I went through the common app with my daughter when she first made her account and made sure she understood how it all worked. Some was intuitive, some was less so for a kid who’d never done anything like that before (or for me either for that matter). After that she was mostly on her own (except the cajoling/pressure mentioned by someone above to just get it done!) and she pretty quickly understood how it all worked better than I did. I did help proofread everything & make sure it was all set before she hit “submit” each time. I would have been fine outsourcing the Common App stuff had she had a college counselor (her school just has guidance counselors that do everything & while hers was fine she certainly wasn’t helping the kids with the Common App or anything - they didn’t even have “college night” to talk about process until October - had we waited for that she never would have gotten her EA/ED apps in). But since your daughter has plenty of support at school I would not feel guilty at all about checking out on this one.
But at least those parents on that FB site are finally on there, even if many may be late. But yes, it breaks my heart to hear some of their stories. They just don’t know.
My dd has a friend whose parents are not helping. The kid babysits her siblings a lot and does a lot around the house, and she feels they just want her to stay home and do Cc. She’s desperate for help. So she learns the same info I tell my kids and I do some extra googling for her. The college process is a LOT! Especially for kids doing advanced schoolwork, sports, working etc. They all need a little guidance imo.
Yes! Oh wow do those people not know how to do a Google search or read a college website?
Ok you all have convinced me to at least have her show me the site and make sure she is aware of all the things. She is only applying to TE and CIC schools we can afford, with a couple of reaches that would be affordable according to the schools calculators.
Her counselor did a good job of suggesting quite a few from the CIC and TE lists and even some “meets need” schools (that would still be too much). I told her if she has any other schools that she wants to apply to not on those lists and hope for big merit that she can but they may not be affordable. I have spent a TON of time on the research schools end of things and trust her with the app side. I know the GC won’t be hovering, but is there to read drafts and remind of deadlines and answer questions.
Yea, I’m in that group too lol…it’s bananas!
I work at a college but not in admissions. Its been a very long time since I applied to colleges and I had no clue what college applications look like today. Thus part of me looking at the Common App was my natural curiosity.
My son is much too headstrong to have me look at his essays.
Someone asked about dual enrollment up thread, are these technical schools the credits also count at accredited colleges? If not, then you don’t need to report them as dual enrollment.
As for helicoptering, I’m all for letting my kids figure their own stuff out, but not for college admissions. Too much on the line, too much of my money to be spent, I am super involved. I’ve seen horrible results when parents aren’t involved. My daughter’s high school friend only applied to unaffordable schools, having no idea what the budget was. It would have been so easy to get that info ahead and apply accordingly. Instead she ended up at community college.
It’s tragic. The system seems so easy once you know the lingo and tricks, but is so opaque if you don’t!
Created my FSA ID today, need to ask kid to do same. Also, entered all our info into FAFSA for 2022. Once App is refreshed for 2023 and available on October 1st, i dont need to enter anything new(hopefully).
@dfbdfb we also ran into this somewhere; “Other” is the choice we ended up having to put down for senior-year English. So frustrating!
And the SRAR, trying to put in trimester classes accurately, is a complete s**tshow.
My daughter’s friend had an out of state public as her dream school. I knew they didn’t give merit aide to out of state applicants. I asked her about budget and she thought it was fine, got in and was so excited, only to find out her parents couldn’t afford it. She has no financial safeties and ended up heartbroken. It was all so unnecessary.
Same. I’ve been doing a little extra googling for my D’s friends, too. By request only and only by proxy.
One is a perfect PSAT, 1590 SAT 4.0+GPA, DE kid, skipped a year, has never been academically challenged in his life. He’s doing DE because his parents figured it was “free college.”
Parents wanted him to take over the family business which is a trade. But I’m very careful not to interfere. D23 passes tidbits along. . .
couldn’t have said it better. Too much on the line, too much of my money.
There is also, not infrequently, an utterly misguided belief amongst many parents (and a lot of grandparents): they have great grades - they’ll get a full ride wherever they go!
A lot of people have NO IDEA how much college costs, how financial aid works, how to assess financial fit, what types of schools and where to look for better aid packages, etc. There are so many parents in my kid’s school who have no idea how to navigate the ins and outs of this, and a guidance counselor isn’t going to know a family’s income and assets nor how to advise kids with this at all.
(One of my big pet peeves is people blithely saying to me: oh, great grades! He’s going to get a free ride! 
)
Good idea!
What is DE?
Duel Enrollment. Going to the local community college for the last two years of high school and earning college credit at no cost.
I am by no means advocating giving no direction whatsoever, that’s just ignorant. But taking the lead on filling out the Common App and revising and editing their essays for them makes me wonder how they will manage on their own in college.
Ah. It’s called CHS at our public school (college in the high school), and is not free here.
We also you have college in the high school here and I believe there is a charge. It really varies by state policy and even school district.