@ShrimpBurrito , happy to be of service. L-)
@rwmannesq , don’t sweat it! There really is plenty of time to go.
@suzy100 every time I blink, another 3 months have passed. I think Sr year is going to go by on warp speed.
Seriously slacker mode here. S18’s new top requirement when deciding where to apply: no extra essays for merit!
Definitely in slacker mode here. S is 3 and a half hours from home for three more weeks, at an in-state directional state U for the KY Governor’s Scholar Program.
Seems to have a definite sense now of where he is applying. Centre, U of Kentucky, U of Cincinnati, U of Louisville, and U of Alabama. I think that will be it. His preference is to stay within 2 hours of home, but has always had a soft spot for Bama. Several admit safeties and automatic merit opportunities there, but still will be a lot of work and waiting for honors programs, a BS/MD program, and at a competitive scholarship or two also.
At least he has a solid plan. so not stressing yet!
I wouldn’t wait. Type everything you can in 2017 common app, then save as a doc. That way after reset, you don’t lose progress or have to start from scratch.
I think the Common App info you enter now will rollover. This came from the common app website( but I don’t know how to do the fancy gray screen quote thing):
What information will roll over?
All information within the Common App tab:
- Profile
- Family
- Education
- Testing
- Activities
- Writing
What information will not roll over?
- Answers to college-specific questions
- Recommender invitations
- Forms submitted by recommenders
- Your Release Authorization and FERPA selection
- Responses to questions that have been changed or removed
I agree with you, but I’m also his counselor (homeschool). So I’m saving everything on the counselor side of things so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel later.
DD’16 was a band kid so we learned with her the value of getting as much done as possible early on. DD’18 starts cheer two-a-day practices three days a week August 1 and then she is into football season with practices, games and pep rallys. Once school starts there is not a lot of time to work on college apps! Goal line is to have it all done by Oct 15!
DD’18 has decided to change what she wants to major in from sociology to psychology, with an eye to behavioral neuroscience/neuropsychology. She has mentioned a desire to work with people with PTSD. So she needs to reevaluate her school list a bit.
I agree with everyone - work on what you can now!
My daughter is just about done with her main Common App essay. She wants me to read it. She’ll probably have to work on it more after that. :)) Then, she’s got a couple much smaller essays that different colleges want. Nothing too taxing, but she is a slooooowwwwww writer.
Get a common app login - I got a parent/practice one, too - before July 24. I heard somewhere it might shut down at that point in preparation for the August 1 opening (I could be wrong). I’m thinking at least there are a couple weeks to see what they need before then. It was helpful to me to see how everything fits together and how the recommenders are invited, etc. She is also getting logins for the different colleges that use their own application.
I am in denial and have not gotten any FAFSA logins yet. Probably after school starts.
We are getting our visits done now, barring anything last minute that pops up.
She has an updated resume and list of volunteer hours that she is sending her teachers for recommendations and will work off of for applications. The guidance office wants a “brag sheet” too, but in the meantime we are working with those two files. Even if we have to fill out some special sheet of paper, it will take minutes as opposed to hours. She already has one recommendation that the teacher actually sent to her, so we know it’s a good one. 
Our guidance office opens on August 1. We don’t have senior meetings until September 7, which is ridiculous. I plan to ask the guidance office about transcripts, etc. Last year I asked them for the senior packet they give everyone, and apparently you have to ask for them online through Parchment (?). But I want to make sure I fully understand that process.
My daughter is a ballet dancer. With that damn Nutcracker AGAIN this fall in addition to other performances. Ugh. No time in the fall, so the time is now. 8-|
I’ve been lurking for about a year and have posted a few times. I figured I would introduce myself. I have a D18 and S23. D18 is my first going through the college app process. My D18 is proud procrastinator. We have been working the past year on having her write EVERYTHING down in a notebook that she needs to get done and mark them off. We tried planners and everything you can imagine. Finally the one thing that worked was a small spiral that I labeled “I will not procrastinate today notebook”
D18 attends a small college prep school here on the East Coast of Florida. She has a 3.81UW and 4.23W. She has a pretty competitive graduating class…a lot of overachievers with plenty of opinions on everyone else. Her class of 80 has 8 students that have made the first cut for NMS…we know at least 7 of those 8 are over 220SI (including D18) so they will move on to NMSF unless something insane happens in FL this year. They typically have 2 move on to NMS. She plays viola (since 6) and percussion for the last 3 years. She loves music but more as a past time. I don’t know how many times I have said…you are amazing with minimal practice, imagine how amazing you would be if you practiced everyday. She plays chess competitively and she is also a Varsity Soccer player (she played club until she aged out of the Region Cup team at her club her Jr year). Needless to say, I have done a lot a driving the last 12 years.
