Thank you, @longwood, @WhereIsMyKindle for the info. I found the following video that explains the process for the recommenders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUI3XUpwRzM
Our school does NOT have Naviance, so everything will be handled via CA. It looks like the recommender does everything just once, if filling in the info online. Only if they chose to do the PDF version via mail, they will have to do it multiple times and send of manually to however many schools.
Yes, just once online @Ghibelline2017
Applications complete: 1
Applications complete except for LoR(s) & GC report: 0
Applications still requiring essay-writing: 10+
Acceptances: 1
Visits remaining : what visits, we never visited any colleges 
QOTD
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 7/1/1
Common App: Complete except scholarship supplements for one college
LORs: School counselor and teacher invited through Common App. Additional lined up for honors apps if needed
Essays: Honors and scholarship essays if needed after acceptance
Interviews: NA
Testing: Guess S needs to retake the SAT in Nov for NM. He thought he was done after the March SAT
Visits: 6 on the list he hadn’t visited. Will try to hit one or two the last week of October. All others will wait until accepted student days
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 4. I’m confident but like to cross things off a list
DS/DD anxiety level: 4. He’s also confident about getting in and normally gets things done early, but I think not having a final answer on NM and not having found “the” dream school is semi paralyzing him.
It’s far for us as well—a 69 hour drive. 
@thermom Definitely look at each school in a little more detail not just for size but procedures too. How are dining halls organized for example. My son goes to UChicago and they generally eat in the same 1 dining hall all the time and they have 2 tables for each “house” of kids. That way there is always somewhere to sit where you feel welcome. Registration is done through the advisor so there is lots of hand holding when needed and they can choose smaller sections. My son has one subject he is weak in and he was able to pick a class section with only 6 people (the other had 20) so he would get lots of individual attention. For super small engineering schools we looked at Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Olin, and Rose-Hulman. The fact that they are all private schools I think was a positive thing in less big bureaucratic crowded situations.
@RightCoaster I’ve definitely noticed that our Naviance has some schools where the graphs are really skewed. A few on the really high side like Case Western where only a few seem to apply and go but it’s very high stats kids so someone looking at that graph would think you need similar stats to MIT to get in. A few on the very low side where I would presume some kids who were hooked got in despite lower than average scores and gpa. We do know several kids who were the only red x in a sea of green in that upper quadrant though so you can never be totally sure. Some schools/counselors have good relationships with admissions too and your school may do better on average at certain schools than others. Our school has a weird pattern where of the top 10 schools some we have multiple kids get in every year and others none in the past 5 years. Naviance doesn’t have anything to explain that.
@stlarenas We’ve had the same problem with both kids. Great reaches and safeties but not a lot in the middle. Well actually decent middle choices but that would be very costly. The reaches are all 100% need met and the safeties should all come in with good merit but those middles make me worry Our CC isn’t great about helping find the matches because they don’t really ask about finances beyond can you pay or are you a free lunch family.
D’s school is having another college night this week. I hadn’t planned on going but now I will. Apparently there are a lot of parents angry about transcripts and such not going out who have been calling and yelling at GCs. I didn’t know.
@stlarenas UofRichmond with 126 apps in 5 years at our school. 4.1 and a 29 ACT. Our GPAs tend to be high because kids take a lot of APs here but the highest GPA I have heard of is 4.48.
When my son did this 2 years ago we found no schools wanted quarter grades and many EA didn’t even request semester grades though our school automatically sends them. We did scan in the grade report after first quarter and submitted it though because my son was taking a few classes that showed great improvement over 4 years in an area that wasn’t a strength and he was taking a few DE classes (math and CS) that we thought it was important for the schools to see his grades for. We figured if they didn’t want it they could throw it away but it was more likely to help his case than anything else.
QOTD
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 0/0/10? 15? TBD as result of SCEA & EA apps. Five to file before RD round.
Common App: CA essay not complete (thoughts/bullet points jotted down but nothing written), Activity section not started.
LORs: Asked two teachers last spring. Asked two club advisors to email a couple of sentences to brand new GC so she could use in her LOR.
Essays: Who knows? Many, many essays, and prompts and 160 character limits…and 100 word blurbs.
Interviews: Completed three on-campus this summer with two more scheduled this fall when distant colleges will be interviewing locally or in Manhattan. Assume that he will hear from some alums for interviews and will have to request alum interviews for a couple more schools.
Testing: Started with Bio Subject test in June 9th grade and finished with Physics Subject test of June of 11th grade. SAT finished Dec of 11th grade.
Visits: We have toured 13 campuses: Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and the NE corridor from Cambridge to Baltimore.
Most visits were in detail (info session, tour, attended classes and/or met with current students, where possible). A few schools were removed from the list as a result of the visits.
Hopefully we will have somewhere to visit, assuming he is accepted and has a decision to make in April.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): At this point, I think I am more annoyed than anxious. The essay writing is taking a ridiculous amount of time. I know everything will be filed last minute and it is killing me. NMSF app due early Oct and first EA app due Oct 15th…
DS/DD anxiety level: No idea…he never lets on.
