@thinmints I live in the US, and my DS17 has decided to only apply to colleges in the UK/Ireland, so my eyes have been opened. But I have plenty of friends, and most of this board, with kids going through the rigors of applying here in the US. It just made me think of how this might be an analogous situation to my experience in the job recruiting world. (Yale, Emory, University of San Diego)
Sleep - this has always been big in our house. My kids were the ones asleep at 7pm when their kids were up until 9. Today, S17 gets 7 - 8 1/2 hours each night.
Siblings - D15 and S17 were very close before D15 left for college. Having D15 2000 miles away changes things. I know they text a lot… I wish they’d call each other more. Family weekend starts tomorrow. They are SOOO excited to see each other.
Essay Fatigue - the process has been slow. But he has a month + to go to get 2 or 3 earlies in. (In state app already submitted.). CA essay is on its 3rd “edit” by the GC. One school has 3 Supplemental Essays and one has 2. So there is A LOT more to do. These next 5 1/2 weeks are going to be interesting.
@MotherOfDragons is correct …no release of ACT to either the high school or university/college until the Writing component is available.
Regarding sending scores and matching up with applications arriving later, the school where S17 just submitted app on Sunday sent an email contact to establish a portal yesterday (Wed) and when he created his portal, the scores were already there. This was particularly nice since for that same school for S14, we had the scores sent after submitting the app, and it was a bit of a drag…ever so often having to recheck to see if/when that they showed up. This was way more satisfying. Bingo- they were there <:-P
@SincererLove, sorry if I came on too strong regarding the athletic recruitment, S17 is also a swimmer…and has many swim buds going through the process. For the swimming to be helpful at all in terms of Lottery schools, Admissions will have to have some sort of contact from their swim coach that the candidate will meaningfully contribute to the team in some way. Again, good luck. It definitely adds an entire additional work/ thought process to each school’s particular application.
Parenting Fail this am: I made D cry because I said I was disappointed she didn’t do what she said she would last night wrt apps. She said she “forgot” despite telling me at 10pm that she would (she went to bed at 1:30!).
I have a headache.
I sent ACT scores last weekend (ouch at $12 each!). I felt accomplished :))
For all of you whose totally together kids have already applied and/or have been accepted are these to schools with rolling admissions?
With two non-athletic kids, I’m only peripherally aware of the entire layer that being a recruited athletes adds to the whole decision making process.
My bff has a daughter who probably will be recruited, and I really hesitate to offer advice because, like I told her, if she leads her choices based on soccer it makes everything so different that I’m not sure which way to point her. If she leads with academics and what she wants to major in (she wants to be a physical therapist) that stuff I can do some research on.
But sports-wow, whole different ball game (yes, pun intended).
@CT1417 thanks - I think we will just stick with the rd and not risk a mess with the SCEA. I see no mention of other merit scholarships so it probably means no other private schools.
Sleep - my ds sleeps about 5-6 hours every night in the fall although he needs probably 7 or more and tries to get more on the weekend. He can’t start his hw until about 9:30p because of varsity soccer practice and then musical practice. He’s done this for four years though this year seems even more stressful with the weight/quantity of all the supplemental essays hanging over his head. Fortunately, he is an incredible writer so if he can find the actual time to write the essay, it does not take him too long (assuming he already has the idea). He is only applying to six schools which is a lot less than many of his peers but with the supplemental, honors college, merit scholarship essays thrown in, it is a BUNCH of essays. He is finding some reuse possible but less than he had hoped.
I want his senior year to last forever for him and for us but I also will be happy when November 1 comes and goes and he has the majority of his apps done. I wish you could bottle this stressed feeling and pull it out for them to smell the summer before their senior year. It was just impossible to get him motivated to write these essays when he had the actual time. Now he has no choice and the pressure is so much higher.
@MotherOfDragons the only thing I would tell your BFF about playing sports in college is find a school you are happy to be attending WITHOUT sports. Many college athletes do not compete in their sport for all 4 years due to injury, burnout, school and internships, etc. Happens a lot!
Also, Div 1 sports is really realy time consuming. D2 a teeny bit less, Div 3 not as bad but still a big commitment.
Not everyone gets a scholarship, and if you have a smart kid you might get more merit for that vs athletic scholarship. The coaches also love smart kids that can play sports vs dumb jock type. It’s easier for the coach to get them admitted and less babysitting.
Club sports and intramurals might be just as fun without all the hassle.
