In my day to get the full ride NMS Willamette required binding ED. So application was super easy
Haha yes. I was picking the UC that “nobody but ag students” wanted, so I barely remember what I put for my 2nd and 3rd choices. It didnt occur to me that I wouldnt get in.
Great write up @carachel2 Thank you. Copied and pasted into my Bama notes! 
@Mommertons That’s great that your D found a great fit.
@carachel2 - Thanks for your detailed visit report. While it’s not what my kid is looking for, I am helping a friend and fellow mom with her college search and Alabama could be a very good fit for her daughter. @Mommertons, I look forward to hearing more about your visits and I’m glad your daughter liked Oklahoma so much.
Regarding helping others, so far not a problem as the schools that interest my daughter are completely off the radar for most people we know. Ohio? Minnesota? Why??? Small schools? Huh??? Many blank stares. Her best friends want either large state schools full of school spirit and Greek life or very STEM/engineering oriented places like Harvey Mudd, or Ivies/top 20 places. A few of her friends will be applying to Wash U but they found their way there on their own.
@STEM2017 – someone else has your profile pix on CC and it confuses me whenever I stumble across it!
No college news to add other than to say: no essay or CA work produced yet. Day one of three day weekend…hoping for something, but now that school has resumed, the distraction of homework is there.
@mamaedefamilia you are welcome! I will be honest and admit it was not ever on our radar and it was not what she was looking for. In her dream world, a school in Boston would magically be as affordable as our in-state budget. But it is not and we have had to change our focus a bit and check our preconceived notions at the door and focus on solid education that is affordable and a school where she wants to be.
@ct1417 Yes I saw that guy. I think he might have used it first but I’m sticking with it for now. My avatar says a thousand words.
QOTD - Helping others: I’ve shared info from CC about things like the MCA score that Calpoly SLO uses. There’s a lot of misinformation among parents here about how Calpoly selects students. Many say that they’ve been told that major-related ECs are very important, when it’s really mainly based on the MCA score for a particular major. And, parents and kids don’t know about the score components that value extra classes in several subjects. So, I’ve pointed people who mention Calpoly to the MCA score thread.
Other than that, it’s not really the culture here, at least among parents I think, to talk about colleges being applied to beyond the UC system and the CSU system. I’ve talked with a couple parents from the Class of 2016 about things like that. We have Back-to-School nights next week, so there will probably be more college talk there. I skipped our College Night, because I’ve attended that before and got no useful information.
Recommendations in Naviance: I just noticed that the message in Naviance that said “Coming Soon! Updated Letters of Recommendation Experience” is gone and there is a link to a page that says it will show your letter of recommendation requests. The “Add Request” button opens a page that lets you select a teacher and check boxes on your “schools I’m applying to list” plus a comment field to add a personal note to the teacher.
Popping in for some distraction after D17’s jaw surgery. The waiting during was difficult (5 plus hours of surgery plus pre and post op stuff) but the recovery has been pretty brutal. One of the hardest things I’ve done as a parent. On the bright side, maybe it will be good essay fodder!
On our way to our out-of-state surgery we detoured to visit Western Washington University. It was a cloudy cold day, but we came away very impressed. We stopped in unannounced after the tour to see the honors program headquarters and the director could not have been nicer or more gracious. He took time to speak with us about the program and give us a personal tour of the honors dorm, which was MUCH nicer than the one they showed on the regular tour. That one was tiny and dark, and the door and window opened directly to the outside elevated concrete walkway. Access to the walkway was restricted by a locked gate, but I wasn’t a fan of that arrangement in general.
All in all–she liked it and it is affordable for us. I’ve heard glowing reports from pretty much everyone I’ve spoken with, including one of her current nurses here at the hospital. So we will def plan to apply soon (yay!). But first she has to start feeling well enough to even begin thinking about colleges again. That’s off the table for at least the next few days.
Regarding Helping Others - My D and I have always been open to helping others with info and when I found scholarships or other things that I would email to D she would forward them to her 2 best friends until recently. One of her friends has a parent that works at Penn and this friend was able to have a counseling session with a Penn AO. The conversation turned to applying to the same schools as her friends and this friend mentioned how on paper she and my D were similar (URMs, high stats, similar ECs, etc) and the AO advised that maybe they should try to apply to different schools EA/ED.
