@allboyz – If most of your son’s friends wait until “early next year” to apply to college they will miss a lot of application deadlines, many of which are January 1.
You are so right @sseamom. People often initially think that my husband and I are pushing my D (and my S before her) to be the way they are…what they slowly come to realize is that we are just guiding their lead. They are both more driven then the vast majority of their high school peers. In my D case, she is more driven then the val and or sal as well as other members of the top ten student. Her college list is much more extensive then most of the others in that group. I am just glad that I found all you on CC to have as a learning and sounding board and to see that we are not really that weird. It is comforting to be able to converse with many others of similar mindset. Thanks everyone.
According to Changes coming to the college admission process, now 9th graders can start putting in term papers and videos and update as they go through high school.
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-higher-learning-admissions-20151028-story.html
@lonetreegrad and @Ballerina2016, I called CB and they said they were updating their system so they can send information electronically and everything will be sent this week. My only concern is, I have been sending updated scores to S EA college, will the college get all the scores or just some? Ugh!
@AsleepAtTheWheel We live in Virginia. There are quite a few schools that have Feb/March deadlines. Also, there are several that have rolling admissions. Of course, it would be better if his friends applied earlier. However, I do not think that they are thinking about it at this point. One of his friends (the one that planned to visit the campus with my son) did take the SAT for the second time recently.
I thought the most of the school use rolling admission even though many schools have preferred deadlines. Most of the rolling admission schools are not top schools and not all students aim top schools. So it looks ok.
I and DD talked a little bit about EA deadlines and submission of SAT scores. She said she’s going to submit SAT score tonight and I said she does not need to feel it’s too late to submit SAT scores because she did self report of her scores. I am not sure it is absolutely required for the school has official score or self reported score is enough during review period.
I also feel that CC has been a wonderful place for information and support. Many parents here share many similarities, but I really appreciate the great diversity here as well. I truly feel blessed to have access to the diverse backgrounds and expertise found here.
Occasionally when my helicopter rotors can be heard (ie: nagging a little about deadlines, talking about financial aid opportunities and limitations, etc.) I worry that I may be too involved. My son asked me last night “what do other kids that want to apply to college do that don’t have you for a mom?” It was his way of saying he appreciates the help and the “expertise” that I have regarding the process, and also a subtle reflection of the limited guidance given by his high school. Of course he is my 4th and last one - so I finally know more this time!
I do need to give credit where credit is due - and thank each and everyone of you for YOUR part in this process! When my son says “what do other kids that want to apply to college do that don’t have you for a mom?” - a lot of the credit goes to the parents here that I have learned SO much from!
@crowlady What is NaNoWriMo?
I think NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, which is November. During November participating students are supposed to write 50,000 words novel. It is a lot of time commitment and needs self motivation. My daughter tried when she’s 6th and 7th grade. I don’t think she successfully finished her novel. But still it helped a lot of my daughter’s writing skill. It is wonderful for a kid to participate and motivated.
@4kids2graduate Yes, @NYDad513 is correct (of course, http://nanowrimo.org is about creative writing!) My son has attempted NaNoWriMo two or three times already during high school. 50,000 words is quite a lot to ask when you are a student taking many AP classes. He intentionally chose to do few other ECs to give him time to write, but the only month he makes major progress is November. I think he got about 25,000 words last year (he had an hour a day to write during an independent research class he was taking). It has been very good for helping him set goals and push to work on something every day. This year he has been spending a lot of time in October preparing his ideas in advance, which is a very good development. Most NaNoWriMo participants are not students. There is a young writers’ version that emphasizes setting reasonable goals http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/what-is-nanowrimo but my son has always chosen to run with the grown-ups.
I confess that I pushed my S14 harder than he would have pushed himself regarding college applications. But as you can see, S16 is very ambitious. He admits that he is stressing himself out about NaNoWriMo. He also chose to take 6 AP courses. It doesn’t help to have the stress of college apps on top of all this, but at least he’ll be done with those soon.
As DD was submitting her research to one of the schools that allows, she noticed that they require mentor recommendation to accompany research. It is sort of last minute request. I hope her mentor will find time. Ahhhhhhh. So stressful!!!
Now I remember more correctly… DD participated NaNo young writers program which is younger version for NaNoWriMo and word counts are 30,000.
