Wow! This is really helpful information. Appreciate the detail. 
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Wow this is very valuable info thank you!
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Booked a college visit trip yesterday! D23 has her schools narrowed down to 3 regions: Colorado/Nevada, New England-ish, and Michigan.
We decided on University of Nevada Reno, University of Denver and Colorado State for this final pre application trip. 2 of the 3 are what we sincerely hope are Safeties for her but great fits. And DU would probably be the best fit of all if she were able to get in and get enough merit - who knows . . .
We also picked this region because my husband will be in desperate need of a vacation right around then so we are going to spend some time chilling at Lake Tahoe and playing Craps - his fav. Also to sweeten the deal for both of them I booked tickets to the homecoming football game at UNR to hopefully help her like it more hee hee.
This region is must closer and a direct flight from home. Also there are more sunny skies which she doesnāt think she needs but I think she does. Also the West coast is more laid back and being a West coast native I donāt think she realizes how helpful that is for her stress levels. She needs a relaxed environment but with the potential for serious academics (honors, research.)
Fingers crossed in a big way that one of these safeties is a great fit!
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Last(!!!) pre-applying visits! Not ideal in extreme heat and not ideal in summer when school is not in session, but can only do what we can do. See below which I also posted on the colleges visited thread. Desperately hoping next set of visits will be accepted student days!
- Tufts. Way up- possibly to ED2 slot if ED at Northwestern doesnāt work out. Kid didnāt love the campus (nice but not nearly as historic or pretty as some we have visited) or Medford (unless we missed it pretty low on student coffeehouses, restaurants, places to get Boba tea etc) but obviously liked the ease of getting into Boston while not being in it and most importantly really liked what he heard about academics - very smart and academic kids but not super intense or competitive, cool stuff happening at the school, ability to double major, ability to transfer between Arts and Sciences and engineering and even take classes in engineering school as an arts and sciences student. Definitely a hit. There is a continuing wannabe vibe that is a con - and why my older kids didnāt apply. The digs against MIT and Harvard are not a good look, just stopā¦
- BOston University- up, a surprise hit. We did self tour which for us never works as well as guided tours but the kid liked what he saw - campus right in Boston but in part on some beautiful tree lined streets, very high energy and diverse vibe, punches way above its selectivity weight in academics I have always thought. (Not that it is so easy to get into either!). Stayed on the list for RD apps if the early binding rounds donāt pan out.
3 Brown - way up, another hit (so different touring with him than his older sister who hated every place!). Was very surprised by the STEM focus of the tour (largest concentration is apparently computer science now) and loved of course the open curriculum with opportunities to double major and take classes both in and out of engineering. But didnāt dethrone Northwestern as ED choice so unlikely to end up there anyway without playing the ED cardā¦
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We had a slight freak out this weekendā¦Thing 1ās ACT score from April (School Day Administered Test) wasnāt showing up on his ACT dashboard,and of course thatās his highest score and the one he needs to submit lol. He sent emails to our schoolās testing coordinator and she sent us a pdf of his score sheet and said to contact ACT directly. Heard back from ACT just now and theyāre saying that for some reason a different log in was used on the April test so they asked for a new email to merge his two ACT profiles into oneā¦crisis averted lol!
Thing 2 edited his college list and took off 2 schoolsā¦so now heās applying to 7 total instead of 9.
He submitted 2 apps on Sunday: Texas Tech and UNT (both ultra safeties) 
Heās fine tuning his essay and prompts for Texas A&M and UT Austin right now and those 2 apps will be completed and submitted within the next 7-10 days.
His last 3, the LACās (Trinity University, Southwestern University and Austin College) heās applying EA and they all have Nov 1 deadlines so heāll start tackling those in September. The entire month of October is Contest Season in Marching Band, and he wonāt have a spare minute to even think so getting those last 3 apps submitted in September is important.
Thing 1 is submitting 4 apps today: UNT, Texas Tech, UTSA & UTAā¦no essays or LORās required, and all are ultra safeties, so they should be relatively easy to get in.
His last school is Texas A&M, auto admit, but because Engineering majors have holistic review, I want him to spend more time perfecting that essay and the the engineering specific prompt. Heāll have it all done and submitted before the end of this month and then he can sit back and breath easy!
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You guys are ON it! 
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Question: Do you need to wait for all recommenders to complete their piece before submitting the application?
I just learned that the school counselor will likely be the last one to complete their recommender piece. We are working with S23 to get his pieces done before school starts in a few weeks so that everything he can control is done. Heās on board with the goal. We were hopeful that would be full submission but it seems it could be a few weeks into the school year before the recommender piece is complete.
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No, you can and should submit before recommenders and counselors upload their reports. The Common app will notify you when they complete their assignments via the status list. This assumes they will use the common app website. My daughters recommenders and counselors were very busy, but completed their pieces just before the 11/1 EA/ED deadlines. No issues
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S23 has narrowed his ED to one of two schools (Princeton or Duke). Heās really struggling with the decision.
First day of school is next week. Intense semester is coming up.
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1 more day left of summer vacation here. My D has a rough draft of her personal essay which I have read but havenāt and wonāt give her any feedback. I think she did a great job but what she wrote about was important and personal to our entire family, so I canāt be objective. I told her someone else needs to review. Sheās now deciding between Tufts and Vassar for EDI/EDII. Will be interesting to see if one edges the other out or she goes RD to all schools. Rest assured, our state has an automatic admit school which she will be applying to.
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This is great to know because no way is anyone at D23ās school touching anything over the summer . . .
That is a super exciting decision though - wow!
Itās not considered a complete app before they do their piece though, right? The colleges wait to review until those pieces are complete (Iām assuming).
Should be an easy decision since Princeton does not offer ED.
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I think you are correct, but unless the school is rolling admissions - they arent reviewing until the Due dates anyway. Our HS had over 4000 students and writing LORs was a lot of work - but they had a system to get them all done by the deadlines
Good to know. His top choice is rolling admissions so fingers crossed. I know the school has a ton of work and this isnāt their only job.
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Going ED at Duke is a significant advantage whereas boost from SCEA at Princeton is pretty marginal. But of course if he wants to take a shot at it, and it is possible, all best to him!
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Fun choice! We were just at Tufts - great school! Canāt go wrong in choosing between these two for ED. S23 may be doing ED2 at tufts or applying to both Vassar and Tufts RD. Great schools.
Itās fascinating how our kids all have such different start dates! Our school doesnāt begin until September 6th, and the first week is an outdoor trip so theyāre not actually attending any classes until September 13th.
I imagine these August starts are out in Mayā¦? Our kids will be graduating June 17th - which doesnāt leave much time before leaving for college, nor much time to work or travel.
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Our kids school year is August 16 to June 8, South Florida.
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