Hmmm.
Wow - I can’t believe how far along many of you are in the process! I just barely put together a minimal spreadsheet with schools, due dates for admissions and/or merit consideration, indicating whether or not there are separate scholarships that need separate applications.
D has been working diligently but piecemeal on her essays: she has several incarnations of a CA essay and some approximations of a couple of the UC essays. She has also done a few of the many school supplements, and has been working on some scholarship essays, fly-in programs, emailing admissions reps, recommenders, etc., etc.
As for sharing of information, we keep a few things close to the chest and freely share others. When I know of specific programs and scholarships that are right up the alley for some of my friends’ kids or some kids at D’s school, I make it a point to let the parents know about them (esp. when our kids are not in direct competition!). Moreover, I am more likely to share our intentions regarding reachy-reach schools (i.e., which ivy or ivy-level schools will likely get the SCEA/REA nod), as well as information about schools with stats-based merit aid offerings and LACs with automatic consideration for merit. As for school-specific and outside scholarships that D. is applying for that require nominations and/or separate applications, I don’t share quite as readily.
On the subject of helping others–very ironic that I just walked into the house to find D almost in a tirade about a friend of hers who is a great kid, has amazing ECs and a solid rank and GPA but who for some reason just can’t or won’t put in some consistent time prepping for the next SAT. D was a little worked up about it and I said look…that was me earlier this year. People don’t want to hear it that it takes work and it is SO frustrating!
I’ve given a few talks and I will help people IF they ask. Otherwise I’ve found people quickly think I am annoying.
@picklesarenice Best wishes for an uncomplicated recovery. Sounds like “easy” may not be possible, but at least as easy as possible. Hugs!
@STEM2017 I wouldn’t say your avatar says a thousand words, more like “Mr. Blutarsky, zero…point…zero.” “Sevens years of college down the drain.”
@Ynotgo I noticed the same thing in our Naviance today! It was a bit of a relief actually to see it “fixed”. Now we need to decide which teacher he is asking for what school but it is nice to see the functionality is actually there. S17 will be doing the asks this week and linking everyone up next weekend, I was a bit worried about a big gap in time before the ask and the Naviance sync and my impression was the main CC was concerned as well and his poor GC is new and seems lost. Not sure how much help she will be with a kid targeting 100% EA!
@youcee :)) :)) :)) =)) =)) =))
Well that seemed to take forever!
Current totals:
7 applications submitted in full (on her part)
3 applications submitted but missing supplements (OSU Eminence app not yet available,1 more essay needed for Ole Miss, 1 essay needed for UGA scholarship app)
5 applications to go, some closer to being done than others. D expects to submit 3 of these by Monday night.
As someone already said, the LOR section on Common App is now open. Both of D’s letters are complete, so she will get those sent. I caution everyone to look at each school’s requirements re: LOR’s rather than what appears in Naviance, as Naviance is not showing the correct number of required/allowed, at least for D’s schools.
D decided to add IUB to replace OU (thanks @WhereIsMyKindle). I’m still not thrilled with the scholarship renewal requirement, but D wants the Arabic flagship.
Progress!
@itsgettingreal17 I noticed that as well on the number of LOR’s allowed however in our case it was for a non Common App school so I assumed that was the disconnect.
I’d also suggest folks check dates in Naviance versus Common App or school posted dates/deadlines. We have 2 EA schools that this is their first EA year and neither show a date at all for EA although it does allow S to choose EA as the application type. For those 2 schools I altered our CC as both are common schools for kids in our HS to apply to and she is looking into why it’s not updated as that will impact a lot of kids if they choose to use it (or even know it’s available!).
That is some SERIOUS application progress. Impressive!
As for sharing information. I don’t really share much of the information I got on here. But I do share experiences I’ve had in in doing a college search. What schools we have liked, where I think they should look. Recommended just last night to several parents of juniors to do the local college tour is a good way to start. Tried to get some parents to think outside the local Community College. Not that the local CC isn’t a good option, but I get the sense some parents just feel so overwhelmed by the application system & discouraged by what they hear in the news about their child’s chances they don’t even try. Many of these parents are only thinking of 1-3 local schools.