@eandesmom Alabama is far for us as well, but not like for you. It is a 15 hour drive.
We finally paid the $70 to Rutgers, so we can officially claim that we are done with 1 app 
@Ghibelline2017 Common App has a video about getting LORs sent. The video is really helpful–shows step by step how to go about it.
@eandesmom Yes, she has finalized her list. She will be applying to 8. I wish there are more academically match schools but we can only afford reach schools and in-state schools. We shall see.
We were looking at Common App just now to add recommenders’ names and emails. I was surprised we couldn’t do that! For my D13, we could do that through Common App but now it says if your school is a Naviance school, you have to talk to your counselor to add the recommenders.
I thought I would breeze through Common App because I’ve done it before. I totally forgot they changed the format during the last four years.
QOTD:
Applications complete:1 (free waiver if it got in back in July!)
Acceptances:1
Applications to go: 3-4 - but at least 3 of those are started
LORs: 1 teacher asked, but she tends to need multiple reminders, so hopefully will get it eventually. At this point, nothing that requires them, but assuming D will need for scholarships
Essays: Will need for scholarships & honors colleges admissions, but nothing started yet
Interviews: None required/requested yet.
Auditions Scheduled: Will eventually get there
Testing: Done
Visits: Have done 2 of 5 colleges. Attending 2 sessions at high school for another 2. The one we haven’t done is the one she’s already accepted to. Figure we will see when we go for a scholarship competition
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 5 for the most part. More concerned with her getting her Gold Award paperwork done right now. Hopefully apps will be done within a couple of weeks. Mainly none of the colleges on her list are heavy on essays!
DS/DD anxiety level: 2 - she is pretty even keeled & doesn’t tend to be a worrywart. Plus it helps that she likes the safety & we know we can afford it with the automatic scholarships. Everything else would be bonus.
Weird LOR: teachers at HS will write LOR, pdf it onto letterhead & then email directly to D or parent - not the school or scholarship organization. My S15 had the same thing & I thought it was just maybe that one teacher, but apparently that is the SOP.
@Ghibelline2017 The recommenders (guidance counselor, teachers, any others) receive an email inviting them to the process as soon as their info is submitted on the CA. D “invited” me; I received the email almost immediately.
Our school uses Naviance. GC emailed instructions to everyone on how to request LOR. In the instruction, it said do not add any recommenders in CA, use a school form instead…I am still pretty confused about how this process works. But D seems to be very confident and doesn’t want to educate me further on how it supposed to work.
@Ghibelline2017 The college counselors met with the seniors and had them log into naviance. Logged into naviance, they had them link their naviance account to their CA. They told the students not to add recommenders through CA and that they would coordinate with the teachers to upload the LOR. Not much other information.
QOTD: Progress report
Applications: 0
Acceptances: turns out D was accepted to Ole Miss via the Summer College application :))
Applications to go: Ole Miss Special Programs, 3-5 universities, more special programs/scholarships
Common App: essay is on draft three (she says it and the other biggie will be complete by Friday)
Other essays: 2 done, 18 to go (100-800 words) with some in draft form
LORs: Two teachers and one “other” invited (she needs the “other”, MUN advisor, for some specific apps)
Interviews: hopefully some scholarship interviews in the future; she was invited to a “Scholars Dinner” in a couple weeks by a school she’s quite interested in (I told her to treat it like a group interview.)
Homeschool-specific stuff: CA/2 other apps fill-ins are done, course descriptions are done, the school profile is done, the transcript is done; still to do are the general counselor rec and two targeted LoRs for two special applications
Testing: all done :D/
Visits: 1 in October, 2 others in November or January/February (she wants to visit them when the weather is “ugly” lol)
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): varies from 1 to 8 in the middle of the night :((
DD anxiety level: varies from 1 to 5, I’d say
Jumping in here today for first time…
QOTD: Progress report anyone?
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 2/0/2
Common App: Complete except for essay - not required at two of the four schools, should be done for the others early this week.
LORs: Counselor and 1 Teacher, 1 “other” invited
Essays: Has chosen topic from Common App - good writer, this is low on the stress list. Supplemental for one school to write.
Interviews: None required
Testing: Done. September ACT scores came back this week, S says he’s finished
Visits: Top two choices have been visited. Other two are free apps that he’s doing just to see what the financials look like, then will decide whether to visit.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 5 now that the Common App is done except for the essays
DS/DD anxiety level: 5 - down from probably an 11 two weeks ago
@tworingcircus …welcome to our circus lol!