@Agentninetynine _ yes lot of schools have rolling admission policies. I guess mostly those with rankings below 50. My S got accepted to Pitt and they don’t even need a transcript (self report) or test score report (again self report). They verify the information when you decide to accept.
So I guess there’s no reason not to go to College Board site and send all scores now? I think out list is pretty darn near final.
Still debating sending dismal Spanish subject score. I mean, she’s a chem major, so…
@Agentninetynine one of our schooled was rolling the other 3 EA.
Sending test scores: We’re waiting to send test scores as applications are submitted, so that if she decides last minute not to write an essay for apply to one particular school, we’re not out the cash and bother.
Acceptances already in hand: My daughter’s already been accepted to Kansas and Alabama. I don’t know if they’re rolling admissions schools as such, but they both start reviewing applications fairly early, and well before the deadline—Kansas at the beginning of July, Alabama in time for acceptances to go out in early September. The one rolling admissions school she’s applying to states (buried deep in their website) that they start reviewing applications on 15 September, but they presumably wouldn’t finalize their decision on hers until her GC report goes in, which hasn’t happened yet. (Neither Kansas nor Alabama require GC reports or teacher recommendations, which speeds the whole thing up.)
Essay writing/nagging fatigue: We’ve gotten to the point of both in our house. Kinda-fortunately (for this, totally-unfortunately for everything else), my daughter has gotten a really bad case of the cold that’s going around right now (to the point of being home from school today and not doing any schoolwork, but rather sleeping and drinking lots of fluids—my orders, not her call), so we’re getting an enforced break from the madness. She had already written a few, and so her next essay doesn’t need to be in until (dfbdfb checks the Spreadsheet of Serendipity…) 1 November, so we’ve got a decent cushion at this point, though, in any event.
Anyone want to share interview stories? And if interviews are “optional” are your kids doing them? DS is basically required to do 3-4 but others seem optional. He’s not the most at ease and fluid conversationalist so I am thinking it may be better not to do optional ones if there are other ways to show interest etc. thanks!!
My recommendation is for him to do as many interviews as possible. Can you set up a mock interview and help him practice his answers? I’ve often wondered if “optional” really means mandatory. It certainly can’t hurt if the admin office bonds with your kid. Our oldest had several interviews. She started with her “safeties” so that if she was nervous, stakes weren’t that high. Once she had one finished, she relaxed about the others.
@CA1543 – I attended a session once where you could ask professional college counselors questions. I asked about optional interviews because my DS sounds like your DS. The answer was that a student should never turn down a chance to interview.
I was still not completely sure about it so I asked an Admissions Officer at a college fair. The AO was from a school offering optional interviews. After describing, in detail, my DS’s personality, she advised me that it might be best to turn down the interview. So there you have two perspectives!
Re rolling admissions: D is applying EA to all schools that offer it and has set a deadline of Oct. 15 for all schools regardless of whether it is rolling or not so I have not been keeping track of whether a school is rolling or EA for the ones she’s already heard back from or the rest.
Re athletic recruiting: I would not want to go down this path without the guidance of a coach that is tied in to the current recruiting process. D has played a number of sports competitively so we are still pretty tied in to a few sports. As for swimming, I recently learned that the game is changing. A swimmer D knows (Olympic trials level swimmer) committed last year although she is a 2017. When I told a friend who also has a 2017 D with similar cuts, she was shocked. They were playing under the old rules and waiting until the official date for formal recruiting. Even her D’s coach had to look into it. They quickly picked up the pace. As for soccer, recruiting gets earlier and earlier each year. Most kids are committed by sophomore year. We even know of a couple of 8th grade commits. Even the Ivies are recruiting earlier. We know of a current junior that committed to Harvard as a sophomore. If a senior isn’t committed by now, their options are going to be very slim. I would be careful offering advice to anyone based solely on website research.
I’m actually quite glad D didn’t pursue D1 college athletics. A colleague of mine recommended against it (btdt) as its a full time job and at some schools limits the student’s options for majors due to scheduling issues. Many drop out in college for a number of reasons.
@MotherOfDragons I am going to echo @RightCoaster here
The recruitment process is not for the faint of heart. First and foremost, the choice to go through it needs to come from the student athlete and not the parent. Colleges have zero interest in communicating at ALL with the parent and the vast majority of successful recruited athletes are aggressive and proactive with their target schools/coaches. Not every child is comfortable with that, and that’s ok but for D1 and D2 it is really really required. For a D3 school, it can be an admissions hook. One cannot expect ID camps and coaches showing up a game to be sufficient. Certain select clubs will do a good job of promoting their team and truly facilitating recruitment but the vast majority give at best a token effort. Kind of like the GC’s at most schools!
