<p>Whatever you do, you want to avoid confusion at the college end. I have heard that scanning a LOR in and sending it PDF is preferable to snail-mail. If you snail-mail it, the school will just scan it in. The key is to do whatever you can to help the college clerical staff get the document into your file, so be sure that the students NAME, D.O.B. and Social Security number are prominent on every page. (That is what I was told at one of the college nights we attended.)</p>
<p>^ugh really? I hate the idea that their SS# is used as an identifier. Hate to think of it floating around…</p>
<p>college4many - yes, it is naviance. Since I’ve been asking since mid-August it would have been nice if I were told before yesterday. I could have accepted the answer, but just hearing she couldn’t figure it out wasn’t filling me with confidence.</p>
<p>We have a practice run with the empty nest this weekend. D is spending the weekend with friends, going to see a school tomorrow and spending the rest of the time at their condo at the beach. It’s an in state school so if she gets over herself and the notion of how awful it is to go in state she may actually like it enough to apply. I’m not holding my breath.</p>
<p>I think unless you have a very common name, name and DOB should be sufficient.</p>
<p>“I think unless you have a very common name, name and DOB should be sufficient.”</p>
<p>Some schools recommend name as it appears on app, DOB, HS name, HS city and state.</p>
<p>"^ugh really? I hate the idea that their SS# is used as an identifier. Hate to think of it floating around… " Classof2015</p>
<p>True enough. A Social Security # and date of birth are not two things you want floating around together. many school issue each applicant an ID Number. If the college does, just use that instead of the Social Security number.</p>
<p>You just want to avoid sending a physical document and have it never end up in your child’s electronic application.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the comments & advice about sending additional LORs. </p>
<p>Am I correct in thinking that there is not a standard non-teacher LOR form similar to the downloadable teacher form? Our school will be using Naviance for submission of the teacher LORs, but my son wants to have an outside person send one and wants to inconvenience the letter writer as little as possible. </p>
<p>Glido–would my son then be asking the letter writer to scan the letter? I assume the colleges don’t want the applicants uploading their own scanned LORs?</p>
<p>I agree with all about the SSN. I will not be writing that on anything including the application so will have to hope that name, DOB & HS name & location suffice. The last time I checked, we were unable to place a freeze on the credit of a minor, so in the meantime, I do not want his SSN accessible.</p>
<p>Thanks again to all of the helpful parents on this forum. Has anyone successfully filed an app using Naviance and the CA system?</p>
<p>glido - Congratulations on your DS! Sounds like he has a great future ahead of him, and you can be at peace knowing he is well-prepared for when he leaves home next year.</p>
<p>mathmomvt - I found this book at Barnes and Noble last spring, and found it very helpful - “Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays” by Gen and Kelly Tanabe. It shows 50 successful essays and the schools at which they were accepted, as well as a list of do’s and dont’s when writing an essay.</p>
<p>CT 1417,</p>
<p>Yesterday in school my S successfully connected Naviance to the CA. Last week, he was given specific instructions on filling out the Personal info (first section) and the Educational section before they connected the two. In Naviance, under the colleges I am applying to, it say congratulations Naviance has been successfully connected to CA (or some similar wording).</p>
<p>Thanks onlyonemom–my son’s Naviance also now shows schools listed as ‘schools I am applying to’. Those schools had previously appeared under ‘schools I am considering’ or some wording like that. I can view this all from my Naviance log in. I think the GC causes that transfer to occur after the students submit the (paper) transcript request form.</p>
<p>I have stumbled across complaints on CC about the Naviance-CA links not yet being operational, so was hoping to find someone who had successfully filed using this new format. I know that our school used Naviance for some apps last year but the wrinkle is the new CA format. Not that my son has written any of his essays yet…but I want him to have these in a few days before the Nov 1 deadlines b/c we have had a power outage for the last two Halloweens here in CT!</p>
<p>Ok, I got a college visit road trip all booked and set! We’re flying into Providence on Saturday, November 2, renting a car, driving to Ithaca on Sunday to visit Cornell on Monday, November 4th and driving back to Providence to visit Brown on November 5th and flying home that night! I would have flown into Providence on Sunday, but it was $600 more EACH to fly on Sunday so it was cheaper to cover food, car and hotel for an extra day. I love Providence though, so that’s fine with me 
We can meander Sunday between Providence and Ithaca so he can see both places well before the actual tours. Google maps says it is a 5 hour drive- that’s not too bad.</p>
<p>His dad is going to take him to see Northwestern November 16th. I did Northwestern with my D so that’s fine with me. I have an outlet mall shopping trip planned with a girlfriend for that day so that works out great! Christmas shopping :)</p>
<p>Thanks 1dilecon. Anyone have pointers to “exercises” or things to think about for the kid who hasn’t figured out what to write about yet?</p>
<p>2016BarnardMom, you could take a look at Binghamton on the way to and/or from Ithaca. It’s a SUNY university center, pretty affordable for out-of-state students and a great school.</p>
<p>mathmomvt, my daughter worked with a woman in Brooklyn, where we live. This is from her website:
[What</a> a Great Essay Looks Like | brooklyn essay coach](<a href=“http://brooklynessaycoach.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/what-a-great-essay-looks-like/]What”>About the Essay | brooklyn essay coach)</p>
<p>She had my kid write down many random thoughts about a few very vague ideas, and then helped her focus on what made a good essay. I must say that I am very, very pleased with the results. I could never, ever have worked with my kid on this.</p>
<p>Thanks oldmom4896!</p>
<p>Just dropped DS off at the airport for his first solo college visit. He is flying 2800 miles away Maine to visit Colby for 3 days. Last night he learned that he has been awarded a full-tuition merit scholarship to our state flagship! I have a happy kid :)</p>
<p>Glido,</p>
<p>My son is also interested in Colby…is your S staying at the college for 3 days? Is it a sports related visit? Look forward to hearing about his visit. </p>
<p>Congrats on the scholarship !</p>
<p>Wow Glido! That is awesome. You all must be jumping up and down for joy.</p>
<p>D decided today to apply to her dream school that we don’t think she has a snowballs chance at getting accepted. My theory was, you definitely won’t get in if you don’t try. I also don’t want her ever wondering down the road. Her act is 2 points below their 50% range. They just asked for a personal statement so she poured her heart into this one, told them it was her first choice, her joy visiting the campus, why she’d be successful there, her passions, how she grew up watching us run a business and how that inspired her and though her test scores didn’t reflect her true potential she was persistent, etc. She even ended it asking for them to admit her. </p>
<p>I have promised her there are many schools with the same qualities but she just really got her heart set on that one. sigh She gave it her all, now all we can do is wait and pray.</p>
<p>eyemamom, I think it’s great your daughter not only wants to go there, she also put in the action. I can’t think of a better place to spend your money. This gives her a chance… and hope. There is not a thing wrong with this picture!</p>
<p>eyemamom - best wishes to your d! We’ll be rooting for her!</p>
<p>Glido - congratulations to your guy! </p>
<p>Barnardmom - Happy travels!</p>