<p>Our state flagship U (her "safe" school) has an RD1 deadline of Monday 10/17 and my daughter told me she submitted the application last night. I didn't even know about this deadline which gives a decision mid February. Hopefully she did a good job because she didn't show it to me or anyone else. I'm happy she got this done but couldn't resist asking about her ED app due 11/1. "Everything but the essays, dad". OK, I'm still encouraged.</p>
<p>Well she's certainly ahead of me, so I say congrats to her. I'll be submitting my first three applications within a week, which is pretty exciting. I've found the essays are 99% of the battle :)</p>
<p>Congratulations! You have raised a daughter who did something all on her own FIVE DAYS before the deadline! I hope you fully appreciate the significance of this. If you don't mind, would you please send me your cattle prod, now that you don't need it anymore? I've been putting pressure on my D for two months to make progress on her 11/1 ED app. Thus far, she has managed to resist this pressure.</p>
<p>Congratulations!! DD also did her EA application online this week. She is very happy to have it done. Now we just have to sit with our fingers and toes crossed until the end of December!!</p>
<p>I'm sure it was the fine selection of esoteric oldies that pulled her through this first trial. :)</p>
<p>Audiophile, congrats to your daughter for being a self-starter. If you find a way to break through essay-blocks, please share with the CC world. My daughter completed and submitted two apps in early September and has an acceptance from a rolling admissions school. But those were the easy ones (i.e. no essays). The rest of her apps are still untouched, because they require essays, and she isn't happy with her (second) draft. I'm not going to be her editor, but when I asked what input her former teacher (who has agreed to act as a second set of eyes) had about her draft, my daughter informed that "it wasn't good enough to send to her [the teacher] yet." Moments like that send me scrambling for the supply of duct tape, useful for keeping my mouth shut and specially-purchased for such occasions.</p>
<p>I'd like to envision a relaxed, even boring, holiday season, but it's taking better eyesight than mine to see that as a real possibility.</p>
<p>I already applied to two schools, and now I am working on my third application. I still have to get one more done by Nov 1st!</p>
<p>Four schools will be done by nov 1st, and believe me, I am really stressed out here. I have so much to do, and I don't know how I am managing. It will be MUCH easier after the 1st though, so I cannot wait. Especially because there are so many holidays in november. yay november! </p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter though!</p>
<p>Just remember. There are some of us parents still here, who went through this last year. I, for one, am willing to do essay duty where required. We've lived this pain and we are so so happy we aren't doing it again this year. And because we are happy, we might be willing to help you out:). And congratulations to those who have gotten something done. Phew. We love these teenagers, and we're glad that to date we have not killed them....</p>
<p>Just a small note of optimism: I, too, am an "alumna" of the college app process...and I, too, had ulcers as deadline dates approached and there was no sign of S being ready...but he made every single deadline and also got 4 of 5 acceptances to the elite schools to which he applied...I'm quite certain stock in the company that makes duct tape for mouths skyrocketed after all that I bought last year (and S informs me that no, I wasn't "good"...on the other hand, he acknowledges that w/out my extreme effort (and duct tape) I would have been a whole lot "worse!")</p>
<p>So...bottom line: I know you can't relax (or at least I couldn't), but remember that our kids WILL get the apps done, and done on time (or close enough to on time that the colleges will accept them)...repeat that mantra to yourselves at the time of the worst of the stress...</p>
<p>Personally, I can't wait for the threads reporting on who gets admitted where...once again, there are several "Parent Forum Kids" about whose fate I'm intensely interested...</p>
<p>We're rooting for you...and sympathizing...and will welcome you w/open arms to our "empty nest/I miss him-her" threads in just a few short months!</p>
<p>One of the EA deadlines for my dd is October 15. As she careened around the kitchen this AM grabbing all of her stuff for school and shoving morsels of food in, I HAD to remind her, AGAIN, since I won't be home until late tonight! Alumother, I nearly ruined the stats here for CC parents NOT killing their teenager!!!HELP!!!</p>
