QOTD: Yes. D has spoken with a couple of reps. I prepped her beforehand. The calls from schools that she isn’t applying to makes her feel bad for not returning the calls and she had to send an awkward text to one.
D has no idea how to check any of the portals. I’m the project manager. She just writes essays, proofs the apps, and hits submit. :))
** QOTD ** Son does not give his cell number. He has permission to give mine if required, but no texting allowed. I see no real reason for a school to need their cell number at this point.
** Interviews: ** I highly discourage them for my son. Very rarely do we hear positive interview stories. And even the positive one we did hear was when a Reed interviewer persuaded a friend’s daughter to forego a “full tuition” scholarship at another college to attend Reed “full pay.” In her words, “We really connected and now I know that Reed is right for me.” Oy.
The interview disconnect for me is how they really don’t count for much in the application process but alumni interviewers tend to feel that they are the gatekeepers for the school. I had a heated discussion with a good friend who is a Georgetown alumnus and a regional interviewer. He was telling me stories about “these kids nowadays who don’t even know what they want to do with their lives.” Uh, okay. Luckily I was not on an interview so I could give a piece of my mind and a dose of reality.
@STEM2017 I let D give out her cell because I want her to have every opportunity at the scholarship. These calls are targeted recruiting. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate interest and make a good impression.
Excellent point, as always @itsgettingreal17
I will say, however, that most of the calls we have received are phone bank calls from current students with only cursory knowledge of their school.
QOTD S provided his cell number when he filled out apps. So far, I don’t believe he has gotten too many calls other than one adcom who called late in the day to tell him he had been accepted and what to look for in the mail and in his email. Her enthusiasm was encouraging to S. So that was nice.
S is also the gatekeeper of his email and online portals, which has led to a couple of missed communications … er, I mean “learning opportunities.” 
D is in charge of the whole application process. The only thing I was in charge of was to send SAT scores to schools. I don’t have passwords to any of her accounts, common app, naviance, various portals. She will tell me when she gets invitations to interviews or when she completes a major item. She does discuss key topics with me before she acts. I am trying very hard to be not too nosy but at the same time, hoping she knows what she is doing (so far so good).
@NoelleCf Yes, my high stats kid is not aiming high even though her stats could buy her a lottery ticket at the elites. She’s pretty much targeting a similar range to @dfbdfb - partly merit money driven and partly because temperament-wise she’ll probably be happiest at a place where she’s in the top third or thereabouts. She is a bit of a perfectionist and feeling like she doesn’t measure up (even when she does) would not be ideal. She has one reach but won’t be heartbroken if she doesn’t get in. No clear choice of major but her fields of interest are not particularly specialized. Main limiting factor has been dance, which is her primary EC and an activity she wishes to continue, but not as a major or minor.
@DaveN Essay fatigue for everyone also setting in here, even though my editorial input is primarily copy editing or suggestions for better organizational flow. I try to be as hands off as possible. Then they get vetted by the GC and then they are cleared for takeoff. Most of her essays have been pretty good from the outset but she’s currently tinkering with two. Then it’s the scholarship essays, three of which need to be done by 11/1, and there are four more for RD deadline. Sigh.
@paveyourpath That sounds like a wretched interview experience. My kid hates interviews but her experiences have been benign for the most part.
@hadmeathello I know the “are you sure?” impulse when it comes to high merit/less fit schools. As parents we overruled her preference in one instance only as we genuinely believe the fit is better than she realizes.
As for the JOTD, you’re too much! Keep them coming.
QOTD Big yawn here. My main EC in HS was restaurant work. More of the same in college because I had bills to pay. I did go to political protests, concerts, geek science fiction conventions, and the like. So I had fun but it was unstructured fun.
You guys are scaring me now with the interview, my daughter has an alumni interview for Bryn Mawr on Sunday. I believe there’s is required. We shall see how that goes. I will prep her some, but right now she’s so fixated on Saturdays ACT that she’s sick over it.
@STEM2017 – Re: student’s college email account.
Son set the account up on my computer so that all emails land there. He wrote a ‘rule’ on his computer so that they all go directly to an Archive folder. He only looks at the emails I point out to him, so I understand exactly what you are doing.
Have seen those ‘Your App’ email from Case Western–repeatedly. Ironically, not from CMU, and he plans to apply there, but they know that already as he interviewed on campus. Of course, I do not think any college cross-references student visits and their email lists.
No cell phone # on apps. He doesn’t want people calling him on his cell phone.
Case is sending us the most emails about apply - he will! CMU has not really been emailing but he visited, liked it & will apply. We get a lot of random universities sending stuff & emailing too - no idea why that is but I keep deleting / throwing away. We have a very active college visit office at school (vol parents staff it) & DS says kids in some of his classes are going a lot. I try to point of the few it makes sense for him to go see but don’t want him missing a lot of class for this.
@CT1417 He’s received the Re: Your App email from CMU, Case Western (several times), and one of the SUNYs. I thought it was more schools than that, but annoying nevertheless.
