No, it’s hard to nag them. It’s a lot of essays on top of likely a rigorous senior year schedule. I don’t blame the kids for feeling burned out. Need to enjoy the last few months with their friends and also last bits of childhood.
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Christopher Newport decisions came out today – much earlier than their January 15 date! 
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Slowly and quickly at the same time (and depending on the week )
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Your son applied to 19 schools? How many had he visited before applying?
Thing #1 only applied to seven schools, but we needed a cattle prod to get the last supplemental essay submitted. He started applications this Summer and had everything out in the third week of October.
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We had visited 12 of the 19 schools.
We incorporated them into our vacations since the summer before Sophomore year (lucky us since no one was prepared for the Pandemic shut-dow).
We’re chasing merit; ran a lot of NPCs.
Except for a few colleges with merit scholarship tables, we don’t know what he may be awarded, or which school will consider us kinda poor.
Even the ones with the tables, we didn’t know if he would be awarded the higher end or lower end.
There’s also the “Lottery”.
Without an obvious hook, will he be just another “Average Excellent” applicant?
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I’m biting my tongue on nagging about a scholarship essay to D22’s #1 school she’s already been accepted to. She is almost certain to go there barring some major issue, but sure would be nice to have a full tuition scholarship too! She already got good merit, but this would be a good bit more. Deadline is not until Feb and she has an 8-10 page AP Lit paper due end of next week so I think I won’t nag until after that is done.
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That’s a tough call and it’s such a substantial scholarship. I’m sure she will get to it. There’s so much talk and research on how our kids have been impacted by the pandemic. The hidden impact that aren’t on the surface. They’re also not robots and I’m sure they are having to deal with anxiety with all the sicknesses on school campuses this week. It’s a lot for us adults so it’s got to be much more amplified. Stay strong!
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Huango, What is your STEM student’s intended major?
Yes. Future graduating classes: consider the application process to be as time consuming as another class. Beyond applications there are alumni interviews, applications for honors colleges, applications for scholarships and if you are lucky, various events for those honors colleges and scholarships. There is keeping on top of requests for information, getting on housing wait lists, etc etc.
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And this is why kids need to write their essays over the summer before senior year. Also, if they’ve had enough math, prepare for standardized tests the summer before junior year and get those done fall junior year.
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Yeah, that was NOT happening no matter how much I nagged over the summer. D22 needed the peer motivation. Got going on it once she got back in school.
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The visit to Alabama was pretty good. The weather wasn’t terrible and it only rained during the bus tour, so that helped. Everyone there kept apologizing for the bad weather though. We liked everything we saw and all the people were very friendly - everyone we encountered was great. Our dinner in Tuscaloosa was by far the best restaurant service we’ve had in a long time. While he hasn’t moved it to the top of his list, he said he liked it and had no problem going there if that ended up making the most sense. I guess that’s something.
We canceled the Case Western tour though. He has something for school Tuesday that he needs to be prepared for, so it made sense not to try to get Case in as well.
He has a few college related things to do this weekend still and then we are waiting to get the merit info from Rose Hulman on Friday.
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Again, like a lot of info on CC, I think this is true if you are applying to elite colleges. Son applied to 11 schools (T75-T130 schools). He did his application and essays in about 3 days, the weekend they were due. Nearly gave me a heart attack but he got it done, submitted the common app on 11/1 close to midnight, and is currently 9/9 for acceptances and 8/9 for good merit. He submitted test scores at all schools, did one sitting with no prep and got within range to submit them. The application process can be overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be. He’s gotten invitations to honors programs but has decided not to apply. He just wants to enjoy his friends and his senior year and I’m okay with that.
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Agreed! My son applied to colleges in the T50-T75 range and a few had supplemental essays that took some time, but most were the typical 150 word “Why X,Y,Z” as opposed to something more complex. I think if you are chasing a lot of merit and looking for honors colleges it can be time consuming or if your kiddo is applying to a lot of top 50 colleges (especially top 25) with specialty essays. Otherwise, it isn’t (or doesn’t have to be) super time consuming.
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My daughter has worked very hard on applications for her less selective “safeties.” This weekend she’s completing a multiple essay application for an honors college at one of those safeties (she’s already admitted). She wants to set herself up for her best possible academic experience at all her schools, so she’s putting in the extra work. Yes, on Christmas break some days were devoted to applications, although she was with friends a lot. This drive and commitment is her jam and I am fine with that.
Edit: Just looked up rankings of the schools she applied to (we don’t pay attention to this). A wide range.
T-20 - 2 schools
T-30 - 4 schools
T-100 - 4 schools
T-150 - 1 school
These are National. Also one T-50 liberal arts college.
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Is this something we have to talk to an attorney? How do we start this process. My C21 gave us access to all her records through FERPA. Is that not sufficient?
It’s in case of accident & hospitalization.
For example
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Forms are available online. Look for young adult power of attorney.
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Thank you very much! This is really important though most of the people take it easy.