S21 submitted two apps today…TAMU & UT, both test optional. Now the wait begins. I suck at waiting lol.
Tomorrow he submits the remaining 5 apps (4 on common app 1 directly on the school’s app.) These are all academic safeties and he would be fine attending any of them if TAMU or UT don’t pan out.
He’s relieved to be at the end of the application journey, no more nagging and “Did you…”s from me.
Good work for your son! I’m envious. My D21 is nowhere near the point of submitting anything anywhere. She’s just letting everything slide, which is not her usual style. I can’t make her do anything, and nagging is not helping her get her a** in gear, so I sit and silently fume. Her choices, her outcomes is what I keep telling myself.
@creaky I have the same thing. Just out of steam. I think the reality of online school, no real senior year activities and no sports has started to take its toll. D21 applied to 2 rolling safeties simply because they sent her invites to apply without essays. She is killing it in school - all A’s and even a couple of A + grades so that is good I guess. Shuts me down whenever I ask how the essays are going or if she needs anything from me.
These discussions are making me dizzy! I was only speculating with @dadof4kids about being limited with EA by counselor, and now I find out that this is a real thing elsewhere! S21 attends a private school and I have not yet heard anything about restricting EA when a student applies ED somewhere. That said, S21 loves Northeastern but is applying EA (no EDs anywhere), and now all his peers applying ED to a tippy top school are also applying EA there, so very little shot for him. A friend who has a son at one of the top privates in PA says half the class applies to Northeastern EA every year. I don’t think students should be restricted, but I do wish Northeastern had an essay so S21 could really show his “fit” as it is a school for a very specific kind of student. Tulane’s essay is extremely important in the application process, and I think that makes sense.
@inthegarden I feel for your D. As I recall, our kids had similar scores from the December test (only S21 was high math/lower RW) and we decided not to have him spend the summer studying in case SATs were cancelled or his score went down. I do think that it’s all about the test and the curve. Everyone I know seems to have done great on the August test. Maybe the October one will have a more favorable math curve. These tests are not created equal; keep the faith!
S21 applied to Temple on Friday and is sending apps to Drexel and Northeastern today or tomorrow (already into Pitt for Engineering). After that, we will consider whether he should even bother with RDs. Honestly, D17 was so over the process that by the time she received her RD results (admitted into every school but one, including an admission to what was her “dream school”), she didn’t even go back to look at any of them again and chose Tulane, who had showered her with attention since her EA admission (as did all her other EAs and rolling admission schools). I really prefer to skip the RD process if at all possible (with the exception of the hope that S21 gets deferred from Northeastern EA and gets in RD).
@Momof3B Good Luck to your son. Hope he gets in to TAMU and UT.
S21 finally submitted his UT app also, now he needs to focus on the rest of the schools on his list.
@inthegarden , my D21 has a lopsided SAT score, too, from her first test in August. She was really happy with her overall score, but math was 130 points lower, so her composite is in the middle of the 50% range for her favorite schools.
Your D took the October test, right? Mine did too. When she first came out of the school, she felt good, but as time has passed, she says she thinks her scores will be exactly the same. I know that her acceptance will not hinge on this one data point, but it is the most measurable, so it’s hard not to get hung up on it. Best wishes for the October scores to all!
For anyone who is applying to Bates, D21 and I have a question. We know they don’t have a supplemental essay, and it looks like they don’t have short answer questions either. Yet on their website they have a list of Application Tips which includes the following:
Are these tips left over from a time when the Bates application had written answers besides just the CA essay? Or does Bates expect the activities section to “show how and/or why your most important activities have changed you”— with 150 characters?
D21 thinks maybe Bates wants students to write about these things in Additional Information or in the Covid question. Or maybe we are missing some section in the Bates application with more opportunity to write. D21 doesn’t want to ask the school until she is sure she hasn’t missed something. Ideas?
@SailAway24 Bates definitely does not have supplemental essays and I just went on their admissions page, looked everywhere and can’t find that comment. They definitely do not want a student to write an essay in the additional info section. There’s no question there. D21 has Bates on her list. Not sure if she will apply but we have it on her Common App and there are no supplements. We know two other kids applying and have talked about how Bates doesn’t have extra writing requirements. The comment even says they don’t have a supplement.
