Both EA/ED and RD apps by 10/15? And why does the school care – are they involved in reviewing the apps? Is this a private school service?
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I’m not sure about RD apps. I believe that the GCs and teachers get all their materials for everyone submitted by Oct 15 to allow everything to be at the schools by Nov 1 regardless. And whatever info the kids get to them by that point is going to have to be good enough. Had an IEP meeting for our freshman last week and met the GC for the first time. She said she already had 100% of her college materials submitted. I think they do it that way because they literally cannot handle the load if it lingers.
This is far from a private school service. Several hundred kids per GC at a large public school, and son had never met his GC until mid-September when they had his mandatory college meeting. He received absolutely no help from the school other than a few mass emails with some generic instructions. I’m guessing if someone decides to apply RD they can order the materials to be sent through Naviance automatically later. If not for his parents, my son would have applied to like the 2 or 3 same schools everyone else applies to. They all end up at state schools, which is fine, but it’s because they only apply there and Ivy leagues (facepalm).
Interesting. For a large public school they seem very involved in the application process. At my kids school they have nothing whatsoever to do with when or where they apply. The school make sure the teacher and GC LoR and transcript are uploaded to the Common App and gives a deadline for the kids to apply to have them sent anywhere else, but otherwise has no intervention on if or when they actually apply anywhere.
Yeah it’s a weird combo of very rigid but also uninvolved? Like my son talking with his GC for the first time about college in mid-Sept, with a deadline of Oct 15 for all materials to be submitted? A month is not a long time. He did get some generic emails prior to that, but the kids were not required to do diddly squat prior their GC meetings a month ago. Some of his friends didn’t have their college lists finalized earlier this week, just days before the deadline. He is the only one he knows who has submitted his apps, which he just did yesterday and only because we hounded him.
Purdue is in-state and is known to fill some of their majors mostly in EA, so I wonder if that’s a big reason they do it. Everyone applies EA to Purdue and/or IU and then anything else is gravy I suppose. Then perhaps the GC’s don’t care if the kids add schools RD because everything gets sent via Naviance without teacher intervention perhaps?
I should add that I doubt the GC follows up on whether or not the kids actually submit their own materials via common app or whatever. They just tell the kids that’s what they SHOULD do. The GCs and teachers get their own stuff done by Oct 15th and then wash their hands of it, I suspect.
We also have a college professor in the house, and 23’s writing skills are extremely good.
The main essay is excellent. 23 worries it isn’t personal enough, yet I think it’s cool to share something you feel strongly about and show a bit of yourself through that. I’ve read sample essays on the internet and don’t love how they tend to end with the “Great Lesson Learned.” It feels prescriptive. As someone who has judged writing for a variety of reasons, I know how nice it can be to read something with a fresh feel to it after reading 100s of pieces of writing.
Who knows if AOs would agree with me, though?
Some of the sentence completion writing (some colleges have this in addition to multiple essays) that 23 did is average to good. They were getting insistent that their way is the way to go so I backed off. Ultimately, this is their show.
Once 23 finally got going on writing essays, they wrote a whole new essay! It’s more personal than the first one–which worked to get into Pitt so it’s good enough–so now they can fit that in as their main essay or use it to answer a commonly asked question on apps.
Washington & Lee
St. Mary’s College Maryland
I sent an email to the guidance counselor and said my daughter is applying to some schools where her merit award is based on class rank so can you please provide me the ranking. They agreed. Again nothing official from the school or on a transcript. But they were able to include the number as part of their application.
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Thanks for the Loyola NO comments; they were very helpful in understanding the contrast between the Talent and Loyola party scene.
Every kid is different and every college has a party if you look hard enough. But in some places there is a much more vibrant party scene than in other spots (many parties ever night of the week)…and that party is much easier to find. Ive long thought that for kids that can easily get distracted by the social scene, avoiding places with a lively party scene is probably a good idea.
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No.
Which is frustrating, but it’s the world we live in. Absent an explicit description of it (such as, e.g., California’s public colleges), you really can’t tell. You could email the admissions or financial aid office, but no guarantee they’ll respond in a way that’s useful
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The UCs and CSUs in California recalculate. RogerHub is an easy tool to use to calculate your UC or CSU GPA.
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Common App question… For activities listed where you obviously can’t continue the same exact activity – such as participation in the specific high school band program, etc – but you anticipate continuing the equivalent activity in college, do you answer yes or no to the question about whether you will continue in the activity?
My son said yes to a volunteer activity because he plans to continue community service activities in some way.
It’s a good question that my kid faced last year, especially with respect to things like varsity sports that she wouldn’t be at all qualified for at division 1 schools. She didn’t want to look presumptuous like “I think I can walk on to your team” but still decided to put “yes” for continue activity, to indicate she’d want to continue club or recreationally at least…
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Or you could just check no…
Find a few that do not require an essay and help with laying out the steps to get them turned in. Rolling admissions at a couple helps with a gentle reality check, too, as they find out quickly and they start to picture themselves there…or not.
Find out what they are scared of and do not add too much pressure. Sometimes they feel like everyone else has a plan and they do not. They almost all have these feelings, just not at the same time.
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I have to keep reminding myself of this. I am a type A, highly organized planner and my son is not, but ion the end he gets it done. And it needs to be HIS plan, not mine. I need to keep repeating this over and over to myself when I get anxious about what he is or isn’t doing.
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This is a hard transition for us as parents as well. We have had to let S19 make some mistakes we could see coming way before he was in over his head. He figured out how to tread water. There is a class he failed and a D that probably could have been micromanaged from afar, but he also learned to shake things off and get things done…still procrastinating. As he prepares to graduate from college this year, there is a new round of fears, but he is far more open about them and has asked great questions about survival after college…
You have got this. Be there when they need you. Gently remind them of deadlines. And make sure they check their email and application portals when more info may be requested.
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I’m a high school teacher and I’ve probably read 10 common app essays so far to give students feedback. I haven’t seen a single essay from my son. I know the four UC prompts are written, but he says they need editing. Common app is in progress. I’m generally feeling ok about the timelines, but he’s definitely having a difficult time talking about himself. He’s a very straightforward, scientific person. I’m afraid essays will be dry. We’ll see. He’s an excellent writer, but he abhors superfluous floweriness… he doesn’t want to write essays that don’t feel like him. In his mind, if they’re admitting him to school to be a physicist, they’re not expecting him to be a tortured poet. I’ll be glad when this part is over. As for maintaining progress, my son and I have a standing date every Sunday afternoon to work on college stuff. The schedule has definitely kept his pacing more regular and has alleviated some of the stress.
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My D23 received her Southwestern acceptance yesterday! We were surprised at how quickly they got back to her, she applied in early September, merit info coming in the next few weeks. She also applied to Trinity as well.
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Congrats! My son also was admitted. lol, we are applying to all the same schools…
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