In some happy news, our school was able to get the AP Spanish issue settled after the college board had cancelled scores due to some technical problems during testing. S24 got a 4 on the AP Spanish test and was satisfied with that. Now if he’d just get a little more serious about doing some of his AP summer work for next year’s classes . . . .
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S24 called me a few days ago from his summer program (totally unplugged) and I after finding out how he was doing in general I asked how he was doing with his essays. He is doing great with his HW for the fall but when I asked about the common app essay, he said “Oh, I forgot” save me! The few weeks before school starts are going to be fun!
We are behind too! 
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I keep stressing that he’s got another 5 weeks to finish a lot of work, but it’s not having the desired result (imagine that). I fear he is in for a very stressful end of summer . . .
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Don’t even get me started on the essay issue . . .
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He is having a very intense musical experience that is wonderful, with no outside interference. But wow is the end of the summer going to be an adventure. I have given in and started doing a spread sheet for him so that at least he has somewhere to start when he comes back. I do think his summer homework will be mostly done and his music supplement well formed, but everything else, that is a whole other game.
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We kept nudging our S23 to finish his common app essay in the summer before school started. He made a show of saying he was working on it but half-heartedly and he kept abandoning whatever he did do. He finally finished it less than 24 hours before the first early applications were do. Similarly, he didn’t finish the first RD supplemental essay until 12/30 (with the first due 1/1). And he had a lot of applications.
And it all worked out fine.
Would it have been better for him to do it sooner, yes. Would it have saved us parents a lot of stress, definitely. But there is no formula to success in this process. These kids are literally applying to the next phase of their life where they have to make all their own decisions, including a lot of wrong ones, and adapt or deal with the consequences. His stubbornness/procrastination did cost him one application where he failed to observe that this school required the application earlier if you were submitting a performance supplement. That was a consequence. He knew it was on him. But probably all for the better as perhaps next time he’ll act differently. And probably resonated more than a million attempts at advice from us.
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S19 was the same and it all worked out. I suspect D24 will be the same way, but she does her best work that way.
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D24’s school year starts in less than 2 weeks. She has not started on the common app personal statement. For now, she’s doing the College Essay Guy writing exercises. In early August, I’ll start bugging her in earnest. 
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My daughter is in a similar position. Has done a couple short College Essay Guy exercises, but had a busy summer with a family trip and her lifeguard job and not much time for an actual essay. She’s home now recovering from getting her wisdom teeth removed yet I don’t have the heart to even nudge her to work on an essay, she’s pretty miserable with swelling, etc. In a few days, she goes to work at a camp for the month of August and will return home 4 days before an “college app work day” for seniors (held the Friday before school starts) at her school. She’s supposed to have a draft of her essay on that day. I’m just trusting she will make it happen when it needs to happen. November 1 (deadlines for some apps) still seems a long way away to a teenager.
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D24 has been completely immersed in her internship, doing some training for her Fall sport and hanging out with friends. I’m hoping some of the work I see her doing on her computer is college essay related but fear it likely isn’t. She does best when she isn’t being prodded so I am trying to not say anything. Come August, I am going to do a check in though.
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Our D24 just finished her common app personal essay. She has 3 main things to do this summer:
KPMG internship, common app personal statement (just finished), and study for BC Calculus (ongoing).
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S24 finished his common app essay. He let me read it and I thought it was authentic and well-written. Nothing too out-there, but that wouldn’t be him. I advised him to make an account here and get feedback from a volunteer essay reader. He said the input he received was very useful and he made a few changes. He feels very confident about his essay now. I would definitely recommend kids take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to get feedback on their essays here at CC.
He finished a resume for the school recommendation packet. He still has to finish the Common App activities list, but has a few weeks to get that done.
He has been attending a lot of virtual workshops for colleges and they have helped him cross off a lot of schools and add one that he is very interested in. I think he made a huge leap this summer in figuring out the best fit for him. His college list is now only 5 schools (down from 18!) I think he is feeling a lot more relaxed about applications now that he has one on his list that he will be thrilled to go to that is a likely acceptance.
I am both relieved he is finally taking the lead in finalizing his college list and also a bit alarmed at how short his list is. He seems to have a much clearer idea of what he doesn’t want in a college and 4 out of the 5 schools on his list are safeties/likelies.
He still needs to finish his AP Chem summer packet - but it is coming along.
I wish school wasn’t starting in a few weeks - summer break is never long enough for me.
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I don’t know if this will make anyone feel better (hopefully not worse), but–our private HS with really good college counseling gives us an extensive summer guide, and on writing the main Common App essay, they first basically require kids to attend a brainstorming/drafting seminar at the start of summer, and then encourage completing a version before the start of school.
BUT, they also hold an in-person session again before school starts, and then workshops for supplementals, and so on. And your submitted main essay will likely not be identical to your summer version (unless perhaps for rolling apps and such).
The logic of the timeline actually suggests there is something useful about truly completing the essay process when you are back from summer activities, and have support from staff and peers and such. They just want you to have thought ahead, and done Version One of the main essay, so you can hit that process running.
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The great college counseling at many private and some public high schools is a big plus. However, a majority of college-bound kids do not have access to such guidance. My kid’s public school has 2 college counselors for nearly 1000 seniors. They do the best they can but it would be a mistake for S24 to rely on them for much.
He is actually lucky that he was assigned (by last name) to the counselor who responds to emails. The other counselor is rarely heard from.
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Yes, this is definitely one of the many unearned advantages some kids (including ours) end up having.
Still, even if counselors don’t have the capacity to help on essays–maybe English teachers? Really good peer writers? I think there can often be informal resources available to help kids finalize good essays, even if the formal resources are lacking.
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Our highly ranked public school has 6 counselors and 1 college counselor for a school of 1200. There is no college prep help during the year except for zooms and large group meetings. The college counselor offered essay help but S24 tried to schedule it and she didnt show twice and then didnt respond to emails. Getting the essay done or mostly done before school starts is going to make the fall much smoother.
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Maybe at private schools, but many public school English teachers don’t know anything about college essay writing. I have lots of stories, but suffice it to say the 5 paragraph typical English essay structure is not how college essays should be written.
There are many free essay resources at college essay guy, that’s the first place I direct rising seniors to go who don’t have access to a college counselor (which unfortunately is most rising seniors)
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Same situation here. No actual college counselors at the public high school - just general counselors who have caseloads of 400-500 students dealing with everything under the sun. D22 didn’t even have an assigned counselor until beginning of October her Senior year. When she asked for help, she was told she had to wait until they hired a counselor for her alphabetical group. Talk about adding stress to an already stressful process. Thankfully, the counselor they hired was super efficient and got her recommendation in by the 11/1 early action deadlines- not that she knew D22 in any way other than the form seniors are asked to complete about themselves.
This is why I feel okay about spending some money on a private college counselor. I fully recognize that is a privilege many do not have.
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Well I just had my window to ask D24 about her progress on her common app essay and lo and behold- she is done with her first draft 
. It was way too long but her college counselor helped her slash a whole bunch. Now as for the common app activities section, she says she’s at a bit of a loss as to how she can meaningfully describe her activities in such a short space. I forwarded her the link someone kindly shared above with examples from college essay guy. I’m also counting on the college counselor helping her with that too.
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