Thank you all for your support and advice! I will talk with D about this. It has helped me just to read these responses today. This board is such a wonderful resource! :x
@Kayak24 She got a score higher than that before. She can do this!!
Does it bug anyone else, beside me and my DD, when your kiddo receives emails and snail mail that talk about applying when the kiddo has already submitted an application? Are we wrong in thinking there should be some simple computer algorithms that removes names from a - please apply - mailing list and puts it on the - aren’t we great, you should pick us - mailing list? I know this happens for some schools, so it is not impossible!
Can you tell we are in the the waiting for acceptance/rejection doldrums?
We are still getting solicitations from schools where my D has been accepted.
I’m so glad that you all are having this issue. I kept freaking out because she said she’d applied to 7/8 of her schools and yet they keep emailing about “getting that application in!”
My S18’s app procrastination is starting to pay off. He just got an email from one of the schools I wanted him to apply to, to which he is resisting due to time constraints. The email offers an app fee waiver, waiver of teacher recs, and a streamlined application. $10 says I still won’t be able to convince him to apply…sigh.
@vistajay What odds are you giving? If you’re paying 2-1, then I might take you up on it. :))
D can submit her REA app, but wants her school’s GC to review her essay(s). So, obviously, there’s ZERO help to be had there. =)) Hopefully, Friday. Hopefully. [-O<
One of the problems, besides excessive review, re-review and re-re-review, is that she’s being bombarded with homework.
Things are picking up here! Despite saying everything will be sent on the deadline, D’s high school sent all her forms to all the schools today. Only issue is, only one of the two LORs has been written. So hopefully they send the second letter whenever it appears.
One additional motivation for turning in the 11/1 school early is that there is supposed to be a whole other application, also due 11/1, that D wouldn’t have access to until turning the first application. After waiting the requisite 2 days for portal access, we cannot find any place in there to do the second application. So she’s emailing… Time is getting short. So glad she didn’t wait until the weekend to do the first part. I didn’t realize there would be multiple 2-day lags.
Are any of your kids applying to reach colleges without SAT subject tests? Boy were we rookies. D did not take them. We weren’t aware of their importance until it was very late to take them, and then she had no time to prepare.
@Kayak24 - D18 isn’t submitting them to the schools where they are suggested but not required since her scores are “good” but not “great”. We will see how that strategy works for us!
@Kayak24 just wanted to add my well wishes. I think some of it is keeping them calm and not getting nervous. I’m also a fan of good breakfast day of. I wonder if the Lit part was harder on the Oct test date. My D has always been super strong in this area. She got a 760 on previous SAT on Lit. Her score went down on Oct SAT for Lit but shot up in Math. I was shocked to see her lower Lit score. Maybe it will be easier in Nov.
As for having to cancel the Boston trip, frustrating but we can only do so many things. We cancelled the trip to NYC to see Barnard and my D is very interested in Barnard. We just can’t do everything. I am also willing to share our opinions of Boston schools. We saw Tufts and Notheastern
@Kayak24 We were a bit late to the “subject test game” here. D took her 1st (Math Level 2) in January and I think the 2nd in August. But looking back, we should have arranged her courses better to align with the subject tests. As an example, D is taking AP Chem now as senior and she should have taken that class as a junior. The AP Chem teacher is awesome and after the AP Final in May, the teacher tutors the class for the June subject test. That would have worked perfectly had we known earlier. Sheesh, while we’re going back in time, had we known about the hoopla surrounding NMSF and NMF, we might have actually cared about the PSAT too. :))
And having said all that, D’s subject test scores have been and will be submitted to everywhere she applies, but for 2-3 schools that specifically state they don’t want them.
Nevertheless, I/we won’t make that same “mistake” for D21.
@Kayak24, sorry to hear about the SAT test woes. It sounds like it really was a blip. I hope she doesn’t worry too much about the next test, since clearly she’s very good at them. As far as subject tests go, if she has good AP scores I’d have her self-report those. It will show mastery in those subjects.
MORE ON ENROLLMENT/HOUSING DEPOSITS
It seems that making just a housing deposit to a school & then later deciding not to attend doesn’t raise any ethical eyebrows; then, (depending on the agreement) you’ll either get some or all or none of your deposit money back.
BUT…
Some schools want you to enroll first, before you can put down a housing deposit.
The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) says that parents/students who make enrollment deposits at more than one institution (double depositing) are in violation of their responsibilities and undermine the integrity of the admissions process.
And, then the students are required to electronically sign that Common Application statement acknowledging that if they submit more than one enrollment deposit, they may face losing their admission offers from all institutions.
WHAT ABOUT THE INTEGRITY OF THE COLLEGES?
Colleges requiring that students make an early enrollment deposit to secure their place in line for housing are in violation of NACAC’s requirement that colleges structure their housing and scholarship deadlines in a way that allows all students until May 1st to make a final decision.
SO, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?
We’re (parents/kids) told to identify safety/match/reach schools and then apply. Then, our kid gets into a safety/match school & we think that’s great; now we’ll wait to see about those reaches and then make a final decision. But (maybe) that safety/match school throws the process out of whack because they tell the students to enroll now so they don’t miss out on housing. Well, to do that (and still keep the reach school in play) we now kind of have to break the rules don’t we? And, then a whole bunch of us either feel guilty for doing it or scared that the schools might find out.
It’s like the Pirate’s Code (with the schools getting to play the role of the pirate) – they seem to have the option to look at the rules more like “guidelines” than actual rules.
PREACH, @LMHS73. It pisses me off that schools require an enrollment deposit first. I think you can avoid breaking the rules by putting the deposit down, and then if later on the kid decides to go elsewhere, withdraw from that school first and then deposit at the final choice school. But it’s a BS game and the students are the ones paying the price for all of this.
Again, I’m all for the random housing assignments. Period.
We finally sat down tonight and started FAFSA. All was well until I tried to use the DRT. My identity was stolen this year (an employer breach of information) and someone filed a fraudulent tax return in February using my personal information. Needless to say it has been a huge mess. When I went to create a FSA ID last month, I found out that the thief had also set up an FSA id using my information. I was able to verify my identity and get that taken care of as well. So of course when I tried to use the DRT it stated that it was unable to retrieve my data and to contact the IRS fraud department. I guess I am happy that an alert went up but I will be entering the tax info by hand. Hopefully not using the DRT won’t require me to provide additional income verification to the schools. We have also been the victim of credit card fraud this year, so we have all kinds of protection and security set up now.
There are many schools that no longer consider them
We have odds for our son:
McDaniel 70%
Fordham 20%
The field (Ithaca, James Madison, Syracuse, ect).
He said tonight he’d probably go to Fordham if he got in, but that will we a reach for a B student. McDaniel, where he is sure to be accepted, is a solid second choice. Apps to out this weekend.
OMG @S18D20mom! I can’t imagine how much that complicates things.
Question about the maryland applicaion…it says all the materials have been received but the “application complete date” still says incomplete, is there something I’m missing?