My current hope is to have the list of colleges firm by the end of June next year. At that point we will pull out the favorite for ED. If the favorite has EA, we will do all the EAs on the list over the summer and have them sent in by beginning of September, get them out of the way. Then we’ll work on the regular admissions.
The English class she’s in is right now working on essays based on the Common prompts, so hopefully that leaves us with a mostly-complete application once we plug in all the other information.
I keep telling myself that we have another year to do this, I shouldn’t be panicking yet. And then I have these waves of doubt. Hopefully I’m not communicating that.
It’s getting real over here too. Just me and D up late last night (best time to chat). Says physics and math are her easiest classes thus far, AP Chem is easier than she thought, and APUSH will be the death of her.
Discussed whether its worth taking more than 1 Subject test this year (she has SAT Bio under he belt already) given that most schools that require or recommend them only want 2. Concluded that since she’s already prepping for AP Chem, she’ll take the Chem SAT this spring. If she decides that Georgetown (which recommends 3 subject tests) or one of the BS/MD programs (one that she is looking at requires Math 2 and Chem) is something she wants to pursue, she can take the Math 2 in August and/or Oct.
Discussions taking place, plans placed in motion…its getting real and I’m both excited for them and incredibly nervous. Hold on to your hats guys.
Do we know when supplemental essays become available? I assume not all schools release them at the same time. I’d love for S19 to get some done next summer but I don’t think they are available that early. If anyone knows otherwise, please let us know!
Good question @homerdog and also, which essays tend to be similar enough that they could at least start brainstorming ideas anytime? I mean, don’t some colleges use the same essay prompts? Or do few do that? I wouldn’t want her to waste time looking much at the current ones only to find out that most colleges completely change them each year. But if they typically stay the same, it could help to at least be thinking about the, maybe. @ThinkOn it sounds like our daughters are having a similar experience with classes. We haven’t yet taken any of the SAT 2’s though. I’m hoping that she won’t have forgotten too much and do badly when she gets to the Math 2 SAT 2. But it is just how things have worked out best for her as timing to wait until sometime this winter. She is probably going to also take chemistry in the spring.
@mom2twogirls I think some schools keep the same questions. I bet we could just call each of the schools in May before school lets out and ask them directly. Every time I’ve had a question that I can’t seem to get answered here or online somewhere, I just pick up the phone and call admissions offices. I’ve talked to a handful already and everyone is always very helpful and I get a straight answer on my questions. (In fact, I talked to both Grinnell and Northwestern today. Someone answered the phone at both places and was able to answer my questions around SAT essays right away…)
At the very least, the kids can comfortably choose a common app essay and get that done. And probably work on some “Why X college?” essays as it seems certain schools ask that question every time.
Yeah, I wish I’d been forcing the kiddo to keep notes on particulars at his favorite college for the “why X college” essays. We talked about it last night, actually. I forced him to remember our trips to the current 3 definite contenders, and realized he was already mixing them up a bit. So we brainstormed and actually wrote down 3 specific, unique details about each one. Not just “it’s a pretty campus”, but things like “the student jobs available is taking care of the collection of capuchin monkeys and being the mascot at games” and “the art installation by your science center is by an artist who I adore and I have a replica of his work hanging above my bed”
Hopefully we won’t lose that scrap of paper between now and next year. If those particular colleges don’t ask the why X question, these will help as a refresher when we go for the interviews.
Ugh. Maybe I should start keeping an actual folder instead of random scraps of paper and pamphlets.
Today is a school holiday, so I’m taking the kiddo and two friends up to Temple. It’s not really on the list, kid doesn’t want a school in the city, but a girl who graduated last year is a freshman there and the kids all miss her. So, tour and lunch and see a bit of Philly.
Dd has been on lots of school visits with her siblings but none as a prospective - Penn St was wheres the Creamery? Pitt was “ooh hyatt house and cheescake factory!” and Rutgers was “buses ew”… Maybe she should go see something but my others didn’t get much clarity about what they wanted this early, they kept changing their ideas of what they wanted…as people they weren’t in the mindset of who they would be at 18.
