<p>This thread is for hard facts that college applicants and their parents must know about the process. It’s not just for “things I would recommend your kid do”, but for those things that parents might not know which are facts. I’ll start:</p>
<p>When your kid sends their SAT scores to any school, ALL SCORES are sent including SAT I and SAT II scores. There is no such thing as score choice for the College Board tests. So, if, when your kid signs up to take the SAT I, he/she lists 4 schools to send scores to, then ALL scores will be sent. Even the 580 on the SAT II in American History that they took as a freshman will show up on the report. </p>
<p>The ACT has score choice. That is, the student can choose which set of scores to send. Not which subscore from which test, but which set of scores.</p>
<p>If a school offers your child a scholarship, but gives a deadline prior to May 1st for accepting the offer, this is a violation of NACAC standards, and should be challenged. Let them know that you know about the standards, and request an extension of the deadline to May 1st, and they should comply.</p>
<p>I’m hoping someone else on the board can direct interested parents to the relevant NACAC information.</p>
<p>Do not send any test score before knowing what that score is to anyone, including your own high school. High schools have a bad habit of helping you by zeroxing the test scores received by them on the back of the transcript.</p>
<p>At least at public high schools, do not sit back and wait for the guidance department to talk your child through the process, especially if your child aspires to a highly selective college. The counselors simply don’t have the time for that sort of thing.</p>
<p>If you are considering sending in an ED (Early Decision) application and an EA (Early Action) application to different schools with the same deadline, you must check the rules of the ED school. Some ED schools permit you to apply both ED and EA at the same time (although you will be bound by the ED decision if you are accepted). Other ED schools do not permit concurrent EA applications. Sometimes these rules are listed on the college website; other times, they appear in the application itself, and you must “sign” or check off a box to acknowledge that you are in compliance.</p>
<p>Please note that this variable does not apply to SCEA (single choice early action) schools, since these never permit a concurrent ED application.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>At competitive schools, do not take anything admissions folks say at public admissions meetings, whether in your town or at a session at the school. They are in a salesperson role, and will paint things in the most positive light. </p></li>
<li><p>merit scholarships are often NOT about merit. See last fall’s Atlantic Monthly article for a good discussion about tuition revenue optimization.</p></li>
<li><p>deadlines that apply to the kid matter. But schools will cut some slack to kids for things they can’t control, like recs, transcripts and scores, especially for regular admission cycle. (you think they even know, come the first week in January, what they do/don’t have? They’re opening mail for weeks!)</p></li>
<li><p>the results show a great deal of randomness, so try NOT to compare your kid’s success to any other. This is not a competitive event among acquaintenances (tempting though it may be…). It is about our kids individually.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Make sure you know what the GPA and other requirements are for scholarships. Is it automatic for all years or “renewable.” Students and parents are often surprised to find that the “4 year full or half-tuition scholarship” comes with rather harsh conditions.</p>
<p>Do not even START the college discussion with your child until you’ve figured out how much you can afford to pay. </p>
<p>Use the financial aid calculator to get a good feeling for what, if any, financial aid you might qualify for. Figure out if/how much you might be willing to borrow and/or how much you can afford to pay outright. </p>
<p>Make sure your child (and your spouse!) understands the finances and then plot your college search strategy around that number.</p>
<p>The application is being evaluated. If the application (including all the bits - letter’s of rec, GC rec, and so on) does not accurately portray the student’s wonderfulness, the college will never know.</p>
<p>Check and double check the high school transcript and clean up any errors way before you’ll need to send them to colleges. Sometimes this takes time…so don’t wait till the last minute.</p>
<p>Have the applicant check to make sure that the schools have all documents that they require to make an admission decision. One rolling school could not locate my son’s transcript and it needed to be resent, which wasted time and it took several more weeks until my son received his decision.</p>
<p>Send everything to the university with a self-addressed stamped postcard that says - “College X has received X”. This saved us several times and let us know that some recs did not get sent.
Be prepared with all your tax info to do your taxes ASAP after Jan 31st. Many schools ask for FAFSA/Profile/tax info by Feb 15th or sooner!!!</p>
<p>Be aware that for some rolling admission schools with deadlines as late as February, the truth is that if you apply even as late as late October, November or December you are greatly diminishing your chances at an acceptance. For example, our val was waitlisted at Michigan despite many kids in the class getting in there earlier.</p>
<p>At full need based schools, outside scholarships will always pay back the school’s grants before they reduce parental contributions. They may offset student contributions or loans first, but they maynot.</p>
<p>If your high school is known for sending students to very well known colleges, tell your kids to be wary about ‘advice’ they may have gotten from their friends parents regarding college choice - those parents may be trying to dissuade the students they perceive as ‘the competition’ from applying to the same schools as their own children.</p>
<p>Ask your guidance department to etake them off. After thinking I had been successful in having the scores removed from the transcripts 3 years ago, they’re still there. But the GC recently said she would cover them up when she copied the transcript for colleges.</p>
<p>If you are applying EA or ED, make sure you check the deadlines for filing the Profile (if the schools require it). Some are as early as November of the senior year of HS. If you miss the priority deadline, you may not get your finaid before April. In fact…check deadlines for everything. They are NOT the same for all schools.</p>