Thank you so much @NiceUnparticularMan @helpingthekid73 @Bkmom28 @evergreen5 @Wanderer0
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Today was our last college preview/visits. All applications are submitted. However, our school will not send any documents until all documents are ready. 
He decide to remove the bottom half of his list (even if already accepted) and will now submit applications for honor colleges for his top 5. Hoping to finish these this week so we can sit back and wait. We also talked about if acceptance to our state flagship (should be auto admit but havenât received official word) we will place deposit so we can get on housing list while we wait out the rest of the applications and scholarship offers.
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You are completely correct, and in fact this afternoon he did some of his best work yet. So I vent here, sometimes, but he is doing fine with his own process.
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Thatâs all I really want, franklyâfor him to feel like he did his best possible application. I actually have zero stress about whether it actually works.
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S24 is done with submitting EA apps due on 11/1. His school has not yet sent the transcripts and the reco letters. Hoping that they will send it on time.
He has 2 Apps due on 11/15 (may decide to drop one of them) and then California colleges due on 11/30.
He has been on target or a bit ahead of schedule so far.
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My son submitted last week and the school has not sent anything. I do see one teacher completed their rec. but nothing is submitted. S24 is frustrated because he knows heâll hear from one of his top choices soon after everything is submitted yet he has not control over that and the school is probably focused on the November 1 deadlines. Hopefully the other recommendation gets done this week and the school can submit before Nov. 15th.
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I said that today. He put his best (very good) out there so he can be certain itâs not on him if it doesnât go his way. All you can do is take care of the things you can control.
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I can understand your S24âs frustration. When you have done your part and you have no control on when the rest will be sent it hard. Hope your school sends them soon.
Our S24 went to the counsellor at school for something else and he asked about this and she said is they will get done donât worry so keeping fingers crossed.
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I understand it and am frustrated as well. I know it will get done, by the deadline, we just want it done now, ha-ha. I do understand his deadlines are all Nov. 15th and they are probably focused on the Nov 1st deadlines. I wish he had at least one Nov. 1st deadline but they are all the 15th. Hard to be patient. Fingers crossed for your S24 also!
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They donât have to hit the deadline exactly. He should keep an eye on the portal but not be concerned about it showing up by 11/1.
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I think a distinction needs to be made between an extra recommendation (which I concur is mostly not a good idea unless in the form outlined above by @NiceUnparticularMan) and otherwise âoptionalâ stuff like the video for Brown or the like. Treating the latter as optional is not a good idea.
Yup. Our school explicitly told us that they submit all materials on 11/1, and, that such info sometimes takes days to filter through to various college portals i.e. some schools donât automatically accept something as submitted without some sort of manual processing.
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Thanks to @NiceUnparticularMan for posting the Holy Cross video in another thread and also upthread by @sbinaz. I think this is a great time to spend the hour listening to the admissions team walk through exactly how they read an application.
One nugget I caught: the optional interview is important for demonstrated interest. (My S has a couple of schools on the list where there is an option to request an interview and I havenât even mentioned this to S yet because Iâm sure he will balk.)
Adding, the video goes into detail obviously for an audience that would be unfamiliar with the process, but having watched this video, it would also be interesting to see a shorter video watching an app reader work in real time and then the brief committee discussion on the applicant.
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What will he do when itâs time to apply for internships ?
Itâs a great way to learn to prep, hold eye contact, and answer the questions asked.
If heâs that interested in a school, itâs a good thing to do. Itâs good for life.
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Of course itâs a good thing to do for life, but not so easy to convince a shy teen to affirmatively choose when itâs labeled âoptional.â (I too was that painfully shy teen, once upon a time, and I vividly remember bombing interviews for a couple of highly selective schools back in the day, when I was beyond clueless.)
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Understood - but maybe you can let him know there will be a time where you have to talk with people - and better to practice now - because itâs never easy.
Just trying to give some âstrategyâ that may or may not work.
Otherwise, you can show him clips that âoptionalâ means required. You can find that on the Internet. If you want to go to this schoolâŠ
Yep. Iâm just glad these schools are in the last group of apps (RD) so he doesnât need to think about it just yet.
I was just glad that the youtube video answered the question I had, that signing up for an optional interview was a show of demonstrated interest, a question that Iâve been wondering for some time.
May give some ideas.
How to Handle Optional College Application Materials â College Confidential
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Alrighty, was not expecting this curveball, though I canât say Iâm shocked either. One school with the Nov 1 deadline is off the list but is being replaced with an RD school moving to ED1. Fine with us, though I have not really wrapped my head around this development. And, yay supplements (/sarcasm). At this point, perhaps Iâll know what the list is only after the applications have actually been submitted 
.
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Is it off because of the ED school? I ask because there is no guarantee of ED - so if your student doesnât get in, maybe he still wants this school as an option?
Also, given the sudden change to ED1, how sure are you that the student truly wants to attend this school if it wasnât 100% before.
Itâs only a matter of 60 days or so before we start seeing months worth of - I EDâd to my dream school - but on second thought - I donât want to go there - threads.
I always worry when someone âsuddenlyâ has a new ED schoolâŠhow well thought it could be. Itâs one reason I donât like ED. My son could have been one such kid as he changed his favorite twice from early 12th grade to MarchâŠbut fortunately, I wouldnât allow an ED - he was buying into the WUSTL pressure and turns out, later on he wanted nothing to do with them. Only applied because he felt like he needed to since for many months and until 45 days prior it was his clear favorite.
So please ensure that the student is 100% bought in - and not just for today - to the ED school. And of course that itâs affordable to you.
Best of luck.
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