As a first timer, juggling 20 apps, the need for a Math teacher rec can be overlooked if you’re a noobie. That’s the kind of thing you hope someone more experienced like your college counselor who has had a gazillion kids apply to MIT would pick up on.
@endora, wow, those are horror stories. It sounds like everything worked out for your friend eventually and hopefully she has no regrets. So, the fancy prep school kid with a GC parent in the age of portals whose transcripts never made it – whoa! My wild theory is that he paid a hacker to prevent his transcripts from being sent so he could move to Texas and be a golf pro. :-?
@preppedparent, I’m glad my D’s apps aren’t that complicated! And sorry your first D had to call only to wait for a rejection. I hope she ended up somewhere she loved!
Check the log in IDs as mentioned, and check often till all the pieces are marked off. This is really important. In this EA round (just this week), where all the components are listed as “received” or “awaiting,” one college had High School Transcript marked as “Waived” instead of received or awaiting. I thought, hmmm, is she so good that they don’t need to see her transcript? Didn’t think so. They also had final college transcript marked as “Awaiting” but she had taken a 2 credit college summer course so I didn’t stress that even though that transcript was listed as received. So I really called to just to ask what the “Waived” status meant, and it ends up they had categorized my HS senior as a transfer applicant in error. They said it was a good thing I called, and fixed it right away.
Not sure if her application package would have just sat out there waiting four years for that college transcript to arrive if I hadn’t checked!
@prepparent, yet another reason no one should apply to 20 schools. And for anyone setting up a spreadsheet and applying for FA, be sure to start tracking those components, too.
Also, tell your kid to watch their email carefully for communications from their schools.
@prepparent - One of the reasons I don’t want my son to apply to 20 schools is that keeping track of the information would be daunting (another is the cost). I am impressed that you were able to do it.
One thing I did was to have DS create an email that he uses for contact with college coaches and college applications. I made sure that I had access to that email so that I can keep track of all of the pieces. One of the other advantages of having this email is that it can be abandoned once the college application process is done.
Check the spam box, too. Plenty of kids who post about missing an email.
D had one school last year that she was sure she didn’t get log in information from. Then someone here posted what the email looked like and she looked and found it in spam. I can’t remember exactly, but the sender was something like “admin” and the title was “new account information” Nothing even indicating the school name or that it had anything to do with a college application in either field.
Now I’m worried … S17 has applied to 5 EA U’s. He’s received log-in/portals from 3 that use their own App. The other 2 use the Common App. He was accepted (rolling) into 1, and the other has a 11/15 deadline so there’s still time to send potentially missing pieces. I wasn’t able to locate on the U website that they provide a log-in/portal (as the other 3 did). I guess he should e-mail the U/AO??
@MomStudent2017 Give them a call. If they have no portal or status page, then they should be accustomed to receiving status inquiries.
It’s not unusual to apply to 20 schools although it is difficult, given the # of supplemental essays. In the end our student who got rejected from ED1 first choice, had lots of other choices which was a good position to be in, that was our goal.
Our high school for a long time set the limit at 10, but in the past few years saw the value in lifting the moratorium. They had better acceptances, and happier students full of choices. In the end, each individual has to find the right balance and do what’s right for them. Fall senior year is stressful maintaining GPA, resitting for SAT/Subject Tests as needed, visiting campuses, filling out the apps, tearing their hair over essays, essays and more essays, and the like.
Agree this is an easy call because whichever staffer answers the phone should be able to give you an answer. Right now, AO’s are busy.
I have concluded that no two colleges go at the same beat. Here is an example.
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Honors college emailed and congratulated me for having all documents in and completed that I would be reviewed in EA1.
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I had been accepted to this University Honors College and received invite email to fill out an application for a special group and scholarship. Tried to go in and it said I wasn’t invited. Emailed them and still haven’t heard back. To humor me even more, received a hand written card from two students in the program yesterday.
We could create a book on the great stories.