Coastal2024–yes! a couple of weeks after she submitted some of the first ones, I became unable to deny (after seeing some promotional videos) that one of her schools has almost no one like her there. Yet another is iffy in this area–and it was one of her top choices and best deals for money. However, in terms of money, it is the ones who won’t report until March that might give her/us some financial heartbreak, and she loves the idea of those, since they are her reaches. 
Scary times!
So true and I need to keep reminding myself of this.
Yes it is hard when you have a hard time picturing them there.
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Well, S24 has made some progress on his ED supplements. Has three I consider final, two in pretty good shape but need some editing/tweaking and two in process . . . he is aiming to be done by next Sunday and would like to submit then (we’ll see). His second EA app only has one essay so he is waiting on that one until his supplements for ED are done. He decided to drop his third EA school (one EA is already submitted) to RD - the essays were complicated and he didn’t think he could do a quality job in the time remaining. It is lower on his list of schools so I was OK with it.
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A question about submitting transcripts to colleges. For context,
- My child took an AP class online. High school DOES NOT issue credit for this class.
- He also took a class in community college. His high school DOES NOT issue credit for this class either.
Now, for colleges that DO NOT USE “Courses and Grades” section, does that mean that we need to submit transcripts showing the online AP and community college classes for the application to be marked as “complete” for evaluation to begin?
And is the opposite true for colleges that USE “Courses and Grades” section?
Basically, I am trying to understand when all official transcripts are required to be sent for the application to be considered complete for evaluation to begin.
Nothing quite that stark, but I know what would be my order for S24 is not exactly his own order for himself. Like, I think merit scholarship opportunities are really cool, he sometimes seems allergic to them, that sort of thing.
But honestly–while I sometimes like things for him he does not like so much for himself, he has been pretty good about NOT valuing things I do not think he should be valuing. So I have been really interested to see a fairly coherent set of implied preferences emerge, even if they were not what I thought they might be.
And now–fingers crossed the stars align and his favorite he gets into is one of my favorites too. And there is like one of those which offers merit, so . . . .
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We have both college courses and an additional high school course (UC Scout) that are not on the regular high school transcript.
Since my kid checked that they have college coursework and two high schools, the common app college will let them know in the applicant portal that those additional transcripts are required and due.
I got that info from scouting the college’s applicant pages, I would assume it’s simulate for other common app colleges that don’t require grade entries.
Thank you! So, you did not have to send until you were notified by the applicant portal?
Is it possible some kids just can’t write a decent Common App Essay?! 
S24 really does write reasonable, competent factual essays for his classes. But this…this is terrible. He just finished his 4th rework, and it is worse than the first (which was itself quite bad).
I’m sure the problem is that he feels like he has nothing to say so…that comes across in his rambling, pointless essay attempts. I have spent SO MANY HOURS talking to him & helping him brainstorm, starting in June, because he just says “I have nothing to say.” He has done all the College Essay Guy’s activities. He still has nothing.
The thing is, he is a really great kid with lots of great characteristics and lots of positive relationships. If an AO could spend 30 minutes with him, they’d see that all. But he just can’t write anything that isn’t terrible. 
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Write it with him. I’m sure a lot of parents do that. I read on the CNBC FB page someone took a side gig of help kids with their essays to a full time job.
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I don’t know how it all actually plays out, but my two cents is that it shouldn’t be this hard. I feel bad for these kids and the pressure they have. Some kids are great at writing, but can’t get through a math class without struggle or don’t test well. Some are opposite - brilliant at numbers but not so much at writing especially creatively. And then some are good or average across the board. Of course there’s some who are brilliant at all of it, but they’re not the norm. I think it should equalize and land kids where they’re meant to be.
I told my DS that the essay wasn’t a big deal - true or not, I just knew that stressing about it woukd not help - I told him as long as it was authentic, it didn’t matter if his essay was earth shattering or original. It took the pressure off I think. Just try and take the pressure off and write something authentic without worrying about the end product. I also had a tutor review for grammar etc, but I did not read it myself and told him I would not unless he wanted me to. Sometimes we’re too close and too critical. Whereas a neutral person has seen lots of essays, good, bad and in between so they can be more unbiased. Maybe go with the version that is the realest sounding version of him?
It also takes a bit of introspection which is only going to get you so deep for a 17 year old.
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I think @MDparent22 has given some great advice. And the essay probably isn’t as bad as you think it is.
It might be time to accept that the essay isn’t going to be the strongest part of the essay and let him write a competent, bland essay. Unless he is trying to get accepted to the most highly selective schools, his essay just isn’t all that important. And even if he is trying for the most highly selective schools, it’s more important that the essay doesn’t hurt his chances than that it is a brilliant piece of writing.
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If you want an objective opinion I’ll be happy to look at it and make some edits (if that’s allowed) - I used to be an editor so I’m pretty decent at grammar, but I’m not a creative writer either!
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I guess I haven’t read dozens of other college essays. But his essays so far don’t sound like him at all, have no clear purpose or story, and kind of bounce around so it is unclear if one sentence should actually be following the last. They also keep drifting off to spend lots of time talking about things that have nothing to do with him.
He isn’t trying for the most selective schools, but I do think he needs it to be good enough that it aligns with the rest of his application (which is fine: good test scores, okay recs, high but not astronomical GPA) if he wants a chance at some of the medium selective schools he’d like to consider.
Thank you. I think it is really so bad right now that wouldn’t even help. I forgot to include in my list of problems with it that he can’t seem to write more than 3 paragraphs in any of his attempts.
I’m going to take some deep breaths and try to calmly ask him where he wants to go from here.
Rambling is ok because words can be removed and the essay tightened. Gets your word count down. The question is - does he have something to say? He likely does.
It can be a lot anything. His favorite drink that makes him feel good. That watching worms in the dirt fascinate him. The girl by me who got into Yale but went to auburn wrote about the exhilaration of waiting for papa johns to be delivered.
He has ideas….
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Maybe the topic is there but he just needs to organize his thoughts - create an outline, then write. He will get there. Or do like tsbna and just free write and write some more!
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Has he done a mind map for the essay? There are many examples of this online. It will help with the arc of the story and details to support his thesis. Does he know what he wants to say and just can’t get the words out? You might try having him narrate his ideas to you and you write it down so he doesn’t get bogged down initially in the putting the words on the screen.
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Echoing what Shawk said, I was going to suggest that he voice record himself telling his story and then typing it as he listens to it. Sometimes there’s too much pressure to write something amazing, but talking it out just might help.
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update from our house: all applications are in. Now the waiting starts…
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