Before the start of senior year, try to accomplish the following:
Visit as many schools as you can, depending on your personal circumstances. Even if these don’t match your final list, at least try to narrow down big vs. small, rural vs. urban, etc.
Have your Common App done - activities list, big essay, family info, all of it. So in theory you could press “send” before the start of school if you had to. But don’t do that yet.
Complete standardized testing.
Save the fall (before Nov 1) of senior year for:
Additional visits to schools that you might ED (2nd visit, go to classes, maybe spend the night).
Supplemental essays for schools that you’re 90% sure that you will apply to, as well as scholarship programs.
Applications to ED/EA or rolling admission schools.
With all of this done, then you will have the time & flexibility to adjust your list of colleges before January 1, based on EA/ED results. You can add additional detail (awards, accomplishments) to your Common App, and complete any supplements.
Our critical mistake in the process was not having the big essay done before the start of school. DD had a ton of schoolwork that first semester, and the essay looming over her head added a lot of pressure. Also, she wasn’t able to get some early EA apps in, and therefore didn’t have an early acceptance. She also missed some special program and merit deadlines. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but I’ll definitely move the process forward for my 2020 son.
Couldn’t agree more, @GMC2918, based on our experience with child #1 and #2. Would only add to make sure to have recommenders locked in by end of junior year. Also, have your student formulate a solid resume by fall of senior year. It can help when tackling the activities section on the Common App… not to mention some adcoms appreciate receiving a copy of the resume during/after the interview.
Most of all, I’d recommend having a self-motivated kid who doesn’t drag her feet on all of this and roll her eyes every time you mention the word “college”. Not that I know anything about that. :))
We made it a point to try and sneak a visit in to a nearby college whenever we happened to be near one on vacation or family visits. It did not necessarily have to be a school my kid was interested in, but it did help to narrow down the type of schools in which they were interested – big, small, urban, suburban, rural, Greek life, non-Greek, etc. We didn’t always take an official tour, sometimes walking the grounds was enough.
That’s actually how we ended up seeing Syracuse DD’s freshman year. Were on a road trip and decided to make stops at Ithaca, Cornell, and Syracuse. Ithaca and Cornell were eliminated, but Syracuse stayed.
Could someone kindly clarify how LORs work? Does the teacher write a letter and then give it to the student, and we upload to Common app? Just curious what the process is.
In late winter of Junior year, the kids are asked to name 3 teachers from whom they’ve requested a letter. Guidance sorts through them in an effort to relieve the burden, and decides which 2 teachers will write for each kid. (The years I’ve had to write 40ish letters were rough!!)
Before the end of school, we upload a copy onto Naviance and hand in a hard copy. Sometime after August 1, we upload the same letters onto the Common App and also fill out the questionaire they want on each kid.
At no point in the process does the kid see the letter; that enables them to sign that very important waiver. If teachers knew a kid-- and his parents-- were going to see a letter, it might change what they were comfortable sharing.
At my D’s school, the guidance office is not involved with LORs at all. The students ask the teachers if they will write one. The teachers load them onto the Common App. (No Naviance at D’s school.)
Some of the teachers put a limit on how many they will write so it’s good not to procrastinate.
@homerdog. My eldest choose Marquette, applied without visiting, attended scholarship weekend after acceptance and ultimately selected Marquette, after only one vist, post acceptance. My youngest applied to several schools before visiting and after the visit was like “heck no!”, that was frustrating.
@toomanykiddos It will depend on your HS and on the school they are applying too and the application platform. For our HS the student asks the teacher in person, then makes a request via Naviance and once the teacher writes it the GC uploads to the Common App, Coalition or Apply Texas App. The student never touches/sees the reccomendation. I am assuming that in some instances the student would have to supply a SASE if necessary (we did not have to deal with that scenario).
I love all the helpful advice we are coming up with! Hopefully all the 2019 parents lurking here will pass it along!
I would like to add when selecting LOR writers be thinking not just the main LOR that are uploaded to Common App but all the additional ones needed for honors or scholarship. DD asked two teachers and GC for common App and then supplement teachers (ie French) to do scholarship and honor ones. Usually those were just quick questionnaire not full lengthy letters.
As for what I would do differently, I would have my child set a day and time a week to work on college stuff. So, it’s not always on their shoulders but are chipping away a tad a time. Maybe even add a desk blotter to add dates. And I would start this in junior year. That way it’s not about the applications and such but more the less time consuming do they have the major, what does it take to get accepted into that college, honors or whatever.
This parent of 2021 sure is learning a lot. D21 had stars in her eyes when she learned about NMF in Florida. She wants to see UCF in Orlando and Harry Potter World…This kid is born and raised in West Texas so Florida sounds dreamy to her.
@BingeWatcher, I would keep a close eye on the Benequisto for OOS kids, meaning see if they pass that again next year. Last I saw, the state legislature has to vote on that every year. That would scare me a little bit.
Retake SAT before fall if possible. An increased score could open up more merit, scholarships
Have the budget talk with worst case scenarios. Can you afford the school all 4 years?
Visit campus at an off time. We didn’t mean to pick a snow storm in January, but it DID show the students how they really are, and not on best behavior for a tour.
It’s all about the matches and safeties. Encourage your kids to focus their energies there first. Applications for reaches get whatever time/energy is leftover.
