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<p>Welcome aboard ovrseasmom. :)</p>
<p>I am not sure if you can call it a second tier school but you might want to look at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. They have an excellent engineering program. Our D is applying although she is not going into engineering. Best wishes for the rest of the application season!</p>
<p>Countdowns - just so that everyone is aware of the remaining time until: </p>
<p>November 1st ED/EA deadline - due date is past
November 15th ED/EA deadline 0 days as today is the deadline
November 30th University of California system application deadline for fall 2014 entry class 15 days to the deadline
December 15th ED/EA decisions - 30 days until decision day
December 31/January 1 RD application deadlines - 46 days to the deadline
January 15 RD application deadline 61 days to the deadline
March 14th - Pi Day (MIT) - 119 days to wait
March 30/31 RD decision day - 135/136 days to wait (the waiting is painful!!)
April 1 - SS Indecision sets sail for a month - 137 days
April 30 - SS Indecision journey is over (hopefully!) - 167 days
May 1 - National admissions commitment and deposit due date and have a double margarita day to celebrate!!</p>
<p>And then graduation season begins! :D</p>
<p>TGIF</p>
<p>Sounds like things are really gearing up around here. At our house, not so much. </p>
<p>Son submitted an app to a likely before school started and was recently accepted with a nice merit offer. But it is not his favorite. He applied to one school ED (which he now feels *meh * about). It is a reach. He also applied to one school he really likes, and we are fairly confident he will get in. He might apply to one more likely/match school. Maybe. But that is it. I dont think he wants to write any more essays. </p>
<p>Did anyone see ‘The Middle’ this week? About how Axl was upset because his parents werent there to nag him into doing his work, which resulted in him having to drop every class execpt music appreciation? I sometimes feel that if Son doesnt event want to put forth the effort to *apply *to college, how on earth will he succeed once he is actually there?!</p>
<p>I found this week’s episode of “The Middle” all too plausible (and frightening!).</p>
<p>jasmineRose, we are struggling with the same issue. DS asked one teacher for a letter in Aug and told her that it’s due Oct 31. She is still not done as of today. When DS gently reminded her, she asked “when is it REALLY due?” Luckily, the Oct 31 due date was from a college that only required one letter but allowed three and we had a second letter in already. I then advised DS to go ask another teacher. I figured if the first teacher finally gets around and submits, it would just be an additional letter to the required number. When DS was applying to some competitive summer programs last year, this same teacher was also late - and of all things, for the RSI application!
It really gets me mad when I think about the topic of LOR. Our kids worked so hard for four years and this is their one shot deal. LOR is totally out of their control but it could potentially make or break their chances.</p>
<p>[I don’t know how to do quotes] From eyemamon: “Since I am full pay, once again I’m getting the screws put to me. I know people don’t have the money for these massively expensive schools, but I will tell you sometimes it definitely feels like I’m being punished because we started saving for the kids college when they were babies and chose to do that over many other things. It gives my kids freedom to choose, but it just seems a little obnoxious that you get penalized for saving. I could have just gone on vacation, and decorated my bigger home instead. I’m not a millionaire, just a saver.”</p>
<p>eyemamon, I hear you. We have been saving for college since the day kids were born (and I am a little embarrassed by the outdated decors in my tiny house and my old van!) The good thing is, you will have some options come May 1st with your savings.</p>
<p>Thank you AvonHSDad, I told S to check out Lehigh asap. Any other suggestions from anyone would be welcome too. Thanks</p>
<p>@ovrseasmom, RPI & WPI, Olin college of Engineering and Tufts. I am not sure what tier they come under.</p>
<p>Also check Bucknell and Lafayette. Good engineering programs. DS considered these two and Lehigh also.</p>
<p>“It’s as if they do exactly what they tell their students NOT to do”</p>
<p>Nothing new there! The VERY teachers who are the most unsympathetic to students’ faults are the ones who CONTINUALLY drop the ball on every administrative duty they have! </p>
<p>I cannot understand what takes so long to write a LOR!? Presumably, a student has asked a particular teacher because that teacher knows the student so well. It just does not take that long to write a killer LOR!</p>
