Happy CA Day to all my new friends!
Third Application in this am. Clemson! Now one to go-UNC, this one will take more time! Good luck to everyone with the CA!
@jedwards70 I like your schedule for the week. S17 gets wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I told him he would be back at it on Thursday. He wasn’t sure 2 days would be enough time and I told him we would assess how he was doing. I’ll be spending 2 days taking care of him. I’m sure he’ll be ready to get rid of me after 2 days of togetherness. 
@2muchquan It will be fine. She’s going to hand the steering wheel back over to you in a week. It’s great that she wants to own the process. Then they realize we are just personal assistants keeping all their admin info straight. We are keepers of the spreadsheet.
You have all been so busy this morning. I’m still working on my coffee.
^not me. I’ll join you in a cup. 
Popping in form my vacation with spotty cell service.
Welcome @stlarenas
**QOTY(yesterday) swag ** no swag in my house. She feels like it’s a jinx and also if she gets rejected then it will be a bitter reminder.
My DD said today is the day she will start her essay. Finally! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.
How are some kids submitting applications if they need recommendations from teachers? My D hasn’t even asked her teachers yet so she wouldn’t be able to submit it (or are you submitting it with a pending request from teacher?)
All of the schools my D is applying to are on the COA except Tulane which is CA or their own app. Not sure if she should fill out the CA just for Tulane or their own app. Anyone have this issue with apps?
@greey8 If Tulane is the only school I would do their own app.
My D was applying to Pitt and the conditional pharmacy admission and knew she had to apply early (50 spots given out to qualified applicants until gone), so she asked her teachers for LOR after junior year and they sent LOR directly to the school by email.
@greeny8 Two of my S17’s schools are big state universities that don’t require LsOR.
Funny reading about all the kids believing in jinxes!
@greeny8 We have different situation. No COA apps. In your situation I would do CA in case you decide on additional schools. Some would not require ANY extra work, and maybe not $ either. If you are absolutely positive on your list, I’d do TU’s app.
@itsgettingreal17 Yes, I contacted The Language Flagship directly. Their response was to contact the critical language flagships directly about the possibility of scholarships. The depts in turn said to contact admissions bc their scholarships were only for study abroad. Basically, it was wasted time.
@greeny8 D has only submitted the Pitt app because it requires no LORs. She will submit LSU as soon as her guidance counselor fixes her transcript (should be today). The rest, we are waiting for NMSF announcement. She made informal LOR ask at the end of junior year and will send in formal request (teachers wanted a copy of her resume and info about a certain project she did for one) this week at the latest.
@jedwards70 for president!
(Y’all remember the old Bloom County-based bumper sticker, “Don’t blame me, I voted for Bill & Opus”? I’m thinking of bringing it back.)
@greeny8 Not sure if we have done it right,but only one of my D’s app’s has needed LOR’s and she filled out a form for the school. The app then had a spot to e-mail the teachers. My d asked her teachers last year and then sent them a follow-up e-mail last week. Her GC told us that the LOR’s go out with the transcripts and they do not go out until all is completed. I am sending her into school today to bug the guidance office. They are going to hate us by the end of this process!
Our guidance office is closed for the summer. I’m surprised how many people have access!
QTOD: Swag?
We generally purchase some swag for the places we visit. D17, this year’s applicant, usually selects the least because she’s inherited her father’s, umm, uh, parsimonious nature. But generally we get a few of the simpler t-shirts and/or sweatshirts. I don’t mind wearing them and sometimes enjoy the conversations they generate. “Does one of your sons play LAX at Virginia?” “Nope, just visited. Great looking campus though. How cool would it be to live on the lawn?”
Possibly controversial QOTD: What are the unwritten rules of the admissions process?
Since it is August 1, the CA is open, and @RightCoaster declared the games open in post #12058, I thought I would ask about the unwritten rules of the application process. In a few posts, I have seen comments about sending additional materials that aren’t requested in some of the applications that I’ve seen. For S '14, he never sent a thing that wasn’t explicitly required in the application. In fact, if things were optional, he generally didn’t do them either. It turned out alright, but I wonder if his highest reaches might have been more successful?
