D’16 has finished and submitted her 15 applications.
Now the waiting game… [-O<
@labegg Wow! 15 applications are done!! ^:)^
I thought D was doing great with 8 applications so far. The rest 4 or 5 will take longer because they have a few more supplemental essays/questions. Congratulations on getting them done and Good Luck!
Fifteen! Gold star to your D, @labegg !
S has done six of eleven (or possibly ten, one is teetering on that edge) and thinks he’s the king of all college applications. Of course, given some of his peers, he might be at least qualified for a minor barony.
@lonetreegrad. Thanks.I am sure D’16 thinks I’ve been a miserable nag the past few months.
15 is excessive in my book, but D’16 applied to several direct entry BS/DPT programs and you never know when you are up against a very competitive crowd.
Will definitely encourage D’18 to limit the number to 10.
Wow I am in awe of all you guys with kids that have completed all those applications…we are one down and 11 more to go! Hopefully, five more will be (hopefully) done by this weekend because they have nothing left except to hit submit but my D is dragging her feet saying she cannot deal with this now! I wish everyone all acceptances to come their way!
15!!! DD has not been submitted one yet.
Don’t feel bad @NYDad513 . Not a single application here as well. Hopefully by the end of next week she will submit 3 that are due on November 1. One is not Common App school with 9 essays and two Common Apps with a lot of supplements. DD is writing so many essays, she might want to change her major to English after she is done!
NINE essays?? :thud:
@petrichor11 They are 250-500 words each, but still….
@Ballerina2016 - 9 essays for one school? Its those “supplemental” essays that are killers.
@labegg Yes, for one school. Those short essays are very difficult to write due to the word count. She was struggling with few topics, so we just talked and talked for the past few days and yesterday she finally was able to figure out what she wants to say.
DD complains a lot about short essays because it is much harder to write good short essays than long one.
Tomorrow is the deadline for a major writing competition and DD is planning to submit her works. She said it will be 30-40 pages total. I don’t know whether she can change common app if she gets award, which will be announced early November.
@NYdad513 Kudos to your D for doing the writing competition, even though it may have no impact on her college app! That is how you know a kid really loves something, when they do it for themselves!
I bet you could contact the Admission folks after the fact.
My husband asked my D’18 recently why she is participating in a very time and labor intensive ECs that has no impact on her future endeavors or college apps. (I think he was implying that she should keep focus on her academics) She said “Because I enjoy it and I like the competition”.
@labegg DD does not like competitive environment and mostly relaxed. So it was a surprise for me when she went to writing competition. But I think it helped her a lot every way in her life. It is fantastic when a kid has passion on something.
@Ballerina2016 I think DD also will submit 3 apps before Nov. 1. Many school has deadline on Nov. 1 as early…
That’s a ton of applications! The most people I know are summited is 9, as of now. I did one, EA at a March/borderline safety. If I don’t get in I’ll do auto admit at a local community college but that’s hopefully not to be touched plan B. I have friends that have to write like a dozen essays, it is crazy. How do kids stay calm with so many?, I stressed out doing 1 app.
DD is going to participate in one competition with a deadline in mid-November too. You can just update school with any new information you might have.
D plans on 11 apps, but I’m only am willing to pay for eight. Two are free. The plans is to add up the cost of all 11 divide by 11, multiple by eight and that’s what I’ll put in her checking account. She is also paying for a third ACT in October. I think her current scores are both excellent and representative of her abilities, but she insists on trying to improve it.
Only one very easy app to a safety is done. Three more need to be done for a Nov. 1 deadline and the rest as she churns out ALL. THOSE. ESSAYS.
@3scoutsmom – Several thoughts after reading your note:
– I’m again so impressed and touched by you and all the home-schooling parents here who have unselfishly dedicated so much time and work to giving their kids a better and ?more holistic education than they might have received had they taken a more traditional pathway. It takes not only the courage of one’s convictions to go that route, but also the willingness to do whatever it takes to make it work.
– My suspicion is that your D16’s success is in high school (and life overall) is not due just to the excellent home-schooling that she received up to ninth grade. There’s probably a genetic component in there also.
– It’s great that you found this specific high school option and were also able to navigate your way through the system to get her in.
– I’m not surprised that standardized testing is necessary for admission. I was surprised that it was the PSAT, especially in a year where, with the new test, I’m not sure that anyone will be able to make meaningful sense of the results. The option to take any of those three tests strikes me as even more bizarre. Images of apples and oranges come to mind. Again, how can they make any sort of meaningful comparison between eighth graders who took three totally different tests.
Our kids had to take the SSAT when they applied to their private high school. This is exactly what this test is designed for. It’s strange that this high school doesn’t use that as the standard for out of district kids who want to apply. But I guess no one asked you (or me) when they put together their policy.
– I’m really glad for you guys that the sibling policy is in place. Our kids’ very selective high school does NOT have a policy like this, and real havoc has been created when closely-aged sibs end up at different high schools. That said, we’re personally happy about our school has not siblings policy, in that S14 cannot claim that S16 got admitted on his coattails.
Once the PSAT scores are back I hope that your youngest can focus on other things until the application has to be done in February.
I found your note very interesting. Similarly for all the other notes regarding the different ways that this issue is handled in different places. It again demonstrates the randomness of what opportunities kids have vis-a-vis their education, what a large role geography can play, and also emphasizes how lucky all our kids are to have parents who advocate for them and tirelessly work the system, whatever system that is.
School will have art supplementary workshop next week and DD has zero EC on art or music. So there is nothing we need to prepare.
A couple of months ago, DD asked me whether she needs to send writing samples to the schools she’s applying. After discussion, we decided not to send any supplementary writing samples. Her writing skill will be mentioned in her English teacher recommendation and GC recommendation letter. She can put a list of award in her CA.
@nydad513 - I would think writing samples of published essays should be sent or at least the links. If we all enjoyed reading them, why not the schools?