@CA1543 – I volunteered at our college office yesterday. This is the single busiest week of the year as there are two large college fairs in CT this weeks, so the reps all schedule their HS visits for this week. Overlapping college reps & unruly students! I was annoyed yesterday when I noticed one boy attend the Elon session. He has already committed to Yale for athletics so he is attending the Elon session just so that he can skip class. As my son said, there is really nothing I can do about it, but I wondered how many others are doing the same, and then feel bad that the students who actually want to learn something from the Elon session.
@socalmom007 --I would not worry about the interview. I truly do not think that the alum ones matter for much, other than demonstrating interest. Good luck on ACT!
I’m impressed by those kids that are handling all or most of this process themselves. My helo-blades are fine-tuned when it comes to the app process. I would be freaking out that something will be missed, because I know that I am having trouble keeping up. IMO it’s not like, “Oh, well. We missed that opportunity. Darn.” Too much at stake, and she is too busy to give it the time it needs. She’s coming around, and I’m giving her a little more rope now that most of the EA apps are in. But, I’m going to remain as project manager & quality assurance.
Re: QOTD, when we first started apps D did not want to give out her cell phone, but has come around. We hadn’t discussed it lately, so after @itsgettingreal17 comment above, I want to make sure she’s actually answering her phone when she can. She’s the type that will let unknown numbers go to VMail.
Cell phone vs. Home Phone. Good question I need to talk with S17 about it, didn’t really think about it. I expect he will use the cell phone as he never answers the house phone unless he’s the only one in the house. Honestly, I don’t expect schools will call him that much.
Our house phone is kind-of broken (bad static on the line) and mostly gets junk these days. H & I are having a big of an argument about it what to do with it. I want to keep the phone # since it’s tied to so much that I hate to get rid of the actual phone number, plus I really like having a secondary number so I don’t always have to give people my cell. I’m hoping I can go take care of that today, going to switch the number to our cell phone plan. (Kind of crazy we haven’t done this till now.) But I’ve been a bit busy.
@hadmeathello – I think giving out cell # works as long as child answers the phone. If I am out and want to reach my son in the house, he asks me to call the house # as it rings loudly and his phone is often on mute. He keeps the sound off during the day and rarely turns it back on once home. A call would not get through during the school day as I can hardly get texts inside the school building.
@curiositycat333 – I can not give up the land line, although it has been a VOIP line for eight years now. I can’t walk around the house talking on my cell and don’t want to. When I don’t want to hear from someone, I give out my fax line!
Cell phone: Nope. In fact, most of my D17’s actual real-life friends don’t have her cell number—she’s got the whole privacy thing nicely locked down, really. She’s provided no phone numbers anytime she can get away with it, in fact, and she only gives out the landline (which we don’t ever answer, letting everything roll over to voicemail) when she has to.
Interviews: Interesting how different students are different—for my daughter, every interview (she’s had four by now, two with an adcom in person, one with an adcom by phone, and one with an alum in person) has been a pleasant and positive experience.
Last-minute stalker schools: I find the schools who have just started sending my daughter emails at this late stage rather interesting—she’s suddenly started getting a flood from places like Mary Baldwin, Montana, Montana State, Carroll, Western Oregon, and (as if to prove it’s not just higher-admit-percentage schools that do this) Duke. I mean, I guess most students do only start seriously looking now, but this is a kid who took her standardized tests sophomore year…
QOTD: S puts our home number in as his first choice, but does add his cell number as a secondary number. He always checks the box that it is NOT ok to text him or call with marketing info. He really does not talk on his phone unless under duress.
@hadmeathello Don’t be so impressed with my S ;)) He’s the gatekeeper, but we sit down together every other day (or every day if I’m particularly anxious) and check all the portals, weed through emails, etc. So the missed communications were really learning opportunities in our case since they were only “missed” for a couple of days and he did learn a few things. There’s really no need to lop off chopper blades in one quick slash. Incremental trimming works for us.
@dfbdfb Wow. No cell phone number even for her friends? That’s rough. Snapchat only?
So far the interviews (4 also) have been a pretty positive experience, even when they didn’t go well, like with American U. Lot’s of social justice this, and social justice that. Not her style. Good for both sides.
Good luck to those studying for their last ACT!
@dfbdfb – Re: increase in mailings. Absolutely. Recall this from older son also. Some are due to NM notifications. I recall seeing NM in the teeny tiny print at the bottom of a letter, so at least you knew the source (and he was commended, not SF). Current applicant receives emails that start out “Congrats on being a NMSF” and then goes on to tout the # of NMFs they enroll each year. I also notice that the emails start pouring in after 3pm. Don’t they realize these students are at sports & clubs until dinner? I wonder if they adjust send times based on student time zones, as in, how sophisticated are their mass mailing efforts? (Not very, based on the range of schools that communicate with him.)
I agree with you about interview. My son’s experiences have all been great: on-campus with Ad Com, on-campus with students working in Admission, and off-campus with alum, but at structured day of interviews coordinated by the college admission office, so not a real alum interview arranged between applicant and interviewer.