Sometimes colleges just give general tips that don’t apply to their school just to be helpful. Georgia Tech does it on their website and I think Tulane does too. Davidson had a virtual session on college apps just in general, not specific to Davidson. Maybe this Bates comment is just something like that.
Looks to me like Bates wants to see those things in the main Common App essay (“what you have learned from your experiences” etc). Or maybe that comment was from a prior year when they did have a supplement.
Thanks, @homerdog and @evergreen5 ! We were probably just over thinking it. Here is the Application Tips page on Bates’s website in case anyone is interested: https://www.bates.edu/admission/18-application-tips-for-prospective-students/
The funny thing is that the first tip says, “Don’t stress out,” but after D21 read the list, she was more stressed! She had already decided to leave the Covid and additional spaces blank, but then she thought maybe Bates wanted more writing and she couldn’t figure out where. Thanks for reassuring us that we didn’t overlook something!
Sometimes the extra essays do not show up until you start to submit your other information. I do not know that this is true in your specific case but it is something to be aware of.
My S21 has has many essays appear once he put in his major. We went to submit his last one this morning. The main application had 5 writing pieces to begin with and once he submitted his major another 250-350 essay popped up why would the school’s engineering program be a good fit for you. He has a 23 page google doc with questions and supplemental essays aside from his CA ones. So frustrating!
I don’t think many schools have this policy. But at the one that I do know that does this, it’s not a game, it’s more about good sportsmanship and not racking up acceptances like trophies. This particular school has stellar and I mean stellar placement. Like close to 50% of the class ends up at an Ivy/Stanford/Duke/Chicago. So they don’t want kids who have a good shot at one of those schools in the early round throwing in a bunch of EA apps to lets say Tulane, Villanova, Northeastern etc, because they would likely get an acceptance and not end up enrolling and they may be taking an EA spot from someone else. At this particular school the policy is more about integrity than gamesmanship. I also have a friend at a school with very good placement, and maybe 5-7 yrs ago, Michigan told the guidance office not to send EA apps from kids who were really gunning for Ivy’s because they were getting tired of accepting kids from that school who were using it as a back up and then enrolling somewhere else.
I guess I get that BUT to make kids decide on one ED or EA this year is different. Many kids didn’t get to visit schools and/or want to wait until April to see how certain schools are dealing with the virus.
@Sailaway We read the same thing on the Bates site, but we confirmed that there are no supplements, before or after submission. I also assume that is left over from when they had a “why” question, which I think they eliminated not long ago.
D certainly doesn’t want to write more essays, but for a few of her schools, she feels like it’s hard to show fit, especially at such a small school, without a supplement.
Has anyone here looked at Sewanee or Furman? Would love to know if you visited what was your impression of the schools.
Help! How/when can students see their actual ACT score report (not just the scores)?
S21 was signed up for ACT w Writing way back when, was bumped multiple times, finally got to take it in September. Yay, right? But by then he had decided to bag the writing section. Called ACT well ahead to try to change, they said just show up at test center, tell them no essay, leave after main portion. He did.
His ACT web page gives his main scores and no writing score, but it is titled “ACT With Writing.” What will appear on the score report sent to colleges? I looked at samples online, and none have an example for ACT No Writing. I have this fear that the writing column will show “0” or something. One of those things to keep me awake at 2 am.
My S17 did this and there was no score for writing reported for that test. Not a zero- just blank. I didn’t even know he had done this until we were discussing super scoring his 3 tests. Apparently it is a common occurrence - he did it because he didn’t want to miss out on a playoff game party? In 2020 even fewer schools are even looking at that score.
Wow! D just received a nice mask with their school logo from Creighton. It’s very pretty and great quality.
She FINALLY completed her CA essay so once she receives feedback from an English teacher who told her last summer she was willing to read them responds with any feedback she should be ready to submit. Yay
I’m sure you’re looking for something more recent, but we visited in summer 2018 and were impressed with the intentional mentoring/internships to go along with small classes. It has a beautiful campus. It ended up not being the perfect fit for D19, but it’s one of D21’s top choices.
@whyboydanny Thanks, that makes me feel better. I love your S’s reason…?
Just fyi to keep an eye on the email. I just got a fee waiver in my parent email from one of S’ Target schools, WPI. They are big on EA. He loaded them into the CA but has not submitted and I think might have already clicked EA in the CA for them if that’s a thing.