<p>Hi everyone - so happy to have found this thread as D & I are going through all the things I’m reading about. D has 2 acceptances so far - U of Alabama & Tulane, but she’s applying as a music major (vocal performance) and basically must get accepted everywhere twice - once academically & once by audition for the music department. She’ll be auditioning well into March. I am thankful that she applied to a couple of schools early, if for no other reason than it got her teacher & GC LOR’s onto Common App early & it’s now pretty trivial to add a new school. She just added Columbia of all things, after learning about their program with Juilliard. Talk about reaching for the stars… but heck, why not?</p>
<p>Gertrude-has D considered applying to Barnard which has a partnership with Columbia and may be a little easier gain admittance? I believe Barnard also works with Juilliard.</p>
<p>Welcome, GertrudeMcFuzz and your D! In your D’s honor, there are Sazeracs in the living room and a big “Roll Tide” banner out front. Good luck with the double app process!</p>
<p>Can I just say I felt like today, my annual membership fee to CC was worth it! What - y’all don’t pay a fee? I feel like such a loser…:)</p>
<p>Anyway, my best friend who has a son in my son’s grade was having trouble with the common app (no green check marks) and her son thought self - reporting his scores was the same as sending them via college board. So I stayed on the phone with her and used all the knowledge I have gained from my friends here at CC and now she has green check marks by the Nov 15 deadline!</p>
<p>Congrats to all those apps submitted and acceptances in hand. Welcome to the new ones onboard. Thank you Captain for the reminders.</p>
<p>I am getting so antsy right now, D hasn’t submitted even a single application. I think it is going to be crazy towards the end. I am also getting worried about her decision about applying to only one each - reach/match and safety. I am one of those parents that hover in invisible mode - so I get the anxiety associated with hovering and realizing what can happen in the future but no control to change. I am telling myself that I am not crossing the line if I start telling her what to do</p>
<p>She works very hard and committed to every thing she does, I guess I just need to work on changing her priorities.</p>
<p>I can’t appreciate enough all of you posting the progress, the frustration and the success stories. </p>
<p>To quote: try the following without the space between [ and q :
[ quote]text…[ /quote]
</p>
<p>Class of 2015, good for you - I agree, it’s so complicated, and I feel so much dumber than my son who’s there doing calculus that I couldn’t remember how to do for my life. Did I ever even take it? I think I did, back in the 1940s, during the war …</p>
<p>Student4ever - well, this was a last minute “let’s go for it” decision, and I think she’s decided that if she’s going to reach for the stars, she might as well go all the way! The rest of her schools are matches or safeties. Really, I was surprised she wanted to add any new schools because she’s kind of application-weary, as most of you can relate.<br>
So we’ll spend a few bucks on the app & send her pre-screen DVD and just see how it goes!</p>
<p>Thanks for the welcome, Classof2015 - I have to admit, I had to look up what a Sazerac is! Something new to try next time we’re in NOLA!! Of course, “Roll Tide” I hear in my sleep…it gets to be a habit pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Welcome GertrudeMcFuzz! Congrats on the acceptances! Take a look at Fordham Lincoln Center Campus - they work with Julliard and are just a block away! Best of luck.</p>
<p>I haven’t posted in what feels like forever. I’d fall behind and finally catch up, then not have time to post and fall behind again. Now I’m caught up and posting!</p>
<p>DD has six applications in and six more to finish. This process is a roller coaster indeed!
We’ve had a pretty exciting week here. In the space of a week, DD won a tri-state creative writing competition and went to the state final four with her fall sports team where they won second place and she was named to first team all-state. Then we got home and she had her first two college acceptances, University of Oregon and Tulane. Such a relief! Plus the Tulane acceptance came with a Presidential Scholarship and an invitation to their Honors program. Yea!!! She feels so good to have that in hand. I have a feeling we will have to make a trip to New Orleans to visit. That doesn’t seem like it will be a hardship!</p>
<p>She’s a bit worried because she hasn’t seen about half of the schools she applied to. Since she has schools in four corners of the country, it just wasn’t possible. We told her once she has acceptances and can look at the finances then we’ll look at the final contenders she hasn’t seen. </p>
<p>I wish her reach-y schools weren’t all ED, but no EA. I love EA and we just couldn’t have her apply anyplace ED. It is nice to have acceptances early, but the waiting for the “dream” schools until late March seems like it’s going to be endless.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all on applications done and acceptances in!</p>
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Thanks chrysanthMum and Classof2015 for showing me how to do quotes on cc. Let’s see if this old dog can learn…</p>
<p>Edit to say: Yes! I did it! Thanks!</p>