My son had to write an essay this summer for AP Lit. He offered to let me read it but I couldnt at the time. More hopeful he may let me review his college essays.
this is re: ârequired High School Coursesâ for costal2024 â about science classes. I canât answer for those colleges. but - i would want to be on the safe side of things and have him take another science class senior year. . That being said â I just looked at my daughterâs SSAR (self reports scores that FSU requires,) and engineering is under their science category.
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Ooh thank you that is very helpful to know!
S23 got admitted to WSU! This is one we were quite confident heâd get in to but it was still quite an exciting moment.
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Yay! Washington State University?
D23 is moving sloooooowly. First draft of essay finished and needs to be read by english teacher. Lots of fine tuning left in the common app.
We do have her list of schools pretty set, with maybe a couple of question marks.
The most exciting thing is that we are going to a local session with one of her top schoolâs AOâs tomorrow. Never done this before and not sure what to expect and how many other potential applicants might also be there. My main focus is to allow D to do ALL the talking!
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D23 submitted her first application this week, and has just one more short answer question left for another two. Iâm hoping she can get those done by next weekend and just have her last application to finish. If she can get everything done before October, I would be very happy - she could then just concentrate on enjoying the rest of her senior year.
D23 applying early action to all four schools she chose. I think she should have all results back before Christmas.
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Our D23 is also applying EA to wherever she can. And to rolling admissions schools by then also. She has to take the SAT one more time on Oct 1 and we will see how she does before she submits any apps. For some of her schools her scores might actually make a difference and be worth submitting.
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What âmixâ of schools did your D23 apply to? It would be so nice to narrow it down to just four but I am worried about our D23 getting locked out. And sheâs not even considering any true reach schools. It seems very hard to predict and our D23 has strange circumstances where she missed all of junior year. So her rigor and transcript are sketchy.
Yup!
What a cool opportunity. Hope all goes well tomorrow!
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D23âs applying to basically 2 safeties, 1 match, 1 âreachâ. We are lucky in the sense that she would be happy getting accepted to either of her two safeties (they are actually 1 and 2 on her internal list) so there wasnât any pressure to worry about how many schools to apply to.
Her most competitive school accepts about 45% of applicants, so no âtrueâ reaches as many define them on CC - that one is more of a financial reach, it might not hit our budget even if she is likely to get accepted. She has a very definite idea of what she wants to do (ultimately get a Doctorate of Physical Therapy) and there are plenty of good schools that will get her where she wants to go.
Our biggest challenge was finding schools small enough to fit her idea of what kind of campus she wanted that also fit our firm budget. And there were only a few states she wanted look at going to college in (NY, CA, WA).
We probably trust the process with a small number of schools because her older sister (D20) only applied to 3. Again, wasnât looking to get the most prestigious school possible - was looking for a school that would come under budget that hit most of her criteria (location was the big give during her search).
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Thank you this is super helpful. This is our first go round. A couple of schools on D23âs list are indeed financial reaches but not academic ones. She can only go if she gets the price lowered essentially. They are a couple of her favorites and so Iâd love for her to have those options. She has a least one solid true safety that I think would be an awesome fit but for the topography ( 
). We will go visit in October and see what she thinks: Colorado State University.
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This may be our first go round for college searching but Iâm older and have 3 kids. So I know things will shake out just fine in the end!
Location can be hard, it was for D20 at first. What we said to her was she could always move to her preferred location after graduation and with going to a school that hit under budget in a less preferred city - we could probably even help out with moving costs after graduation.
And donât forget to remind her about study abroad. A good way to get a different experience if her ultimate college choice location isnât her most preferred.
Now a junior, D20 canât imagine having gone to any other school. And, frankly, isnât sure she actually wants to end up in that first âdreamâ city. The college years are ones where dreams and aspirations can change. A LOT. If you had asked me what D20 would be doing (or where she would be living) the summer before her freshman year of college - I would have never in a million years come up with what she is doing now or what continent she is living on for the next year.
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@MTEL0510 Congratulations! Thatâs fantastic.
Can you share his stats if you donât mind?
GPA is 3.51. No honors/APs so far (taking one AP this year). Didnât take the SAT or ACT. Has 1 long standing EC but no others. Has a PT job too.
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EA decisions are awesome. S23 has heard from 3/5 schools (4/5 are EA). His top choice is the one he hasnât heard from yet. Having info early is really helping him. All 3 heâs heard from were âlikelyâ schools. The 2 he hasnât heard from yet are âpossibleâ. He didnât choose to apply to any âreachâ or âlotteryâ schools.
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This is awesome. We are one year behind you and I have told s24 to do EA when possible beginning as soon as the apps open (some open July/Aug 2023) and once he has heard from his top few, if he gets in he can be done. He also knows he can only apply to places he would be excited to attend.
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So I have had an aha moment as a parent. D23 just isnât feeling the urgency I am feeling. She isnât feeling excited about any of the schools on her current list.
So, we had visits scheduled in Oct. But have decided to shift gears and worry about visits later once she is accepted and hopefully excited about a school.
I do think she will still get her EA applications in - so my goal is to help ensure she has options. So that later when she is feeling less overwhelmed and more excited about certain schools AND most importantly knows better what she wants in a school she will have a variety of reasonable options to go visit.
I have a freight train personality when it comes to high stakes projects. But Iâve given myself a reality check - itâs not my choice or journey. But I can encourage options for now - like near, far, big small, and above all ,all affordable including very safe safeties that meet her basic wishes for a college experience.
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