Parents of the HS Class of 2024

Can you tell us more about the essay? We have been waiting for two weeks to get a portal access ID but didn’t submit a supplemental essay

This is on a third party website…

Describe your academic and career plans and any special interest (for example, undergraduate research, academic interests, leadership opportunities, etc.) that you are eager to pursue as an undergraduate at Indiana University. Also, if you encountered any unusual circumstances, challenges, or obstacles in pursuit of your education, share those experiences and how you overcame them. (200-400 words) This essay may be used in scholarship consideration.

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IU supplemental essay only required if you use their portal. If you submit via common app, the standard common app essay is accepted. See below from IU website:

“An essay is required as part of your application. If you are applying through the Common Application, you can choose from any of the essay prompts in the application. If you are applying through Apply IU, you’ll be asked to write a 200- to 400-word essay on a prompt you’ll see in the application.”

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This is nightmare fuel!

D24 has been “almost done” with her common app essay for what feels like months now. I really thought she was done, but then she was back at it after some friend feedback. All of her most likely colleges have early deadlines for portfolios or scholarships, so it’s now or never.

Good luck with the trying not to be bothered. I am failing miserably at it right now. :melting_face:

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I’m glad I posted here. S24 used the Common App - which should have provided his personal essay. Now, I’m going to have him check to see if he submitted correctly.

Meh, I think “nightmare fuel” is too strong. She can always decide to use the original version if she doesn’t get traction on a new one. She read it to me and I thought it was fine, maybe a little too poetic, but does express who she is, which is what I think the point is. She’s a good writer and I think can write a new one this weekend if she sits down and gives it time. And has 2 reliable readers (a teacher/writing coach and a very smart friend also willing to read it). I think getting worried about it does neither of us any good, and there’s a chance she works better with a closer deadline. What else can I do really? My motto is “give up what I can’t control.” :joy: I’m sure your daughter will be fine too!

I know we have discussed this before but the link to sign up for ap tests came out and S24s tests are almost $600😳. You have to pay twice for physics C and he is taking an extra one without the class. What is so annoying is that only three are meaningful for college but our school requires the test to get credit for the class!

Ours too!

But they don’t subsidize the cost! Our school only does ap in 11 and 12th grade and my older one only took 3 ap. This is nuts!

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Yup- we pay out of pocket as well. Unless you qualify for free/reduced lunch you pay the full price and if you do not pay for the exam by end of September, you are dropped from the class.

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Yep, between 2 kids I just paid nearly $700 for AP and IB tests.

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It’s crazy, isn’t it. Kids at our HS also need to take the test - if they don’t they’ll still get credit, but the course will be dropped to Honors level in their transcript.

I know this policy is true at many schools OR the school will only give the weighted credit for students who take the exam and even some schools will only give weighted credit for students who score a certain level on the exam. Do you know the schools’ reasoning behind such policies? How is it explained; does the school leadership see it as an accountability measure? Is it to reduce enrollment in AP classes to a manageable level? The free/reduced lunch discount helps obviously, but that income threshold is quite low. $100+ per exam is a huge chunk of change for low and middle income families who don’t qualify for the school lunch program.

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Yep and not fun when it’s paid in the same month as college apps. I think we are at $800 in app fees and $400 for AP and the $400 sports fees and fancy $200 stats calculator and…ugh
I’m feeling lucky to only have one kid!

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Maybe because at our school AP classes do not have finals? I really dont understand it to be honest.

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He is trying to only apply EA to schools that require it or have no fee and will wait to submit the RD ones after his ED result to specifically to avoid this. I think between the SUNY fee waivers and some other waivers for applying early he only has three schools that have application fees at this point. And we were very careful to check which schools require official SAT scores, it seems only one does. When S21 did this I did not know to check and we spent at least $100 on unnecessary official SAT records.

Lucky! She has 12 ea and I think I paid for 10 of them. Was sent a code for fairfield, Wheaton was free and she attended a summer program at Syracuse so that will be free. Most were $75

Would be super useful if all ea would report by Dec 30 but sadly that isn’t the case so she will likely have to submit 3 RD too.it’s such a crapshoot with target schools. I’m fried.

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My D22 did the same thing … had an essay that she worked on over the summer thru an essay writing program at the school. A couple weeks before her app was due, she picked a different prompt and wrote a whole new essay. I’ve come to the conclusion that is just part of the writing process for some kids. It’s not wasted time; it’s time they needed to think through what they wanted to say and how to say it. But wow is it frustrating to watch as a parent!

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SUNY schools have a fee waiver starting Monday. Looks like Gettysburg does too if you apply before 12/1. Clark and Macalaster have no fee. We are paying for his ED school, UVM and Emory which has an early deadline for the scholars program. If he does the scholars app for Davidson that would be 4

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APs, dual enrollment and app fees are absolutely adding up to a pretty penny.

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