Yes, I’ve heard that too from some schools. But still, when they are estimating, things will happen.
Also shows the potential power of a CSS lite for schools that don’t currently use CSS. I expect there’s a market for something like that this year.
Hopefully the FAFSA formula will be finalized soon…even tho FAFSA site won’t open until December, once final, people could fill out the paper FAFSA to estimate their SAI.
Hi,
I am curious to learn about the pros/ cons of submitting the application, say a month before the deadline date for a given college.
1 Pro is that the student doesn’t have to think about that application and can focus on other ones.
1 Con is that they may get ideas after submitting the application, which may have benefitted in their essays/ personal statements etc.
Are there others?
Thanks
Some colleges have earlier deadlines for merit scholarship consideration. Probably not exactly what you meant, but an obvious case for getting in applications by that deadline. Same with rolling admissions, of course.
Otherwise, I personally think it typically makes sense to wait just in case something does come up that could be helpful.
I would add though don’t wait until literally the last moment to submit in case you experience technical difficulties, whether on your side or at the server/common app side. (Not saying you were advocating for 11:59pm submission, just adding the point).
BTW the exchange above about the changing FAFSA timeline as it relates to RD and ED got me wondering. @evergreen5 commented the supposition that we’ll see more people pulling out of ED acceptances after they get their FA packages. I almost wonder if that means we’ll see more ED applications. IOW, if there’s this implicit understanding that the FA awards cannot be as precise to meet actual needs and therefore schools will need to be more flexible in releasing people from ED commitments, will that results in more people taking the shot in ED?
Yes! Absolutely.
Had the same thought, about more people just taking a shot at ED. I don’t look at financial aid websites often, but I wonder if colleges are warning applicants about this FAFSA delay and the likely NPC inaccuracy, or whether they are silent.
It’s still academic in our house, as there still is no first choice school (and there won’t be ED unless that happens) though we have a few more visits coming up.
I am curious to know if one can pull out of ED if the FA doesn’t support?
Yes you can.
Personally I recommend that kids complete all the components they can for applications over the summer; while the Common App isn’t “open” to be filled out, you can certainly get the essay done, as well as strategize how to word ECs (with their limited word count, parsing what you’ll put in the title and what you’ll put in the description can be tricky in particular for non-conventional activities).
Once the application(s) are “open” fill everything out, then check your formatting and copy edit your work. At that point, instead of submitting it, set it aside for a month, and then return to the application(s) at the end of September with fresh eyes.
After spending so much time on those essay(s) and EC blurbs over the summer, it can be tricky for kids to self evaluate, and a solid chunk of time away from their work grants them the ability to return with more solid objectivity.
In any event, I also strongly suggest that kids do not submit applications on the day they’re due; glitches happen. Three to seven days in advance is extremely helpful for ensuring that there are no hiccups on either end of the transaction.
School isn’t back in session yet, so can’t ask our school counselor this question yet. What’s the standard protocol for sending AP scores to the colleges that your kid is applying to?
I saw on the Common App that there’s a place there to self-report your scores. In D24’s case, there are 2 exams where she did not get a 3 or higher, so she’s not self-reporting those. However, when one goes to the College Board’s website like you’re going to order AP scores to be reported out, it only gives you the option to send ALL of them.
When the student submits his/her application either through the Common App or another method (college’s individual website or whatever), when should the student have College Board send the official AP scores? Is that before or after the student has an acceptance letter in hand at the school? Or is this something that varies a lot from college to college?
For SAT/ACT test scores, D24 is going to mostly apply as test optional, but there’s 2 colleges where she’ll apply w/1 SAT test score (because it’ll get her some auto-merit $$…not a lot, but some). 1 of those 2 colleges is on the Common App. But the rest of the schools she’s applying to through the Common App, she wants to apply as Test Optional. I wonder if there’s a way to select YES (to send SAT score) for 1 college on Common App, but NO for the rest? I tried looking and am not getting anywhere.
For AP scores – S23 applied to five schools, and just had his AP scores listed through the Common App. He did not send official AP scores until he enrolled in his final choice, and he sent them then in order to get credit. From everything I have read on the Class of 23 thread that is standard.
For SAT scores - every school that S23 applied to that was test optional asked if he wanted to include his SAT scores in his application. So, I think within the school specific application part, there is a way to choose whether you send the SAT scores or not for that specific school, but I would definitely verify that.
ETA: At worst, if you are only sending the SAT scores to one school, you could leave them off the Common App completely and send them directly from the College Board for that one school. It would cost a little money, but it would make sure you were not sending them anywhere you did not want them to go.
No reason to send any college AP scores unless the student has been accepted and plans to enroll.
For SAT, note there are two different things that sometimes get conflated. One is whether a school is test optional and another is whether a school requires actual test scores to be send pre-acceptance. Most (though not all) colleges are now test optional, but some that are test optional do require that if do want your scores to be considered that you have them sent, while others are fine with self-reporting unless you are admitted. There is no master list I found that indicates which are which for the latter point so there is no substitute for Googling this case-by-base for each school that your student is applying to. In my S23’s case, approximately 20% of the colleges he applied to required actual test scores being sent while 80% allowed self-reporting (until committed to attend). And there was no pattern to which required and didn’t require, in terms of public or private, very selective or less selective, etc.
