Sounds as if your kid is making good progress on the long list of to-do items!
My D23 has submitted 4 applications (ED, 2EA, 1 RD). She should hear from 3 of those in December.
She has several colleges on the list whose applications don’t really require much more work (no supplemental essays and in some cases the interview is already done as well). But she won’t submit those until late December as I don’t see the point in paying for the CSS profile submission until she hears back from the ED school.
Then she has the list of those requiring additional essays. She is just about done with 3 of those schools but still has 5 or 6 more schools to go. There will be some repurposing/tweaking of essays, though, and some of those schools only have 1 essay, so that helps. I think at this point Barnard is looming as probably the heaviest essay lift remaining, so she’ll probably tackle that over Thanksgiving break.
She has a lot going on with schoolwork, ECs, and social life, so I’m helping her keep on top of a schedule for getting these essays done. She does not love my nudging, but she surely does like checking an essay off her list!
She had originally planned to apply to one school ED2, but after writing all these essays she is leaning towards sticking with RD (presuming no ED acceptance). I don’t think she’s fallen out of love with the ED2 school…it’s more that she has a few others she also is really intrigued by (but hasn’t gotten to visit yet) and is curious about what options she’ll have after all this essay writing. I think she sort of became that much more dedicated to all of these essays once she mostly made this decision because they feel to her more like they definitely count for something, if that makes sense? It’s still possible that a school or two will fall off the list, but I think that if she gets those Barnard essays done, none of the others will take as much time, and she does get a long winter break if she has some to continue working on.
This is quite a different experience than we had 2 years ago because S21 had a shorter list, less selective colleges, and a Covid summer with little else to do so his essays were pretty much done by the end of August.
ED and two EA applications done. Has ED interview in a couple of weeks. Plans to work on two RD applications over Thanksgiving break. Right now, he’s a little stressed between his heavy course load and ECs plus trying to just be a regular kid enjoying his last year of high school.
He’s getting pressure from school admin to strive for certain things. He could do it, but it would require more bandwidth than he has. I’ve given him permission to prioritize himself, but he struggles with disappointing people. One day at a time. Hopefully, the school he loves will love him back and he can head into the new year with one less worry.
8 apps done- EA, ED. A few regular apps due this month, and then depending on what she gets by end of Dcember, may or may not need to submit any in Jan/Feb. Juggling school work, a part time job, and college apps has been crazy, she is looking forward to the thanksgiving break.
S23 has 6 of 13 submitted. He should hear back from his first 3 in January. The rest of his schools are UCs. The 4 essay prompts are written, but he says they need editing and he’s procrastinating. He plans to finish those over thanksgiving break. I’ll be glad when it’s done and he has some acceptances under his belt.
23 heard back from a CTCL very early! Accepted with scholarships that bring price below state school.
While not sure if this school is The One, the school meets 23’s criteria.
With two acceptances, the pressure is released a bit. 23 needs to decide if they want to apply to all the schools on the list or cut some.
Today, I see we researched and rejected 77 schools!!! All of that research feels like a hazy dream now. I may just know every school in PA, MA, and NY now plus every flagship in the NE.
Thanks to all who replied to the merit Fafsa/CSS question. I think we will not bother with it. We can afford full pay, but don’t necessarily want to do so.
My S23 has submitted 1 REA & 10 EA. Originally, we had a few more in there, but decided there is a good mix of schools and covered all of his favorites.
He was able to recycle several of his essays, so it was not horrible. He is done and ready to hopefully enjoy senior year. However, he did say that his “class vibe” is reportedly stressed… just not the same and not what he expected so far for his senior year. Basketball season starts next week. That is why he wanted to be done with apps. We are hopeful for some senior fun!
Tough loss but proud of our team.
So now I get my son’s brain for the next 2 weeks!
Fingers crossed he can truly finalize the final list and bang out an essay!
