@Agentninetynine No worries there. I have the pedigree to bring in the customers.
We budget about $1000-$1500 for college apps. That covers application fees, test scores being sent, and transcript fees. I have managed to teach them all how to write. That’s as good as it’s gonna get.
The moms I talked to said that their kids were good writers but didn’t understand how to make the essays reveal things about themselves that would be of interest to college adcoms rather than just about things around them. Like the “what world do you come from” type essay prompts, for example.
@srk2017 The www.collegeessayorganizer.com seems like it will be good about organizing essays into categories so that the kids can write fewer essays and then modify those for slightly different prompts or different lengths.
I think there are 11-12 schools on S’s list if you count the UCs as one application.
@Agentninetynine It’s not just your rural community schools, I assure you. I’ve been appalled at how little writing my D has been asked to do, even in AP classes. Forget about learning how to do real research and vetting sources. In spite of my resistance to the idea of becoming a helicopter parent, I have wound up stepping in to help my D acquire some pretty basic writing/researching skills way more often than I expected to have to.
From the outside before my D started 9th grade, I’d thought that our local HS was “good enough” - they’re certainly not one of the powerhouse schools you read about, but they manage to get a few kids into competitive colleges each year. Now, on the inside I’ve come to the realization that the kids who are getting into competitive colleges from our local HS are hooked (URM or recruited athlete) or are getting a lot of outside help either from very involved parents or tutors who are making up the difference. I guess the school is just not set up to cater to the few kids who are at that higher level.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Why do people think you don’t know the difference between FR and FT? I haven’t sent a kid to college yet, but I think that I have a handle on that one. And, I think you are supremely qualified as a consultant.
@itsgettingreal17 I like the admissions consulting idea. We have built-in regionality! I’m in (maybe I need a little more seasoning, but I can handle the Google Docs!)! We could call it Confident College Consultants (See what I did there?)
So, @MotherOfDragons I like your style with the Binder of Destiny. That sounds like my Google Docs of Destiny! I presented my initial prototype of my White Board of Destiny at dinner last night. Kept it very simple, really just listing all the schools on Ds list that are still in the running, in what I thought might be he order of preference. I added in two schools that we have talked little to nothing about. At the bottom of the board i put a bullet list (unordered) of schools that I think she may not apply to, but have been discussed. Most have competitive scholarships (like your tab, MOD) that she would have to do extra work to apply to.
Then, I waited for a reaction 
It was interesting to see her get out of her chair and take the marker and start to annotate the board. She crossed 3-4 off, and marked some as ‘maybes’. She wants to add a couple of the bullet list. We discussed a bit, and now I can go back (literally) to the drawing board, and add a bit of detail…and re-order. It was 10 well-spent minutes.
I will hire CCC to help us! How much do you charge to get the kid off the chair and rearranging options? I have a writing background and career, but after years of hearing me say, “I don’t care what your teacher says, a paragraph does not have to be exactly five sentences long to be a paragraph!” my kids don’t show me their writing assignments anymore.
we should register CCC.org ASAP 
Proceeds will be used for scholarships but no essay is required
@IABooks I hear you. My dad was an editor of a prominent newspaper in the midwest. He carried a red pen in his pocket, and used it when ‘reviewing’ my papers starting in the 1st grade. I hated it. It’s not ‘that’ he did it, it’s ‘how’ he did it. Once I got to 2nd grade or so, I never let him read another paper of mine. I became an engineer instead of a journalist like both my parents. It can have THAT much affect on a kid. It literally changed my life.
Can you tell I still hold a grudge? :))
This CCC business really motivated me to start thinking about DD’s essays for next year. You guys are way ahead of me. I can’t keep with all of your postings and I know DD has not thought about her college essays.
I will admit that I need help :).
We just went on a family hike and talked about essays. She has 2 great topics.
@2muchquan To answer the question about the scholarships, well, there is this poster who is apparently an expert on said school and she believes it isn’t possible. Even after PMing a link with ds’s name published as the winner on their website, I must be confused. 
@2muchquan , we are English as second language engineers! We can help with math, physics, chem homework, but don’t ask us about social studies or writing. D actually stopped asking DH for anything after 7th grade. DH can turn a question into 5 other similar yet different questions and 1 hour lecture!!!
So far no essay help or tutoring for D. Just returned 15 AP books to different libraries!! We are the ultimate cheapskate yet to be featured on TLC.
I may change my tune in a few months (when deadlines are approaching and no progress has been made), but the essays are one area where I assume my influence will be negligible, so I have not spent time/energy worrying about them. At one college visit last summer, an admissions counselor at a selective college strongly recommended that parents take a hands off approach to the essays. She described how she did this with her own son when he was applying to college not long ago. I will of course offer to read over anything DS writes if he asks me to (and I will recommend that he get SOMEONE to look at them, at least to check for grammar/spelling, etc.), and I’ll help in any other way that he asks (e.g., if he gets stuck and wants help coming up with ideas… but I sincerely doubt he’ll turn to me if this happens). Ultimately, I think the best way to encourage his own voice/personality come through is to let him do this himself. He’s always been pretty independent about his schoolwork and is a good writer, so it’s easier for me to take this approach with him than it might be with a different kid. I’m sure he’ll procrastinate, and my blood pressure will go up as the deadlines approach, but I am trying to accept that this is one aspect of the application process that’s mostly out of my hands.
@262mom You might want to have him read some examples like the Johns Hopkins posted “what worked” essays. Sometimes they just need an idea of how to express what they want to share.
@262mom I think that’s a healthy approach. D asks me to look over most of her papers (some journalistic genes still linger) but I usually leave them be, or at most tweak a word or two. She, too, will be mostly on her own, although in conferences I kinda sorta asked her current English teacher if she ‘helped’ any students with essays, and got her to offer to read D’s essay(s) if D would like. She’s also doing a LOR. That will be about it. D is never one to let schoolwork go until the last minute (other stuff, yes), so I anticipate she will work slowly and steadily over the summer on the essays.
@SincererLove, I admire your resourcefulness. I am returning the AP test books to only ONE library.
I am also an English as second language speaker. When the kids started reading, they would take the bed time story book and read it themselves instead of listening to me. :"> . It’s easy to say DD will not ask for my help in essays.
@2muchquan It’s so tricky! Even though my kids have heard me disagreeing with the writing “rules” they were taught, I did try to be gentle and a bit standoffish.
DD14 has started having me look over a few of her college essays and I am always careful not to correct too much or to try to rewrite but to encourage development and point out strong parts vs weak parts. She is starting to rediscover her love for writing that disappeared around middle school. I always assumed her change of heart had more to do with forging her own path than what she’s heard me say, but your story is making me wonder.
I’ve heard from DH that DS17 has an admissions essay already written from an assignment this year, and the topic is certainly strong. I’m anxious to read it but I will remember your dad and his red pen if I get the chance to look at it.
And little did I know that I could have done so much more with my Ivy League PhD! :-S
Actually, given selected bits of my academic history (undergrad degree from a state flagship, doctorate from an Ivy, tenured professor), I could probably make a killing as an application consultant. Of course, even typing this paragraph about it feels soul-sucking, so it might not be the optimal career field for me.
New offcial ACT book is coming out… I’m still debating to get or not.
It may not arrive in time for June 11st test.
Even if it does arrive, DS17 won’t touch it. Well, I can always save it for DS19. :))
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-official-act-prep-guide-2016-2017-act/1122727661?ean=9781119225416#productInfoTabs