps until Sept. is my guess. He should be done b4 Christmas. My D18 was still finishing apps over the holidays and I think submitted the last one right b4 New Yearās ā stressful!