@happymochi so are you saying that he had different common app essays for different schools, or that he entered the wrong supplemental essay?
LKnomad: Iâm seeing this thing a bit differently than others, I think.
The request is one which comes after someone found themselves interested in the rest of your sonâs application and credentials, and may be going to bat for him with the rest of the committee, some members of which think there is a high-achieving âwhinerâ on board.
The request may be one which flies in the face of the context (absence of evidence/evidence of absence), but seeks to support the soundness of the reasons he wrote about the event (events beyond our control/rising through adversity/hard work which amounted to a failure through no fault of his own).
Iâm of the mindset that 1)because you can show a trail of supporting documents/evidence which existed in that same time frame, and 2)because the request is one which says âplease show me moreâ, someone is looking for a reason to say âyesâ to your son. So Iâm with @mysonsdad on this one.
Epiphany here (even before Jan. 6th!)!
S16 chose to opt out of his 2 lottery school apps tonightâŠdeclaring himself done with applications! His most recent view is that he can go to several schools on his âalready accepted listâ and be very happy (and also financially solvent at several as well)âŠand he can apply to those lottery colleges for graduate school! WoohooâŠnow I can finally nag him about finishing those scholarship apps, honors college apps, etcâŠthat were on the âback burnerâ until his last applications were completed! A great weight has liftedâŠ
@LKnomad - no, he has one common app essay, but the wrong CA prompt (out of the 5 possible prompts) is showing on the app. We just checked the app he submitted for another school before this fave school, and the right prompt is displayed on that app. Double Ugh.
@carolinamom2boys, just a few more weeks and all we have to do is wait and fret.
@happymochi, contact the admissions office. Whatâs the worst that can happen at this point? They are pretty up understanding that mistakes occur.
Thank you @fretfulmother @Mysonsdad - he just sent an email to the admissions office explaining the glitch.
On a brighter note, he submitted another app tonight!
Iâve been checking the thread religiously. Havenât had much to add to the great discussion(s) going on, so I havenât posted much.
It is painful to read the trials and tribulations that many are currently going through. Channeling my inner Bill Clinton, even though my son is done âI feel your pain.â Our experience with S14 left scars that have not yet healed. @Ballerina016 has it right â itâs like going through an eternity of labor and then needing to muster the wherewithal to push out those final apps. And you donât even get the fun of conception.
The four of us are off tomorrow for a tropical vacation. Because swimming in college is a winter sport it turns out that S16 will get less than a week at home on winter break next year before he has to return to campus to practice. So this year is our last for while where both kids are off simultaneously long enough for us to take a trip. Weâll have internet access (we think), so I should be able to follow the thread. Would feel lost without it.
Did you see that residents of some states should get a passport to fly within the country!? Itâs because those states havenât based their state ID or driverâs licences on original birth certificates. Itâs kind of a mess nation-wide except for those states that have complied. So, our family now needs passports just in case. We needed them anyway, but now itâs urgent.
I am so glad that the passport issue is not an issue at all. I guess I should pull those out and see when they do expire. Enjoy your travels everyone!
Sorry to hear that there are yet more essays to be written @carolinamom2boys and anyone else still grinding through the process. I know the results will be amazing when your DC look back on all this. Just hang in there a bit longer.
I have been gathering info in preparation for FAFSA filing. May that process go smoothly for all and yield results that make choices easier.
We actually updated D13âs passport over the break. It turned into a 4 hour procedure, but not terribly painful. We normally fly to leave the state, but if we were to drive (say, the zombie apocalypse comes 
) weâd need passports for the Canadian bit of the trip, so itâs good to keep them current.
Overheard an interesting conversation between two former classmates who happened to have an unexpected reunion right there in the passport line. They had graduated in '14, and one went to Columbia and one to Montana State. The Columbia student ended up burning out after last spring semester, took this semester off, and was getting ready to enroll at our local university. MSU guy was quite happy at college, though he described his typical day as âSki, drink, ski, nap, repeat.â That is a direct quote. 
Since two of D16âs top choices (not the only two) at the moment are Princeton and MSU, we found ourselves contemplating the possibilities. Burnout? Party? What to choose? haha
We do know another MSU student, a rock climber, who describes her typical day as the more reasonable âStudy, climb, study, sleep, repeat.â 
Interesting that you mention the HS classmate âreunionâ. DS just commented yesterday that he had witnessed something similar and that was what made it real to him that âIâm not going to see these people everyday anymore.â This process may feel long and unnecessarily drawn out to us, but it just may be the pace our DC need to make the mental and physical transition.
@GoodGrief16, @Cheeringsection, I read something the other day I found interesting. It said something along the lines of, when students go to a college where their stats are better than the average student, those students are more successful in life because they maintain the confidence they had in the academics. It also stated something along the lines of, when students get into their reach schools they struggle and lose that confidence. This is the gist of the article.
@Mysonsdad - can you read another article that will say our kids will be ok even if they attend a Reach school? Now you have me scared.
@Mysonsdad sounds like an interesting article. I am not a supporter of the philosophy that one must always choose the âbestâ college one gets into assuming that best is defined by 3rd parties. IMHO each student must define best for themselves. I am guessing the article may be making a similar point by saying not to define best by stats alone.
Sorry about all of the application difficulties. What a pain! Hope everything gets resolved soon.
@Mysonsdad Do you have a link to that article? My D will be going to one of her reach schools and I warned her about the difficulty of academics there- especially for her intended major. The school was an absolute fit for her though and it quickly became her dream school. To her, it was the best in what she wanted in a school so I didnât try to influence her in another direction.
D16 has been playing the âthis might be the last time we can do thisâ card with her HS friends a lot lately. As crazy and wonderful and frustrating as this year has been for us as parents, our DC are going through an array of things that many of us can or might only understand through memories of our own time as bright eyed and anxiously ambitious teens. Hugs to all with the app difficulties and bang your head moments, this too shall pass and freshman orientation will be here all too soon (-:
@Skates76 Oh I understand, my D and her 3 close friends had that epiphany last year. Attended high school football games for the last time, for Halloween dance they got matching costumes, attended semiformal and Prom for the last time together, they enjoyed every minute of it, spent a lot of time in the summer together, knowing that it would end soon. But new exciting times were awaiting and they got together TG break and Xmas break as often as they could. My D also made a few good friends on her dorm floor and they do stuff together.
There were some very stressful times at end of senior year with graduation project, finals, AP exams, graduation, packing for college, etc but soon it is a distant memory.
Also itâs difficult for the parents once they are away at college, wanting to be connected, but trying not to be too intrusive.
I would text D occasionally (had class schedule so tried not to during classes) and she would reply when she could.
But that gave me only a tiny glimpse into her new life. When she came home for the first time I ended up peppering her with questions because I was so hungry for info.
We are both learning and itâs getting easier.
@mommdc Absolutely agree. The funny thing is that D16 has spent most of this year clamoring for HS to be over and for her college years to arrive. I really do think that she will enjoy that next stage immensely while keeping her closest friends from HS at least through most of college. Socially she has a very tight-knit group of friends in HS, and since the vast majority of them are high achievers it has definitely benefitted her academically and they are just great kids no matter their grades and ambitions, but she had been feeling a bit trapped by a good thing in a way and now vacillates back and forth over the comfort of that group and place and the opportunities to expand her world and herself that will start in earnest next fall.