@ninakatarina I typed up notes from our visits. Only three visits so far though. My husband is taking S19 to Carleton and Macalester in October. I will stress that they need to take notes but I have a feeling I will have to debrief with S19 as soon as he gets home to get his fresh thoughts down on paper.
It will be very interesting to see how those visits go. I’ve really been doing all of the college legwork and I keep my husband up to date but he tends to keep his opinions to himself about where S19 should be looking. He mentioned the other day that he thinks S19 likes LACs because that’s my opinion of where he fits and those are the only schools we’ve visited so far. Since the AOs do a great job of selling the idea of a LAC when you visit, he thinks S19 has been swayed by them. In S19’s defense, he has said himself that he doesn’t want large classes or giant “hotel like” dorms. He doesn’t care about D1 football games. And he does best in his classes where he knows his teacher well. My husband, though, thinks that we still need to show him larger schools so he understands the trade offs. Our nephew went to University of MN and they will have dinner with him while they are in St. Paul. My husband wants to know why I didn’t schedule an extra day to see Minnesota. Ugh. I think I’m going to have to throw him a bone and take S19 to Madison or maybe Indiana so we can say we checked off the Big Ten box.
I suspect that S19 will write his common app essay when his English 12 teacher assigns it next fall - probably 7 or 8 hours before the draft is due. (although I’m sure I’ll nag him about it for the better part of the summer). He’ll probably avoid schools with a bunch of supplemental essays.
@homerdog Hey, I went to a Big 10 school, never saw a football game (or any sports), and lived in a 3-story dorm! Several of my older kid’s high stats friends ended up in honors programs at good public universities and they seem to be getting the best of both worlds in terms of opportunities, class size, personal attention, etc.
@eh1234 I know!! I’ve already looked at all Big Ten honors programs. The best fit honors program for him, though, seems like Vermont or Maryland. My husband and I went to Northwestern so I know the Big Ten pretty well. S19 still likes the feel of Wisconsin so it’s probably the only one he might consider although they do not have an honors college. It’s an honors program and honestly does not have the things he really wants from an honors college.
@mommdc I know a number of kids who like Mac and St. Olaf better than Carleton. I just feel like his list is so long already!! His GC pegged him for a Carleton kid when he was just a freshman (and this counselor has been working at our high school for 25 years). Now that he has his SAT in hand, his GC is doubling down on Carleton. Said that the kids who have gone there from our high school are like S19 in every way. Only time will tell!
D19 played videographer for D17’s college visits, which helped greatly with essay writing. D19 will be going on a lot fewer visits (but then again, she’ll be applying to fewer schools that care about the whole “Why us?” thing, what with her preference for Big State Schools™ and all), but probably still doing some filming on those, because the video record turned out to be really good for D17 not just in writing essays, but also in making her final decision.
Ok. More griping about XC. It’s 96 degrees and “feels like” 101 according to my weather app. We’re going ahead with this meet? For real? I told s19 that no one is setting any personal records today so he should just make an agreement with the rest of the kids in the middle of the pack to take it easy. Of course they will not listen to me but I thought it was worth a shot. No time for heatstroke. Tons of homework tonight again.
@homerdog that’s why we don’t really do sports much in our house. Or at least one of the reasons. Too many decisions are made by coaches that I think are not good for the kids.
@carolinamom2boys that’s a great interim report! I always remind my girls to not take too much to heart the first couple of real grades each fall for classes if they aren’t ecstatic because it takes a little to get a feel for what the teacher is looking for. Bringing a B up in a class is possible at this point and if not, it’s still a respectable grade.
Not that my kids seem to let that sink in when it’s about their own grades. But I’ve heard them use that advice with friends and each other, so maybe eventually they will believe it for themselves too.
@carolinamom2boys That’s great! I don’t even want to look at S19’s grades after he missed four days of school. If some missed assignments, labs, tests, etc. are temporarily at 0 he probably has an A in orchestra and a C, D or F in everything else for now. I’ll wait for him to tell me it’s safe to look again!
@homerdog I hope that heatstroke was successfully avoided! Also, it shouldn’t be 96 degrees anywhere in September - yuck!