“Colleges That Change Lives” - a book by Loren Pope … also, after looking at your CC icon today, I cannot resist the urge to add this phrase to my reply “Go Irish, beat Clemson”
Musical was last night and his big sister drove up from WVU to surprise him - we appeared with roses after the curtain went down and I think he might’ve come close to crying. It was a great night. Two more performances to go!
DD23 Update: She is at the finish line.
All EA applications are in and she is finishing one honors college essay that is stressing her out. She is stuck. She wrote something a little quirky but not sure it hits the mark. She is way under the stats for this honor’s college but feels she would be a good fit and perhaps they will see her effort in doing this extra step as an indication of how much she wants acceptance into the school in general. We are not sure that she will get into the school as an OOS but it is her first choice.
We wish should would expand her list. Our school Naviance puts her schools all solidly in as likely acceptances. She was also swayed by friends who were accepted from her school last year who had similar or weaker applications. They all seem like matches or stretches (low reaches) but think it has the potential to end badly. We are not confident in her chances but she can only go to 1 school and she already has a solid acceptance in hand. Although it is not her first choice we think she will thrive there and it is a great school. She has visited all on the list. She has a really strong GPA and decent post covid ECs. Her essays were strong as are her recs. Her weakness is her 30 ACT test score (only 1 due to cancellations at test center and then COVID). She likely should not have submitted but she was proud of it and felt it put her in a good range so she submitted. We tried to show her that the “range” of scores was inclusive of IS and OOS - and that she would need much higher than the range. Of course she knows so much more than we do. In the end, it is her journey and we let her make the decisions. We walked the tight rope of guidance without overbearing. We tried to stay positive and let her keep control of the process. Now we wait. It is not a great feeling and we never had this uncertainty with the older ones.
Applied:
UF
FSU
University of South Carolina
University of Tennessee
JMU
Virginia Tech Pitt (accepted)
Pitt is a great school!
This time is stressful but I really think that first acceptance takes some pressure off. Also must be a relief that almost all the application work has been completed!
My D still has 8 apps to go with 4 submitted and one decision (acceptance from Western WA). My daughter seemed to not care too much about the acceptance but I still think it is nice from a psychological standpoint.
S24 is interested in UF, FSU, UofSC and Tennessee (possibly). He has so far only seen UofSC and LOVED it. Since you have seen all of these four I am curious your Daughter’s impressions of the campuses, vibe, etc. He currently has a long list with several SEC schools and some others and will def be shortening the list by application time next year. Would love to hear if you looked at others and then crossed off after visits. Thanks
I guess I’ll do a D23 update. She was early in getting everything in and has had some great acceptances. Baylor and Butler are two favorites but she is going to visit Southwestern as well. We’re not sure if Baylor will be enough merit but Butler is looking doable and Southwestern is great with merit.
Applied and waiting:
Furman
Sewanee
Trinity U
Elon
Creighton
Hope
Accepted:
Baylor
Butler
Southwestern
U of Arkansas
D23 is convinced a big state school is the way to go - but I am equally convinced that a small LAC that will (likely) give her plenty of merit would be a much better choice for her as a learner, and as a person. If she ends up at the state school and it’s a disaster we miss out on the merit money, and there’s no way she could ever transfer into that same LAC due to costs. I’m not saying I expect her to fail, but I can definitely see the potential for her to be miserable.
Added to all this, she wants to pursue a graduate degree and making the grades she will need at a competitive state school will likely be more challenging than at the LAC.
Not to mention the experience at a college of 4000 vs. 25000 will be totally different, but she cannot understand that, and says she doesn’t care she just wants to do academics and finish. I’ve tried to explain that college is much more than that, but it’s falling on deaf ears.
I may just know every school in PA, MA, and NY now plus every flagship in the NE. 
In the end, it is her journey and we let her make the decisions. We walked the tight rope of guidance without overbearing. We tried to stay positive and let her keep control of the process. Now we wait. It is not a great feeling and we never had this uncertainty with the older ones.