No need to spend the money to send official scores (and yes, doing it that way you have to send all scores). Just self report the scores you want in common app. Send official scores if your kid matriculates at a school that will give credit for AP scores, that way you only pay to send to one school.
Yes, you can send to only one school. There are a couple ways to do this, think of the common app in two pieces. The first section are the general questions/info that go to all schools (that’s in the Common App tab). The second level is each school will have specific questions and essays unique to them (the schools you load in the My Colleges tab).
So, at the common app level there is a testing section which looks like this:
Then, the next page asks for the scores
You could complete this section, then send the app to the school where the score is to be sent. Once that app is downloaded by the school, you could then take the test score out of this section, before sending the rest of the apps.
But, in each test optional school’s Questions section it should ask if you want to apply with or without scores. Here’s UIUC’s for example:
The answer to this school specific question is what matters, not what is in the common app testing section. So, even if the test score was loaded in the common app testing section, and your student chooses TO in the school questions, the school will not see the scores. But, if you want to be extra safe, just take the score out of the common app testing section after you apply to the school where your kid is sending scores.
In this example, if you choose to apply with a test at UIUC, they do ask you right there in their questions what the scores are, so you would never even have to load them in the common app testing section. So, check the school’s questions, and decide how you want to handle. The pics I used are for this past cycle’s common app, there may be some changes when it opens on Aug 1.
Every college is going to be different, and you’ll need to look at the college’s actual website to determine what and how they take scores in their admissions section (please don’t go off of the options for the school in the Common App, you’ll want to be 100% clear as to that school’s particular optional/required, and required when…)
These days many/most schools accept the student self reporting their scores on their applications, with the stated caveat that they will require those scores to be officially submitted only if they are accepted, and they enroll.
This saves families loads of money and simplifies the process greatly! Requiring the scores for enrollment also keeps everyone on the up and up.
(Once you get to the enrollment stage, some schools will require scores sent from the board, others will accept scores if they are recorded on the student’s transcript by the school registrar.)
Good point, I definitely agree one should verify things on each school’s website.
I love the idea of the bf wearing your daughter’s letterman jacket — back when I was in school they were just for the boys.
@beebee3 , thank you! I am still confused who decides if we can afford the FA package in the ED process? Is there a process like FAFSA or something that determines if we can officially afford. I am little concerned that on paper life us different from the reality. Though our income is above $200k currently, I took a long break and didn’t have enough savings. We seriously started saving after my D24 started high school. Someone misguided us about 529 savings so stopped that. When we run NPC, we see our EFC around 35k-45k range as of now which we can afford. I know it’s not still accurate this year but just a rough estimate.
I don’t want to really get into the discussion of going to a college that’s affordable etc. We’re trying all possibilities and don’t want rule out any option right now and can a decision later.
You decide whether you can afford the FA package in ED. No school can or will ‘force’ you to attend, nor is there an official process which verifies what you ‘can’ afford. That isn’t FAFSA’s purpose, btw. FAFSA determines whether your child is eligible for fed gov’t grants and also qualifies every student with a completed FAFSA for Stafford loan eligibility (subsidized or unsubsidized depending on finances). FAFSA doesn’t tell you what you can afford, you need to make that determination. Most people should look at their FAFSA number (soon to be their SAI number) as the floor of what they will be expected to pay by colleges, not the ceiling.
To be absolutely clear, you deciding what you can afford and FAFSA and/or CSS deciding what you can afford often don’t reconcile for many families. Be prepared to be shocked by the number you receive through those processes - many families who come to CC are shocked by how much they are expected to pay.
But if you aren’t sure you can actually afford a school, ED might not be the right process to go through. No one ‘needs’ to ED either. I only recommend ED’ing a school if it is definitely your child’s number one school and you can definitely afford it, imo.
Jumping on @beebee3’s response, I want to clarify one thing because I also didn’t understand this our first time around.
The FAFSA and/or CSS comes up with the number that by their calculation, your family should contribute. As mentioned, that number is often (practically always) more than you are actually able to spend. However, this is the number the schools will use when putting together your FA package, and their need-based aid offer will be based on it.
So when people here say that only you determine what you can afford, they don’t mean that you get to tell the school how much aid you need (more on this below). They mean if the EFC that you are assigned by FAFSA means a certain school is still too expensive, then you need to search for schools that cost less, and/or offer extra scholarships that could bring the cost down. I hope that makes sense.
Now, if there’s a school that comes close to affordable, you can always contact the FA office and tell them that they’re your #1 choice, but the cost is still just a bit out of reach (describe specific circumstances if you can), and see if they will throw you a bit more $$. I’ve done this with both of my sons and been lucky with some generous extra grant money.
Finally:
I know what you mean by this, and I know some people on CC are brutally honest about finding an affordable school … but they are right. I got really defensive a few weeks ago and after I checked myself I realized it was my pride and desire to give my last child the chance to go wherever she wanted that was getting in the way of taking excellent advice here. Both of my sons had different experiences due to our family circumstances, and I was still in that mindset. So please, please, listen to the folks here (@tsnba44 and @AustenNut, I’m looking at you). Save yourself grief later.
@M_Fun , Thanks for your response! I totally get it what you mean by this. That way, honestly no school is affordable except the state school but we’re just confident that we can pay off the loans at least for their undergrad so want the kid to at least explore.
I definitely welcome more opinions on ED and the process.