Progress? What Progress? in SlackerVille :-??
OK. progress limited to below.
Testing: Done (seriously started December of Junior year, more tests during January, April, May, June - done in ** June **!)
Interviews: 2 Done in September at Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve. Probably will do 3 more with local almuni after (if) applications get submitted.
Visits: Done. 11 schools visited. 8 schools during spring break, 1 in July, 2 in September. A few in-state schools visited before junior year.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): at times 9, after meditation (or should it be medication?) 3.
DS anxiety level: 0 - “there is always mcdonald.” - mom: sorry mcdonald workers
Hi @tworingcircus Love the user name
QQTD Since I’ve posted I found out S17 is further along that I thought. Nothing huge like applications submitted but that wasn’t the plan so it’s not big deal. But he does have the common application opened and partly filled in, the Oregon schools applications open. Not sure where he stands on his UC app.
Quick question:
Working on the individual schools parts of the common app today. #1 school does have an honors college which for obvious reasons she’d be interested in, except her SAT falls short of their “requirements”.
she’s scheduled for the Oct 1 sitting. its a stretch to think she’d make their number.
i have no idea how set in stone that one criteria is or if there is room for flexibility on their end. i usually *assume *that if they ask for XXXX, then thats what they want…but in this case she’s interested in one of the portfolio based schools (DONE! WOOOHOO!!) and well, historically those types of programs tend to value other things than straight stats if that makes sense. idk how that impacts the Honors College–its all one, not major specific if that matters.
should i have her check interest and write the short essay on the off chance that the number is flexible or should we just say not interested? we know its a reach, but stranger things have happened…i’d hate to miss the opportunity on that miniscule chance, but i also hate to make her write another essay needlessly. (i’d also hate to have her look like a jerk who cant follow instructions/rules too!!!)
thoughts?
@kac425 I’d email the school and ask if flexible. Some are, some aren’t. Some allow for a special petition.
Love seeing all the updates.
QOTD
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 1/1/11ish (the list gets smaller every week)
Common App: Complete, finalized the CA essay on Friday
LORs: Counselor/2 Teachers/Other - requested, none done (include the counselor one, which as a homeschooler is from me and I haven’t started!)
Essays: 4-6 others to go
Interviews: 1 scheduled, not planning to do any others
Testing: S is talking about signing up for the Nov SATII because his science score is low. I think he should skip it, so he is going to wait until the deadline to decide
Visits: UMD CP in October, Stevens Inst. in Nov, maybe one more
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 3
DS/DD anxiety level: 5 - he feels less anxious now that the CA essay is done and it turned out much better than he thought it would
@HiToWaMom I would bet yours is set up exactly the same way ours is. You can’t add LOR’s in the CA, it will actually lock it up! What you have to do is waive FERPA in the CA and then you can add the LOR’s by school in Naviance as long as you’ve moved them into the “applying” category first. Our schools was adamant that the teachers had to be asked live before you could do that.
** QOTD **
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 0/0/4-5
Common App: Close to completed. Essay almost finalized accd to his GC.
LORs: Counselor and 2 Teacher’s invited via Naviance. One mentor asked outside of Naviance.
Essays: As of now have ~3 individual supplements to finish. Then will also have 3 honors college apps.
Interviews: None we think.
Testing: Done as of June 2016 <:-P
Visits: 2-4 schools during spring break to sit in on regular and honors classes.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 5. I know he will get into the schools, I just wishe he would finish the available apps!
DS/DD anxiety level: 1. He is a very type “B” kid.
QOTD:
Applications complete:1 of 9. Some progress on others. She is very close to being able to submit 2-3 more.
Acceptances: zero so far but state U is auto-admit for her stats.
LORs: Teachers contacted and on board. D has provided the information they requested.
Essays: CA is done. One supplement has just been completed. There are a total of 4 or 5 for admissions but there will be more for scholarship/honors program consideration.
Interviews: Three were completed on campus over the summer. One local alumni interview completed yesterday. Two others requested but no response as yet. The remainder don’t require/offer them.
Testing: Done!!! One SAT I, one ACT, and one set of SAT subject tests between May and September of this year. Just ordered test scores to be sent to all schools.
Arts supplement/Audition: She’s going to complete this later today!
Visits: She has visited 7 of 9. The other two will wait until after acceptances come out.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): Varies day by day between 5-8
D anxiety level: About the same. But it has more to do with her homework load than anything else.