@Ballerina2016 Hope your DD’s mentor has time to write a letter. I think if your daughter submits a research paper, it might be better to ask her mentor to send a letter to the school. I doubt that adcom send a research paper to a faculty member for evaluation and adcom don’t have ability and time to read it.
Applications all ready for three colleges with a Nov. 1 deadline (one ED, one EA, and one automatic full-tuition scholarship deadline) EXCEPT for the counselor LOR and school profile. D goes to a very small on-line charter school and actually takes most of her classes dual credit at a CC. D has asked the counselor to have it submitted no later than Thursday and has asked me to NOT contact the counselor yet. I’m freaking out a little. Fingers crossed this lady knows how vital these deadlines are to everything my D has been working towards. She has mentioned they have never had a student this motivated before, which sometimes feels like, “We have no idea how to help her.” I plan on hourly doses of Tums until that dang thing is completed!!!
PS: Thanks for letting me vent. Similar to what other have posted, friends of fellow seniors don’t quite get it. 
@NYDad513 They might be sending it to faculty, since they charge extra $5 to submit research supplement. It also has all those questions to accompany research like the one when you submit to the competitions. She was not happy to discover around midnight that she needs to work on those questions in addition to her essays. But those are done now. The only missing piece is mentor recommendations.
@NYDad513 You should probably check your colleges that you daughter is applying to regarding deadlines for scores. Most schools require official score reports, self reports are not accepted.
@allboyz Even schools with rolling admissions may require EA for merit scholarships or HonorsCollege admissions . May want to recommend that your son’s friends check those dates to make sure they don’t miss out on an opportunities.
We may have hit a wall here. DS has been fighting a cold for over a week and sounds awful. He last stayed home when he had pneumonia, but he agreed to stay home today. I am so glad that his top two applications are already in.
@NYDad513 : When I was editing short fiction pieces years ago, I received a story that was, to my horror, a depiction of some moments in the life of a young lady who was an acquaintance more than a friend of mine; someone who lived near my extended family. As I read the unfolding of this particular writer’s story I became more and more alarmed, as the writer had chosen to include her real name, a most unique name rooted in classic literature, and that of her younger brother. I lived hundreds of miles away, in a different state, though the magazine was published in the state where both the writer and the subject of the story lived.
I mulled over how to handle my intimate knowledge of the writer’s failure to “change names to protect the innocent,” in a short piece that, while submitted as a work of fiction, was indeed actually an excerpt from a life. While offering a new writer constructive criticism on phrasing, tone and structure, I struggled to withhold my outrage at the violation the writer was willing to commit.
In the end, I decided to alert the writer and my publisher to the moral trespass I felt needed to be addressed, and included a note of caution against further public revelations, placed forth in the guise of fiction. It was, I alerted the writer, an incredible coincidence that the piece landed in my hands. I encouraged the writer to continue to submit to the magazine, taking the notes I had made regarding structure and integrity seriously for all future writing exercises, and wished said writer luck. I did not, of course, accept that submission, and the writer never submitted another story for publication during my time with the magazine.
Your daughter’s expose, quite different than a supposed work of fiction, may indeed have needed more work to be worthy of publication, and from all you’ve written it sounds as though there was actually nothing wrong with the strength of her research and evidence as put forth in her claims of plagiarism against the youth writer. Perhaps the strength of the expose was deemed to shame someone beyond correcting the record, and an editorial decision was made to go in another direction. That the youth writer in question was allowed to openly represent the organization, and even to recruit others, does indeed baffle the mind, and, yes, as your daughter has determined, besmirches the organization’s name.
You have raised quite a young woman. Hats off to you.
@Cheeringsection I hope your son feels better soon.
@carolinamom2boys Thanks a lot. I checked the admission site. One school clearly says they use self-reported score for evaluation. Another school is a little vague and seems like they will use self-reported score. The last school says official score must be submitted on Nov. 1st. It will be interesting to see the result because the last school is a kind of match-safety school.
@Waiting2exhale Thanks for your long comment. Actually, there is a genre called “I Novel” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Novel in Japan ), which is a kind of confessional literature. Because authors used to use real names in their lives and revealed many private stories of their lives, I Novel sometimes evoked a lot of anger from the people involved. Anyway, kids make mistakes and they need a lesson but it can be achieved without harsh punishment.
@NYDad113 I’m glad you checked. It’s so hard to keep everything straight. Each school is so different .
CB just sent out a note that score delivery might be delayed. They are going to refund rush fees as well.