<p>My mantra to her has been "You've worked so hard and accomplished so much up to this point. Why don't you put in the last remaining bit of effort to achieve your goals?" I then get a list of all the things due in her classes. Somehow she leaves out all the time she spends socializing (was out from 5-11:30PM last night with friends, otherwise she's IM'ing, figuring out what plays to perform for drama club, making matching t-shirts for homecoming game, getting hair, nails and makeup done all day tomorrow for homecoming dance, etc., etc.,etc). OK that's what we love about her and she's not going to suddenly change, but maybe a little sacrifice of her social activities during crunch time. I know she couldn't have spent more than 20 mins. on her National Merit essay (which she also didn't show me) the night before it was due. Hopefully, she'll put forth some effort for her elite school apps and not do a rush job.</p>
<p>My daughter informed me last night that if I'm going to invest in tape, I should get gaffers tape; it doesn't leave a residue. She wasn't the least bit interested in my suggestion that steady work on her essays would eliminate the need for tape altogether. I won't ever be able to complain about a dull moment around here this year :)!</p>
<p>I have been laughing out loud and commiserating! I can't believe the self restraint this period requires!!! I have tried the - Can we schedule 15 minutes of your time for a status check on the EA and ED apps to make ME feel better? I curse the computer and urge D to sneak away to the library (what a foreign concept!) on Saturday for a few hours and just finish those essays - without distraction. She has all the feedback from her teachers and now just has to pull the trigger. I guess they just can't see what stress will be lifted once they are done (only to be replaced with waiting angst but at least you don't have to do anything for that). I must go to Walmart for my share of tape! I like the residue free idea!</p>
<p>Am I missing something? What's the tape for?</p>
<p>Even duct tape might not have been strong enough for me last year. Son had 8 applications and 6 different due dates. I could always tell when a deadline was imminent by the 11 p.m. rousing of, "Mom, could you proofread this for me?" Of course, by that time of night, I could only correct a few grammatical mistakes, although I had to comment (forgot the duct tape!) that his essays weren't anywhere near his best writing, and he should get an earlier start, and it wasn't a good time for that sort of discussion.</p>
<p>He did get better at the applications as the season went on, so the last ones were much easier than the first three or four. But, really, it's a process that triggers insecurities: these kids are compressing their vibrant, 3-D lives into the boxes on a dull,flat piece of paper - then being judged on the results. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't added to his stress.</p>
<p>Oh, now ~I~ get it!</p>
<p>I commiserate with all of you...DD, with much prodding and anxiety on my part has finished and sent the apps to 6 of the 8 schools that she is applying to. She also JUST finished in time for the RD 1 (Oct. 17th) of our state "flagship" school, UF. If she had missed that one...I think i would have hidden her car keys for awhile. :) Now, if she would only do the other two (they have extra essays on their supplements) I believe that I would save a lot of money on antacids!</p>
<p>My son also decided to BEGIN his Eagle project in September of senior year. Then in mid October, he ditched the Early Decision plan and decided to apply to eight colleges, including two Reaches we had never seen. Eagle work has to be done by 18th birthday which also happened in the fall. About late October, I noticed one of my eyes wasn't coordinating with the other. Yes! College Ap Season Eye Dysfunction. A new diagnosis. Went to see the doc and scheduled a CAT scan for possible tumors, didn't go the apt because in my heart I knew it was somatic. Symptoms disappeared after all those packages went out in the USMail in December.<br>
He never emailed his essays to a good teacher who was generously offering editorial comments to seniors. Got this teachers email address for a holiday weekend! and still didn't think his essay was "ready". Essays went out unedited on the deadline dates. Outcomes were still good. My eyes also work again.</p>
<p>Called home a few minutes ago. D is off school today and was actually awake. Not only that, she said she was invited to a friend's house and DIDN'T GO! Quick, get the smelling salts, I'm feeling faint.</p>
<p>Last year my S put everything off to the last minute. Electronic apps were submitted 5 minutes (not 5 days) before they were due. My close friend's daughter on the other hand submitted early, took no prodding, and refused to show her parents any part of her application. The punch line, both got into their first choice schools. I guess it is whatever works for the kid (though both approaches are hard on the parents).</p>