For soccer specifically she should get working on a video now. If she thinks she might want to do it at all, start the video footage capturing now. Consider paying someone to film the games. A compilation reel will be needed.
Soccer, in general, is not a big scholarship paying sport. It may offer some, but not a lot and there is a lot of competition in girls soccer. It depends on the school but the vast majority of student athletes will gladly pay full pay just to be able to play and the big dollars will be used up on a smaller group of the team.
As we went through it, at the end of the day, my SD (who was not the super proactive aggressive type) wanted the school more than she wanted to play. We are grateful to soccer for introducing her to the school, it came on her radar due to recruitment. But, at the end of the day she was not offered a spot and elected EA before she knew either way whether she should be offered one (though we were pretty sure she would not at that point) She is playing for her schools club team (as are many of her HS club team members, the others are playing D1, D2 and D3 levels) and absolutely loves it. Their club team is nationally ranked, she still gets the full college sports experience of playing other schools official teams, but without the pressure of the D1 sport, allowing her to focus on her studies and have a balanced college experience. At the club level she gets to play. All the time, every game. Were she on her school team of 36, she’d be sitting on the bench.
This is SO true! Of SD14’s close HS friends, one D2 athlete on scholarship tore her achilles right at the start of her freshman year and was red shirted but luckily was able to hang on to her scholarship. The D2 girl does NOT love her school and had a rather miserable first year but has stuck it out. Another D3 friend at a “little ivy” tore hers this summer, just had surgery and is out for her entire junior year season. She is an integral player on that team and I don’t know how it is going to go. Luckily it’s not scholarship dependent for her to continue at her school, which she loves, but it’s a brutal blow.
Another reality to understand is that it’s not a done deal till national signing day (which is really a few weeks I think). Another of SD’s teammates had a verbal commitment from a D1 school spring of her Junior year which is really common. Come fall, new coach at the college. New coach didn’t want her and she found herself scrambling for a spot, anywhere as well as completely revisiting her college list in fall of her senior year, basically starting over.
I will also echo on the early dates. The good players are committed verbally by spring their junior year. The girl playing for her little ivy and her twin brother who is playing for Harvard…Fall junior year. Sophomore year is critical for recruitment and summer before junior year tremendous, then followed by fall team play. If no activity by then…it really is unlikely.
TL;DR
Of the 6 girls from SD’s team that have gone on to play in college
2 achilles tears, each losing one season (D2, D3) one who had a scholarship at risk
1 who lost her spot and had to scramble for a school and a team (I don’t actually think she found one) (D1)
3 that are happily playing for their D1 schools club teams, have great grades and are injury free
@CA1543 regarding interviews…I have a friend who interviews for a lottery school. He talks about times when a parent(usually the mom) brings her child to the interview and then proceeds to select a table within earshot of the interview. This does not go over well at all.
If your child can drive, she should go alone to the interview. If she can’t drive, you should drive her there, but not go into the venue with her.
Good luck to everyone who has upcoming interviews!
I don’t believe D is doing any interviews. 5 schools in the UK who will accept/reject almost entirely based on test scores. 2 Cal States and 3 UC’s, also test score based. One private school that does not mention interviews that I’m aware of.
Regarding college athletics…It can be a full time job, especially at the Div I level. The NCAA restricts team practices to 20 hrs per week. However, that 20 hrs per week does not include the “voluntary” captain’s practices, the “voluntary” conditioning sessions, etc. Even in the Ivy League, which has additional league imposed time constraints, an athlete will devote 3 hours+ a day.
When my son was going through the process, he found that the time commitment varied quite a bit even at the Div III level. At some Div III schools, the school has a block of time set aside each day where no classes are offered. It is during this time that all of the athletes practice. (Some of the Ivies have this setup as well.) Obviously, this makes it much easier to major in engineering and those other majors that are “lab heavy” at these schools than at schools that hold mandatory practices in the afternoon that conflict with afternoon labs.
Regarding the timelines…It seems to vary a lot depending on the sport. My son’s sport is on one of the “later timelines”, and even most of these players have committed spring of junior year through the early fall of senior year.
Most coaches in his sport have moved on from the Class of 2017 and have already begun recruiting the Class of 2018.