Driving to rehearsal last night, we got to talking about essay topics. So while the kid was rehearsing I googled up the common application on my phone and found the topic list. Rehearsal ended early and the kid was on a high, so he spent the drive home reading the prompts and riffing silly responses. I know they’ll change this summer, but they do keep some of them constant and I like that he’s thinking about this so far ahead of time. And humor is good, right?
I am torn between wishing we were hitting submit already and wanting this year to never end. It’s going too slow and it’s going too fast. I guess this is my morning for existential crises.
S19 really wants UCLA, but it’s too expensive. I don’t mind him going away, but would prefer he choose a TX school. Any school in TX that offers serious merit money is fair game. He wants to major in math or physics which everyone offers so we’re good on the academic front. Oh, and the school has to feel like college (I.e not a commuter campus, has NCAA/NAIA football, has long standing traditions & spirit). As you can imagine, I’ve got one heck of a spreadsheet going! We have 1 finishing up college, then our S19, then our D20. So money is a big factor for us.
We are so NOT about prestige. We’re simple, modest people. So when others brag or throw their kids’ stats around, it seriously pushes us away. My husband & I have multiple degrees, ranging from small unheard of privates to large public flagships. We are happy & content with our lives. I do have a niece at Stanford, a nephew at Duke, and a cousin at MIT right now. All were the valedictorians of their high school class. Prestige was very important to them because they felt like they had earned it and they wanted to be around like minded individuals. And all are thriving. I don’t know their financials or the amount of debt they will incur. Most importantly, they are happy and found the best campus for them. In the end that is all that matters.
S19 has told me he wants a maximum 4 hour drive, a maximum 6 hour drive, an easy direct flight, “north of here” and “anywhere but the south and the west coast.” So I have no idea. For planning purposes, I’m thinking of using the 6 hour drive as an initial guide, but that’s a lot of schools. Hopefully the upcoming trip to Pitt will give him an idea of whether he likes an urban school that still has a fairly distinct campus… (I don’t think he likes the integrated city campus, like GW has).
My gut tells me that this one’s apps will overlap significantly with some of his friends’ and he’ll ultimately end up going to a school where at least 5% of his graduating class goes, but I’d still like him to explore all the options.
S19 met with more reps yesterday at school. Had a one on one meeting with the Macalester rep. She seemed very excited about his visit to the school today and he liked the idea of Mac being in the city. Add him to the list of kids now who likes middle of nowhere and city. I don’t get it. He’ll see Carleton too today so, hopefully, when he sees one kind of location versus another he will have a preference. If he loves Mac like he loved Grinnell, then I’m throwing my hands up.
His meeting with the Kenyon rep had five kids. He loved it. (See a trend here?) The rep talked about Kenyon and why it’s special but also had the kids read actually common app essays and critique them. Then they did an essay worksheet to brainstorm ideas, etc. Count on Kenyon to make a rep visit into a writing workshop. I love it!!
My husband and I attended the (small, Catholic) high school’s college info session last night. It was presented by the school guidance counselor and the head of admissions from the private college in our town. I was already aware of most things shared. But both the guidance counselor and admissions person talked about how long and laborious the Common App is compared to the apps offered directly by the schools. This was new to me. Sorta thought the whole point of the Common App is to be more efficient.
The Common App may be laborious, but you only need to fill it out once. As opposed to filling out a less laborious form 8 times for 8 different schools.
And you can get started on it early. We’ve already started D19’s common app with the demographic info. Didn’t take long at all. The laborious part will be entering in all the class and EC information.
Thanks @gusmahler . That makes complete sense. When they were talking about it last night, I was thinking “But, you only have to fill it out once. So if it takes a bit longer yet can be sent to multiple schools, that is helpful and more efficient.”
I had no idea that S19 could start pulling the Common App together now. That’s great to know.
@4MyKidz The closest college/uni to my house is UCLA, but fat chance my daughter getting in there, I don’t see the point of her even applying. But we also live within 3 hours of USC, UCSB, UCI, maybe UCSD, a few CSUs, Pepperdine, Oxy and Chapman. So, naturally and of course, my D19 is looking at schools on the east coast.
@homerdog FWIW, I know a sophomore at Kenyon (son of a friend) and he loves it. He’s from a more urban part of Los Angeles and the “adjustment month” was breezy for him too. He is having the best college experience.
The Common App doesn’t really take all that much time to fill out, you just need to keep a list of all the things your kid has done, any awards, titles, clubs, sports, etc. If you make a list now, before you start filling it out later it will be a piece of cake. The essay is the hardest part, and kids just do that when they have free time to work on it.
@homerdog my son17 has a friend playing lax at Kenyon. Kid likes it there, reminds him of his private school he went to. Same kind of feeling to it. But it really is in the middle of nowhere, that is an understatement according to the kid and his parents.
Son19’s 1st quarter comes to end next week and he informed us he should have all A’s and A- grades, which is pretty darn good seeing he has no free time. He should have more free time soon, as track season starts and a lot of races are right after school or on Saturday. So his nights will be less crazy, but robotics kicks into full swing. He’s going to try to take to SAT and ACT in early Dec.
S19 went to his first college rep visit yesterday. Trinity Univ. I didn’t get the report as he was wiped out from being on the go from from 6:30am to 9:30pm (morning practice, school, after school rehearsal, volunteering at school open house). Today he goes to Univ of San Diego. Right now I’ve said to keep an open mind and go to different ‘types’ of schools. Small, medium, large. LAC, research univ. Secular, religious affiliated. Etc. His interest is math, which he can do anywhere, but he’s quite advanced so I’m trying to steer him to mid-sized at least. We’ll see.
I have no idea how far he wants to go, but 80% of the seniors at his school leave the state so there is a lot of wanderlust among his peers.
@RightCoaster good to hear about more kids at Kenyon. We visited last summer and it really is remote. And there is no town. It’s one restaurant and one coffee shop. At least Grinnell had a town. That being said, Kenyon feels secluded and special for the right student. And it’s only one hour from Columbus where Grinnell isn’t close to any big city.
Speaking of the common app and essays, have the class of 2019 essay prompts been released yet? They generally stay more or less the same year to year, but there are occasional tweaks, and I wouldn’t expect they’d do any updates before the current cycle is over—and I especially wouldn’t want my child to start working on a response to one only to have it changed for her cycle.
Only 13 TX schools accept the common app. We will be using Apply Texas…one app for 62 TX schools. So far, I’ve narrowed it down to 15. Which is a ridiculous number that will get cut drastically by end of Jr year!
Thx @gusmahler for recommending we start filling out the apps now. I didn’t even think it was possible until reading your post.
My older D actually avoided the Common App entirely, so it will be new to me (assuming that S19 has to use it). I also didn’t realize it could be filled out early and always assumed it would “re-set” at the beginning of each application season.
No matter when they release the essay prompts, S19 will likely be writing his Common App essay 8 to 12 hours before whatever due date his English 12 teacher assigns. I’m really glad they do these in senior English classes or who knows if he would ever do it.
Some common app information rolls over to the next year application cycle and some does not. Check the details of rolling over your account before filling in too much information a year early.