Exactly. Think of diversity in all its forms.
Another one I’d add to your examples is SES diversity.
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Congratulations to all of the kids with acceptances!
I am a bit nervous right now with my son’s progress. He has to rewrite his commonapp essay. He chose prompt #5. Right now, it comes off as an intellectual exercise as opposed to a reflective one. He has a strong passion for the topic he chose but seems to run into a mental block when he has to dig deeper to write connections with his values. He is guarded in general, so the vulnerability required for this is scaring him a bit. Any advice on how to help him?
In addition, he is a band student and is swamped. He has not finalized his college list because he can see himself in a lot of places. The application season is going to be a long one in our household.
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That is not necessarily a bad thing. My D did not ED so ended up applying to A LOT of schools because we really couldn’t have predicted the results. The ones that didn’t work out did not devastate her and with the acceptances in hand she was able to pick the 2 or 3 that she wanted to take a second hard look at, including accepted student days.
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Thank you. He is not planning to apply ED anywhere but he is doing EA (non-restrictive ones only) at some schools but I don’t know to how many that will be. He may have to drop a few based on his progress.
How many schools did your daughter end up applying to?
21 - she had no EAs and it was a very tough wait until mid March. All her friends were already in their EDs. I don’t recommend it!
As far as progress - once two or three are done it gets easier to repurpose stuff. I recommend EA anywhere that it’s available.
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I second this.
The only regret that I had for my D22’s admission process was that she did not applied to any EA schools out of over 20 applications. When she was deferred from her ED school in December, she had to wait three months until her first acceptance. It was the most difficult time of her life, crying many days, when most of her friends had one or more acceptances. She had no intention of goint to any of UCs, but it was great relief when she was getting acceptances from multiple UC.
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Thank you @TonyGrace and @Acccdad for sharing your experiences. I do feel for the kids - having to navigate all of this while juggling school, ECs, and other things in general - it’s a lot on them.
D24 is still working on essays for the 3 LACs she’s going to apply to. The 1st is due by 11/1, so it’s crunch time!
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That is heartbreaking, especially senior year. I am so sorry.
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Good luck to your daughter (and your family)! Some of my son’s applications are due on 11/1 too and I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will make it.
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Thank you! It is heartbreaking… I really struggle with how to comfort her. It’s a crummy situation and there’s not any way around it.
I’m so sorry to hear that! Tough way to end for a senior.
At the bottom of each school box, there is a fraction which tells you how many of the required items have been uploaded: 0/6, 3/6, 6/6, etc.
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So sorry to hear this. All the best to your daughter for her recovery.
We are at an average public school in CA where kids just apply to CSUs and UCs so everyone hears back in March. My kid has one school outside of those, but it’s ED only and we can’t commit to it financially so it will be RD as well.
It’s crunch time in CA with the CSU/UC apps due 11/30. For the most part, the kids at our school are just now starting to think about essays.
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Agreed, S24 has submitted apps for 4 CSU’s and working on 3 of 4 UC PIQ’s (essays). I gave him a deadline of 11/1 for his UC apps while many of his classmates have not started yet.
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Like others, my kid recently decided to toss the personal statement she had drafted and worked on during the summer in favor of a new direction. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing.
Here’s a positive spin for kids who are struggling with their personal statements: Often times that struggle produces a deeper, more reflective analysis, which results in a stronger personal statement.
When I was younger, the hardest part of writing was the initial process of finding the topic and thesis and organizing the structure of the essay. I’d often start with an idea that made sense in my mind, but when I tried to organize and write my essay, I found that my initial idea was structurally unsound. This was a brutal process because it meant constantly having to trash ideas and start again. But, at the same time, this painful process meant I was filtering out (or refining) the weaker essay ideas, instead of ignoring their foundational flaws and trying to patch them into mediocre essays. And, eventually, I’d find a strong thesis and structure. The result, more often than not, was a strong essay.
Of course, different people have different approaches to writing. For the fortunate few, an insightful, well-organized personal statement might simply flow from fingers to keyboard without the struggle above. Others might start with a mediocre idea and essay but, through the revision process, transform it into a good idea and strong essay. But I wouldn’t necessarily worry too much if a kid is struggling with the personal statement as long they are making real effort. In some cases, it might be a good thing.
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Update from a parent who is writing recs for high school students (dual enrollment) while she waits on her own daughter’s teachers to do them. 
D24 has received one rolling admission acceptance. Now the only decision that will come in before late November is Loyola Chicago. I’m expecting it this week, although it could be the week after. I’m really hoping it’s an acceptance–she’s easily within their range for the large merit they give, and she’d love to be in Chicago. Now, off to let the dogs out and start the day!
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My son did the same thing about two weeks ago. Completely chucked the first one for a new one. The new just poured out of him one day and is much more authentic and heartstring-pulling than the first one he edited and edited for months. I think he had to go through that exercise to end up with this new one.
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FYI my alma mater Lafayette College announced they will meet all need to students with income of up to 200K.
However they are need aware in college admissions.
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