When I try to think of good advice to give, most anything I think of seems to be so specific to my own kid. His personality, goals, how he works through and responds to things.
He was pretty well informed and organized, but there were two stressors I think I underestimated a little. One was how much you multiply the work (all those dang essays) the more schools you apply to because of the separate requirements for honors and multiple scholarship programs. He only applied to four schools and two of them he didn’t even follow through with scholarship or honors programs, and it still seemed like a lot of work to do. Louisville wanted a separate essays for admission, honors, GEMS and the Brown. Crazy. And nothing you could adapt, because what you would add to the honors college is a different essay from what makes you know you want to be a doctor, which is different from what summer projects you want to do as a Brown Fellow. DS doesn’t like to write generally and especially about himself. You could feel a ton of weight lifted when he pressed send on the last one. So I guess the takeaway is you have to be careful and realistic when deciding how many schools to apply to.
The second was just how long of a slog it is with so much waiting involved. There was this critical point where he was so fatigued with it he was very close to just canceling the remaining interviews in order to have a decision made. He is very glad now that he didn’t. Just be mentally prepared for months to go by where things are out of your control and all you can do is wait for an answer. We discovered that wasn’t always easy to do.
@ShrimpBurrito I totally agree. My D18 applied to 7 schools. One was a reach for everyone and she was denied. But the other six were a mix of safeties and matches. She got into all six with merit/Honors offers at all and it was a fun and exciting process.
Maybe we were too humble about her stats but we were looking for certain types of schools within a few hours from our home. We are happy with the results. She came out of the process with improved self esteem and confidence intact and perhaps even improved (which was great, she’s hardest on herself). More importantly, she came out of it with solid, affordable college choices.
I think because they’ve worked so hard, some kids feel they should try for the most selective, prestigious colleges. But applying to too many reaches can result in disappointment, stress and a lack of practical choices.
So many take-aways, the problem is that some of them are conflicting!
Make sure you don't overwhelm your kid. Agree to meet 1 day a week with your kid to talk about college, and don't talk about it at other times unless they ask you.
Visits/Research. We visited a ton of schools, and several schools were visited twice, and ED school even 3x. Pro was that my D had a solid reason for every school that she was going to apply to. I really think this helps the kids write better essays for the schools they target and makes the application more compelling. Con is that kid can become too invested in a particular school and spends too much time dealing with college stuff - it just raises all the emotional stakes.
Timing for Essays. I really wanted my kid to be finished with her essays over the summer, but that didn't happen and it just became a ball of negativity that I started so soon with asking her to finish these because the pushing went on for about 6 months. Reason for pushing was that her schedule come the Fall, like most kids, was stretched to the limit. In the end, I think she matured tremendously between the summer and December, so it's just as well she didn't start earlier.
Timing for SAT/ACT. She studied over the summer between 10th and 11th grades and took the test in the Fall of Junior Year. I think this only works well for someone who has already taken precalc. She had, so this was perfect timing so she didn't have to study during Junior Year, which had an overwhelming amount of work. Plan was if she needed more, study over Junior Year winter break and take next text, and if more need and then study over the summer between Junior Year and Senior Year and take 1st test in Senior Year.
Timing for SAT2. I wish we focused on this earlier. I would have had her take some tests Freshman and Sophmore year when she was finished with the corollary class, like Math 1 or Bio.
Reduce Focus on College: I wish I didn't talk in terms of "oh this will look good on your college app" and instead talked in terms of " oh, this sounds really fascinating. This will really help make you an interesting person".
Application Strategy: She applied ED, which worked great for us. She also applied EA to a couple of places (which she withdrew before finding out the decision). I think it was important for her to have a "Yes" to a EA school right around the time her ED decision came out, just in case ED decision was a no. It's got to be hard to sit on just a "No" from an ED school for over 3 months until the RDs come out.
Money. I strongly agree that if the NPC works for your financial situation, run it first before visiting colleges, so you know whether it's even worth your time and effort to think about, let alone visit, that school.
Really great advice from all. I can’t add much more so will reiterate a few that stuck out for us:
Limit number of apps to ~10. Do more if student’s situation is an outlier or aid is critical, but it will add work even after apps are in.
Do early (as feasible), don’t wait until fall of Sr year: testing, essays, LORs, GC meetings. Fall can get really busy.
Regarding visits, really focus on visiting when students are there. Meeting students, sitting in class and chatting briefly with a prof or two (if possible) are really key to “getting” a school, much more that soaking in the campus grounds and buildings. Given this, it really helps to start before fall of Sr year.
Gauge and work w/ your GC, get to know AO (w/o being a burden). Pick LOR writers that really know you. These people form part of the “intangible” portion of the app that can make a notable difference.
As a class of '19 parent who lurks here to see what’s ahead, I just wanted to say that I appreciate this subthread about advice you class of '18 parents have for us. “If I knew then, what I knew now…” – that’s helpful.
Congratulations to all your kids (and to you) for reaching (almost) the end of this journey and getting ready for a new one!
@melvin123 I really like #6 as a whole and love the sentiment that it will help make you a more interesting person.
Reduce Focus on College: I wish I didn't talk in terms of "oh this will look good on your college app" and instead talked in terms of " oh, this sounds really fascinating. This will really help make you an interesting person".