She wants to double major in Meteorology/Astronomy with a minor in Music. She has wanted to be a meteorologist since she was 3 years old and has not deviated from that path. She wants to focus on severe and tropical with the possibility of going into Space Weather (who knew). She fell in love with her Calc and Physics classes last year so I guess that is a good thing since that will be the majority of her courses.
The last two years we have toured a number of schools to see their Meteorology programs and the campus feel. Right now she is 90% sure she wants to go to OU (she loved the music program, the Meteorology opportunities, and the campus atmosphere) and 10% to University of Miami-Florida (she loved the Meteorology program and staff and she loved that the dorms have “blackout” shutters…they are actually hurricane shutters but the students use them to blackout their rooms}. She was 60/40 between OU and UM until she saw that 10 out 75 students from the '17 graduating class at her school were going to UM…she says she wants to go somewhere and not know anyone. Kansas is out due to the campus and program. FSU’s program was great but the campus was too big and spread out (plus too many people from town will be there). WKU’s program was also wonderful but the school is not challenging at all for her and no one contacted us or the admissions from the music program when we arranged the tours. She was set on OU before we even learned about their NM program…so that was icing on the cake.
D18 attended a college bootcamp at the beginning of June at the school. They had admissions directors there that read over the essays and did mock interviews. They told her not to change a thing so she is officially finished with her essay. She got a 33 on her ACT and 1440 on her SAT the first time around…we are waiting for scores on Wednesday. She says regardless of that outcome she is done testing. She just has to finish her apps and do some scholarship app paperwork. But remember she is a procrastinator so we’ll see when she gets around to it. Right now she is working on some summer assignments for school. She starts back up on August 10.
So here’s to all of us needing the patience this year to get us through : )
Welcome @flsoccermom22!
@flsoccermom22 , Hello there, FYI: @3scoutsmom has a D16 at OU on NMF with Meteorology major.
So for Common App we can start it and fill out over time and just save progress without sending anywhere? Sorry if this is basic question.
Welcome @flsoccermom22 !
@pkgny2022: yes. Basic demographic info will save.
What information will roll over?
All information within the Common App tab:
- Profile
- Family
- Education
- Testing
- Activities
- Writing
What information will not roll over?
- Answers to college-specific questions
- Recommender invitations
- Forms submitted by recommenders
- Your Release Authorization and FERPA selection
- Responses to questions that have been changed or removed
@flsoccermom22 – OU is definitely the place to be for meteorology. Plenty of local stormchasing opportunities, top notch weather research, etc. And with NMF it’ll all be paid for. Talk about a perfect match!
Thanks everyone for the welcome! Can’t wait to see where the journey takes us all!
Fifth college visit is in the books. It is tiny. Like, 2,700 students tiny. It is located in the state capital so, for nursing, that’s great. Surrounded by major hospitals. It remains to be seen if it’s TOO tiny … although nursing students don’t have much time for a social life, lol.
But, they are again talking merit - and again, it blows my mind. Nothing against my kid but I blame it on the College Confidential Syndrome - I have a more or less above average kid but I get a complex reading about the superstars here. :))
Also interesting is a “diversity scholarship” of full tuition. My daughter is an adoptee from China, and at some of these smaller schools with low diversity that really matters. It doesn’t offend either of us - show us the money, lol. She’d be invited back for a special day of tours, interview panel, an essay, etc. It obviously hasn’t happened yet, and might not, but that’s a HUGE scholarship. To keep it, she has to have a GPA that’s lower than the one she needs to stay in her program anyway. That could get interesting when it comes time to pick and choose.
Two more to go!
@bearcatfan, sounds as if your D has many great choices!
@traveler98 I really hope so! There is one school that is kind of at the top of the list, but she is at least open to all the ones she is applying to. Some thrill her more than others, as is usually the case.