Sigh.
QOTD: Progress report (love this!)
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 0/0/8-9
Common App: basic demographic info is in but there is still the dreaded activities section to flesh out.
LORs: Counselor has my “brag sheet”, 2 teachers invited (1 shows “in progress”), she is talking to coach tomorrow for supplemental rec.
Essays: Common App essay has had quite a bit of work on it! I’d say she’s 90% there with a few tweaks to go. She will have some writing supplements, but none of them are too intensive (thank goodness.) State schools and 1 safety need no other writing, so once CA essay is done D17 will be much closer to hitting submit on at least her SUNY apps. The upcoming visits in early October will determine whether there is an ED school or not, so nothing else can get submitted until that is decided.
Interviews: None required/requested yet, but some schools on her list do rec them so I imaging she will have some in her future.
Testing: Since she has decided not to apply into any direct admit engineering programs that require the Math2 at this point, D is done with testing. She took ACT 2x and 2 subject tests (US History & Chem)
Visits: Vassar, Swarthmore, Haverford over Columbus Day weekend. Might hit Barnard later in October. That’s all that’s planned until we know where she is in.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 7.5
DS/DD anxiety level: 5
Overall, things are looking way better than they were before that last College Fear (what I Freudian-slip called the fair with the “Tufts episode” and the name has stuck in our family :)) ) Now that D is focused on LACs she seems way calmer. Getting good feedback on her draft essay from her English teacher (who is also one of her LOC teachers) helped a lot. I am no longer as worried as I was even a week ago where I was probably up to a 9. (for now, haha, we’ll see how long this lasts!)
@thermom
“Interviews: None required/requested yet, but some schools on her list do rec them so I imaging she will have some in her future.”
If you know that some schools suggest interviews, it would be prudent to request/schedule them now, as many schools stop offering interviews on/about November 1st. Alum interviews go on throughout the winter, but on-campus or ‘Ad Coms on tour’ interviews tend to wind down around the time the Ad Coms have to start reading the early apps.
Then there are other schools where the student is expected to request an alum interview, but not until after submitting app (Tufts comes to mind). IIRC, Holy Cross was one that offered interviews into December but there was a date by which students had to request the interview.
@CT1417 Ah, thank you! Will investigate that aspect more thoroughly as to the timing.
That sounds like a great idea, and I hadn’t really heard it before. I know a lot of people here mentioned having new GCs this year. I just wanted to highlight this strategy as a way to get info to GCs who haven’t had a chance to get to know the kid.
QOTD: Progress report
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 5/0/6-8 (all but 1 of the 5 submitted have had the supporting docs/LOR, etc sent by GC)
Common App: complete except for some supplemental essays for schools left on list to apply to.
LORs: requested and completed.
Essays: Common App essay is complete and has been tweaked to fit apps that it can be used for but needs feel words. Honors/Scholarship essays done for 2 of 5 schools applied for, the others he cannot do yet.
Interviews: 2 ROTC
Testing: done.
Visits: 1 this week because he needs an interview there for ROTC but no more until after acceptance, have visited some on list but not all
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 8, still nervous about ds getting enough merit money or ROTC scholarship to be able to have choices when he needs to make his final decision
DS/DD anxiety level: 3-4
@Ynotgo — the old GC who knew him well enough is the one who suggested it last spring, but he had to start anew this fall with the new GC. He did not love his math teacher, so did not ask her to write LOR (and plans to study math in college), so having the math team faculty advisor jot a few sentences will help—fingers crossed!
Fortunately the AP Physics teacher (this year and last) is also the Quiz Bowl advisor and some other science competition advisor, so that one should be thorough.
Status Update:
App/Accept/Remaining to Complete
3 (2RD, 1ED) / 0 / 5 (4EA, 1Rolling)
Testing: done (ACT 2/16, SAT2 5/16,6/16)
Interviews: 1done, 3 pending
LORs: done (x3)
Supplemental Portfolio: done
Common App: done
Remaining Essays: (1honors essay, 2 special program essays, 3 scholarship essays, 1 supplemental essay)
Visits: all done except 1 repeat with interview next month
QOTD: Progress report
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 0/0/5 (should add some schools!)
Common App: I’ve been shut out of this, but I do believe it’s close.
LORs: Counselor required parental and student “brag sheets”, teachers have been confirmed to provide LOR
Essays: Sent CA essay to teacher for review, again I’ve been shut out of this, but I’m sure it’s good enough.
Interviews: One next week because they reached out to her, D17 needs to submit interview requests to other schools - all are optional but highly recommended. Reading between the lines, I think they are essential for her.
Testing: Done! Best sitting was in September, no need to superscore, most schools are test optional but she will talk to counselor about submitting score.
Visits: All except one have been visited, if admitted will need to visit schools before commiting.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 10
DS/DD anxiety level: 1
I know that applications will be submitted, but given that everything is dependent on someone else submitting things as parts of the application, I find the process very stressful. I also find my D17’s lack of anxiety very stressful! Since I know she reads my postings, perhaps she will take sympathy on me and GET TO WORK! :-h