Kudos! Does 5 for 5 mean 5 apps are done?
It’s exciting to get them done!
Yup, he only applied to 5 schools, all safeties, and has all 5 acceptances in now!
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Congratulations to all of the acceptances already!
D23’s list is mostly settled, balanced per her counselor for her profile, still debating a couple. So many kids are doing ED and some at schools on her list, but she is happy with her plan(no ED), and is busy working on senior year courses/essays/ merit scholarship applications. It will be a long and winding journey to April!
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Can confirm.
NUSL 1999
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Well AP on final year helped my son (S20). He was on waiting list for GT CS (back in 2020- Covid year). I think He got off of his waitlist because of those AP scores. I maybe wrong.
I am here as I have D23, really worried about her.
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My D23 is lazy. Still working on her essays.
My boys have a fair bit of laziness in them as well lol, but since they are both marching band kids and VERY busy in the Fall, I was able to keep them on task and get their rolling admissions safety apps all submitted in August. Thing 2 is finishing up some supplements for one of his EA schools that has a Nov 1 deadline.
Thank you all for the input. My son goes to a very competitive private school. He has a 3.7 UW gpa and 4.62 W gpa. He’s at the top of his class. He is applying early action to USC and I know he could get a little money from them for being a college board national recognition Hispanic scholar. He has some interesting research assistant work experience in his desired field, plus good ECs, so we’ll see. He is UC ELC, so I know he won’t be shutout, but I just want him to have a few great options. The last two admissions cycles have had some crazy results for students we know, so it’s giving me the jitters.
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I just want to say that 23 did a bit of gentle eye rolling in response to my college prodding and said “no one else at school” is applying this early.
I am an awful parent making the kid get everything in early. Lol.
In the AP English class, the syllabus says they will work on college essays. Um, we did that months ago and have two college apps in already!
Then, I come here and we are “behind.” 
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Please dont laugh. I haven’t travelled out east much.
How are Chicago and Boston different from each other in terms of city vibe? Living experience?
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I have never lived in the city of Chicago, but I did live in the suburbs. I have lived in Boston, and in the Boston suburbs. I would say they are very different! Boston is extremely walkable/public transportation friendly. I never felt like Chicago really was, I felt like you really had to have a car to get around Chicago. It’s actually harder to get around in Boston with a car than without.
The whole vibe of Boston is very college student/young professional oriented I think. Sure there are older people, and people who are not as educated in lots of areas of Boston, but I felt like the vibe was much more student focused than Chicago’s is.
To me, Boston doesn’t feel as much like a “city” as Chicago does.
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Chicago is much, much larger than Boston. Vibe very much can be neighborhood dependent. My H and are from the NE. H grew up in Boston. We find Chicago to be more diverse and overall friendlier.
I disagree about public transportation being an issue. I haven’t had a car in 4 years.
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First difference: Chicago is not in the east.
(Said with a smile, but Chicago, St Louis, and New Orleans are their own whole things.)
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There is only one other family in my S23’s class that was starting the Common App over the summer. (There are lots of kids going to the state university which will be very pro forma and they can handle that in an afternoon here.)
On one hand my son is glad that he’s so far ahead, on the other hand sometimes it’s hard for him to feel like our personal timeline (ED) is the right way to go about this when it is radically different than seemingly “everyone” else around him. And yep, his school is going to have college essay work time in December and January, and then “exploring colleges” and talking about making decisions later in the spring. [head desk]
The other thing I’ve mentioned to my kid (as he’s confirming now with his LOR writers about his ED timeline) is that treating November 15th as the day to turn everything in would be a terrible mistake, with no wriggle room for error. Plus we should account for the fact he might get Covid and then be terribly behind in both schoolwork and his application work. Or his letter writers might get Covid - that’s yet another variable to be aware of these days - so the earlier the better when it comes to wrapping this up.
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This reminds me of when I went to college in New York in the fall of 1991, and when I told people I was from Seattle, they honestly asked me if I lived on a farm.
I was so confused - I lived in the middle of the city, there weren’t any farms - what…?
A few months later, grunge exploded nationwide, and “back east” everyone suddenly realized there was an actual city out there in Washington!
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Ha. Yes. We live near Chicago. I just know that Boston schools seem to be super popular and since we haven’t travelled that way much I was just curious how people would describe the difference.
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Wanted to let folks know that Jennie Kent & Jeff Levy updated their resource spreadsheets for the new year and for those looking for consolidated need and merit based aid numbers this is the place to look. They helpfully include the percentage of students awarded need or merit aid, as well as the percentage of non-need students receiving merit aid, and the average amounts.
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This whole process reinforces how DIFFERENT my S20 and D23 are!! My S20 was the eye-rolling one and the whole application experience was like pulling teeth. It caused the most tension we’ve EVER experienced with him. Doing it now with D23 sometimes gives me bad flashbacks, ha! My D23 is WAY more on top of things (totally her personality) and it’s so much easier. Although with that is way more stress and anxiety she puts on herself, so it’s a double-edged sword. She has submitted all but one of her applications and that one with a supplemental essay she still has to finish will have to wait until the next week or two. She’s not applying ED anywhere, but most are EA. It’s nice that’s she heard back from and is in at one already! That first one is always a nice feeling. Good luck to everyone! As I learned with S20, they pretty much all get done eventually!
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Being a teacher, I know I’m a bit over-the-top with organization & timelines, but this drives me insane. A timeline should begin at the end of junior year and conclude by October 15th of senior year, with a push to encourage EA and be aware of the advantages of Rolling Admissions. My son has been pretty organized and hopes to submit his common app for all schools by 10/15 but said his friends keep saying they all have plenty of time and I think he’s getting that message from teachers too. He’s questioned his own timeline a few times. There are a few on his list in which essays and letters of rec are optional so he COULD submit some of those now, but he’s been working hard on his essay so wants to submit to all schools, even if optional.
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I agree! It should start at the end of junior year. Our HS does not provide much guidance at all except one “assembly” where they go over a few basics and a couple power points. Same with the guidance counseling department. I’ve heard of maybe ONE English teacher that has them work on an essay that can be used as a personal statement, but it’s definitely not consistent across the board. It’s really only the on-top-of-it students that seek out the help who get SOME guidance from counselors. Luckily that was something I learned from my oldest going through this process. No wonder there aren’t many kids from this very solid HS school that go to medium to top tier schools.
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