For example, not that I enjoy reading “the ivy coach”, but the blog does seem to have an interesting view about some of these unwritten rules. “No admissions are need blind”, “Paid for summer programs are worse than nothing”, etc. Again, I’m not sure I agree with the blog, and I feel left out of the party a bit, but it is generally good to read an author with whom you don’t agree.
Many people say that you must fill out every line in the activities list. Yet most AO’s say don’t bother with stuff that’s not important to you. Now, I guess it is possible that the admission superstars have something “big” on every line, but if 9 out 10 lines are filled out, does the application stand out in the wrong way?
Other examples. Not many applications ask for a separate resume, but it seems a lot of parents that I talk to always send one for their child. Extra recommendation letters also seem to be a big thing. I’ve had many neighbors offer to write one for D’17 to which I just smile and nod, “The application only asks for two.” “Yeah, I know but you really want to stand out”
There is some ambiguity in this process. For example, in the Vanderbilt road show information session D’17 and I attended yesterday, the AO had the students raise “whatever hand you are comfortable with” and “swear to not send more than the two academic teachers LOR and the counselor’s LOR”. And, in the very next sentence, "if you do send an additional, make sure it is from someone who knows you well and not just a Vanderbilt alum? WTF?
I’ve always loved the UVA admission blog/process. The blogger there, @Dean J, always shows a picture of the box where extra information sent would be placed on the way to the trash. It doesn’t look like D’17 will apply there, but Dean J does set an example for transparency (and compassion for students enduring this process.) Pitt seems to moving this direction too.
TL;DR recap.
What is August without angst?
What are the unwritten rules of the process?
@Dave_N I have a lot of respect for Dean J and I suggest that anyone applying to UVA follow her on twitter. She is very attentive to twitter questions and comments. We are residents of Virginia but UVA is deemed too large by my small school loving children so none of them have applied there but I still follow Dean J!
I will say that I am a rules follower by nature and I wouldn’t add or send anything additional unless it optional. William and Mary used to have an optional additional one sheet submission. My S14 sent in some poems he had written on that form but never sent anything additional to any other schools. I would be interested in other responses!
" I know she will not wear some of the stuff once decision time comes."
@jeepgirl - I guess that’s the difference between girls and guys. DS13 goes to Georgia Tech however he doesn’t really care what he wears so there are times that he will be wearing the Tee shirt that UA or Michigan Tech sent years ago… and back when it snowed here when he was a freshman he got out the red and white scarf that University of Indiana sent…
D17 would really like to get a LOR from her club swim coach. She’s been D’s coach since she was 5 and D now works with her as an assistant coach and swim instructor. Aside from family, i dont think anyone lnows her better. She’s spent 12 hours a week with her for 12 years. Is it worth dropping an academic reference or adding it?
I think the unwritten rules depend on types of school.
Many large state schools want exactly what they ask for and nothing else. And they really mean nothing else because any additional information will just be dropped on the floor. Don’t send them letters of rec or a personal essay if they don’t ask for one. This is not all public schools, but a certain class of them. (For example Cal State Schools.) For these schools schools following directions exactly is an important part of the game. You can be denied for filling out the information incorrectly.
On the other hand for a lot of private schools, anything you can add to your application that strength’s it can be helpful. Another letter of rec, a supplemental essay, extra SAT Subject tests. Just keep them ON TOPIC. Not sure why a letter of rec from a neighbor would be helpful for a college application.
What really did help DD12. If a rep from the university is visiting your school. Attend their talk even if you have already visited, and talk with the representative. This is often the person who will be reviewing your application. My DD (who isn’t good at this kind of thing) sweet talked her way into one private school partly because she was the ONLY one who shows up at the visit. It was already on her apply list, but we hadn’t yet visited.
@MichiganGeorgia I don’t think it’s a boy vs. girl thing. D17 doesn’t seem to link a shirt logo to attending a certain college, just like she doesn’t only wear Nike and will probably wear her HS Math Team t-shirt when she goes to college. As long as she doesn’t hate the colors, she’s probably gonna get a t-shirt.