No fee waivers for the schools on S19’s list but four of them have no application fee!
@Trixy34 I am having that struggle too. I think D19 is afraid or something. I did tell her I was not seeing the effort DH and I need to fork out money for private school. It has been a huge battle with many nights of lectures etc.
Don’t give up. I believe they’ll get there. There is so much value in freshman dorm life. Feel free to PM for support.
No fee waivers here, but a couple schools where applying early (read: before September) means no fee, so D19’s totally taking advantage of those.
(Seriously, I had no idea she could be so motivated by money. Her current favorite school on her list is “Wherever the lowest net cost is.”)
Is there a trick to getting fee waiver offers in the mail? S11 got a few random ones – they were generally in letters from the school (as opposed to a glossy postcard or similar advertising material) so I am making S19 open everything but so far nothing. He did get one from RIT because he got a small scholarship there (computing medal) but I’m not sure he’s even applying.
The main essay came back from my editor friend with only minor grammar changes and one sentence that needed clarifying. In theory that means that we’re ready to submit the first two applications. I just had a momentary freak out here at work. I think my kid is brilliant, amazing, awesome and I love his essay, but what if I’m just biologically programmed to think that? Will that anonymous admissions committee be able to see what I see in this application? What if I’m fooling myself? What if he gets in but they don’t offer enough aid?
I did some deep breathing and then a minor easily solved issue came across my desk to distract me, so now I’m better. But that sure caught me off guard.
@ninakatarina the right schools will see what you see in your child .
^^^This^^^ Wish I could like @carolinamom2boys post 100 times!
I agree with that @carolinamom2boys
My d figured out a topic and wrote her essay pretty quickly. She did spend just a bit longer on editing (and it will be checked again before it’s sent just to make sure nothing obvious was overlooked) but we aren’t stressing about it too much. She wrote about a topic she loves and was interested in. It showcases what matters to her and how she thinks. If college ad coms are telling the truth, then her essay will show them clearly why she would or would not fit in their schools. If they are lying or misrepresenting the purpose of the essay, then she also doesn’t belong in their schools. (Insert shrug here)
No waivers yet that I know of , probably won’t get any. Son19 doesn’t really have any sort of concrete “list”. He could be a one and done type. We’ll see. He has to formulate some type of plan at some point.
We didn’t stress much about the kid’s essays. They both came out fine, and were at the minimum sufficient enough. My kids took the approach to write something where the reader would end up thinking they know how to use their brains and were nice kids. That’s it. One school my son is interested in has made it clear that when they read thru the essays they try to find the “nice” kids in their exact words. They don’t want to bring any jerks on campus.
S emailed Pitt to ask for a waiver and they said no, but it was worth a try. Back when he got dragged on a tour of U Richmond (over two years ago), they gave him a waiver, so I guess we’ll use that one.
Also, my procrastinator son is finally starting to study for the SAT subject tests which are Saturday. I realized this week that this is really his only chance to take them since the October date conflicts with championship tournament weekend for his fall sport. Everyone says Spanish is really difficult but he’s determined to try it - I just hope he studies the next few days in between school, practice and work. Ugh He’s signed up for Lit and US History but is thinking of doing World History instead or maybe dropping history altogether. Really wishing he had done some prep in the weeks before school started. Oh well.
Our experience with application waivers over 4 kids in the past 4 years took three forms: (i) Local school, private or State, visits school or participates in college fair and gives out app waivers; (ii) visit school, take tour and info session, and ask…about 50/50 depending on the school, and (iii) Ivy. Why do you ask? In all cases, assume we were not pleading a need level to perhaps justify a fee waiver.
Strategy for placing schools on the common app well before ready to apply – is this considered good because it expresses interest early, or bad because you “took so long” to apply after adding them?
@mathmomvt I didn’t even know they can see you added them! Anyone know how they get notice of that?
I don’t know about the Common App but schools can definitely see that a student started but did not submit the application in ApplyTexas. We’ve received a reminder from one of the schools.
Please tell me they can’t tell with the practice parent account lol (currently the only account in our household)
edit: wait, is there really a strategy for when to place colleges on the Common App? Does it matter if a college was placed at the last minute or whether the account was opened, say, at the last minute?
I believe it was here that I read that the colleges get notified once the student places them on their dashboard. And I was wondering if that meant the timing would matter.
Yes, colleges can see that a student has added them on the Dashboard (My Colleges). From the CommonApp info page:
Any schools listed under My Colleges will have access to the following information from your application:
• Prefix, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Suffix, Preferred Name, City, State, ZIP, Country, Ethnicity, Sex, Applicant ID, Citizenship Status, DOB, Entry Term, Decision Type, Applicant Type (First Year or Transfer), Academic Interest, Paid Status, Recommenders, School CEEB and School Name
If you permit schools to communicate with you prior to submitting an application, they will also have access to:
• Permanent Home Address, Alternate Phone, Cell Phone, Alternate Phone, Email, and SSN
Once you submit an application to a school, that school will have access to all the information on the specific application.
He just submitted F&M and Fordham. No supplementals and we have fee waivers, so it was really as easy as clicking a box a few times. I’m wondering if we should wait a bit to see if anyone else gives fee waivers, or just whip out the credit card and go to town.
We talked supplementals a bit. He has a plan to get them all done before mid-September, since that’s when rehearsals start heating up. He also told me he just remembered that he has a summer homework assignment to investigate at least 2 scholarships. I think I need to send that teacher something extra on the first day of school.
@ninakatarina awesome summer assignment 
My S will also have (school musical) rehearsals starting up shortly afte the start of school, so he is starting to work on apps, but I doubt he will have anything “done” before that happens. Fortunately he has always been good at balancing practice and other things that need to get done, so I think he’ll be fine. I don’t think he really has his school list figured out quite yet though – I think that needs to be our next step