@LMHS73 I think that you’ve pretty much got it.
That sounds like a solid strategy to me! Ah, my daughter’s ACT scores are so low (24), we wouldn’t apply anywhere based on that criteria :-j Here’s hoping we can gain at least 4 points at the Saturday’s ACT!
@mamaedefamilia - I forgot to mention in my last post that I absolutely loved your comment that although your D isn’t really pursuing them, “her stats could buy her a lottery ticket at the elites.” I just loved the way you worded that - and it’s so true! I always tell my D that’s the way it is & that she shouldn’t take any rejections personally, especially knowing that tons of kids with perfect gpa’s and test scores routinely get rejected by such schools.
There is jumping and screaming and tears of joy in our house right now. Dd just found out that she is now a member of the team to represent the US in the International Russian Olympiad in Moscow. She has known she was a semifinalist for weeks. The waiting has been brutal. She is so, so, so excited! (Now this warm weather girl needs to buy some winter gear!!)
@Mom2aphysicsgeek ^:)^ =D> Congrats to your D!
Cell Phone? DS17 has a cell phone and he does not use it. It sits at home except on rare occasions when he goes some where and needs to be picked up… If we had put DS17’s cell phone on the apps and they had called, no one would have answered it plus the voice mail has not been set up.
Woo hoo! Congrats D of @Mom2aphysicsgeek! <:-P
@hadmeathello @WhereIsMyKindle
My son was interested in U Del (neighbor attends and raves about it) until he saw all the writing supplements. Now for some kids, knocking out four, 200 word essays is a breeze. Not for him. So with the Common App essay, the Honors essay, four supplemental essays, and one quick “Why U Del?” passage, there are 7 writing assignments for U Del.
The supplemental writing is optional, but I’m thinking that if a kid with “just above average” stats doesn’t put in the effort, his app will likely get discarded. Any thoughts?
@hadmeathello — the U Del sounds like a winner to me. Fee waiver, immediate response, and an interview…what’s not to like?
A girl from my HS class went to their honors college MANY many years ago. I think we also had Lax players go there but I don’t know if their lax team is of the same caliber 30+ years later. A friend’s D started there this past year and is happy, but I don’t know much about the school.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek —CONGRATS! How exciting!
cell phone My D put her number on the contact information…and she is surprised at how many schools call during the day when she is clearly in school. I am pretty sure she isn’t answering calls or checking VM (even she even has VM set up…) however she does respond to text messages.
LOR We are still waiting for her teachers to submit the LOR. I asked D to gently remind them again today.
Essays I am so jealous of you all that have GC and teachers that are willing and know who to help with them. Our GC doesn’t do essay help…and her teacher gave no helpful feedback. Again I feel like I am her sole support and I just hope that what I have learned from reading online helps her.
Emails I have full access to her email and passwords and check them often. She expects me too 
We have no Naviance, no essay help, and really no guidance help. She is fully relying on me to help her figure this out…and I don’t have a problem with that. I can not understand how any teen can manage this all on their own.
Interviews My D has definitely gotten better at them as time has gone on. All of hers have been with the AO at smaller more selective schools. She would say the WF was the hardest - in that the questions were more thoughtful and the interviewer never smiled. Probably didn’t help that it was over skype. The others were mostly positive however she said the one where the AO was over an hour late was “awkward”. I guess they just didn’t really click personality wise.
Awards/honors D doesn’t really have anything to fill in those blanks either. She just never participated in things that would offer that sort of thing. Oh well. She is also really struggling with the short essays that ask her to pick one EC and expand on it and why it is meaningful to her. She is hung up on 2 things: 1) she doesn’t really have a passion for any one thing. She dabbles in things that are fun to her (I am ok with that…she is a kid) and 2) her CA essay already discusses her ECs (in a round about way) so she doesn’t want to say the same thing again. I think I am just going to suggest her write about her job - as that is completely unrelated to what she discusses in the CA essay. But I am not sure how she is going to make that and interesting short essay - or relate it to something “meaningful”
Psssst. Hey, @STEM2017, I’m whispering here. I took a look a those UDel essay prompts, and they are really kind of, hhmmmmm…dumb! Not fun at all. Don’t tell UDel AOs I said that, in case we apply, OK?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - WOW! that is amazing! Big congrats! Do they pay for your DD to travel to Moscow? How about for you as mom/GC? I can’t imagine that the colleges that you have avoided because they ask for SAT2s for homeschooled wouldn’t waive that requirement if they knew that she has received other objective indicia of academic performance.
Okay @hadmeathello ** * Should we just ignore them? ** *
@pittsburghscribe Yes. It is a fully funded trip. She will be in Moscow for a week. Top scorers in the Olympiad can also win a fully funded study abroad yr.
In terms of those schools…I doubt it.
So for people with portal logins at various schools - do any show you that the FAFSA was received and/or the CSS profile?
Congrats mom2aphysicsgeek. That is an amazing accomplishment.
Doing a happy dance with your jumping D @Mom2aphysicsgeek
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That’s amazing!!! Congrats to your D and good luck to her at the competition! How exciting!
@Dolemite I haven’t seen any FAFSA info on any of son’s portals…and there are alot of them. But I may not be looking in the right place.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek – WOW-- HUGE CONGRATS TO YOUR D – AND YOU TOO!! Than’t such great news and a major accomplishment in an areas she clearly is passionate about. Have fun shopping for furry outerwear!