MOST schools are not need blind so being full pay (and them knowing that) will certainly give your child an edge. Especially ED full pay. That is the route wealthy students take to successfully get into reach schools. These schools get a full payer that is definitely attending- which means colleges get $$$ + yield improvement. Win Win for the colleges and wealthy students. Lose Lose for EA/RD students who will have a more competitive pool who may need FA.
Hello, joining the group! I was wondering if your high school counselor insists on reviewing applications before they go out, and if so, how that is done? All of the schools D is applying to are on the common app. Does your child just share the essays, or have to print out the whole application for review, or have to fork over their common app password?
@24daffodils There is a question on the studentâs Common App - the Recommenders & FERPA section - where they add their counselorâs email address. It also has a yes/no selection for, âCan preview my application?â Iâm assuming if you say âyesâ, they will be able to see it. I believe the Recommenders & FERPA section is found on each collegeâs tab so you can put different letter of recommendation writerâs. However, once you fill out the FERPA & counselor for one, I think they all fill out. But, this is my first time through this, so take that with a grain of salt.
I canât imagine that S19âs GC would have time to review every application. Their workload is just too high as it is. Maybe if a student has a particular question or concern?
I envy those that only have to worry about the Common App. S19 has 2 exclusive Coalition App schools and then the common app for his other 2. One has its own application but it was a super easy for S19 to fill out.
He is almost ready to send out the rest but he wants to do a final check and the timing works out well to wait a bit to hear official news on a couple of items. But, the demands of senior year are already kicking in so it will be nice for him to have this task list complete!
After temps in the 90s, we have a cool, rainy day here today. We are hunkered down inside. And S19 decided to submit his apps. Which he did. He ended up with fee waivers for all but one. I paid the fee to have his SAT scores sent. Now, we wait on the GC and teachers to do their part.
Our state flagship system (his top choice) and in-state directional safety are rolling admissions. He was waiting on the August SAT test results to submit. Heâs doing EA for the two LACs. For those, he already had everything ready to go in the Common App and decided to wrap it all up.
Now, it is up to the GC and teachers to do their part (not needed for the state flagship system though which has a SRAR). And, weâll do FAFSA and CSS next month.
And so, we wait. Hope my nerves will survive. 
@InfiniteWaves - we are having the same kind of day and S19 also submitted his apps. Now it is up to the GC and teachers. We are relieved but the waiting will be hard. Good luck!
We also have to wait for the new transcript - had one super early deadline that we sent the old transcript to, but we are (im)patiently waiting for S19âs transcript to be ready. Teachers have uploaded their recs to common app - just waiting on counselor. One deadline that needs the counselor rec is Friday⊠I sure hope she gets it in!
@24daffodils At our school, the counselors review the common app essay and likes to see the supplements as well. Students send a word or google doc file for those. As for filling in the common app, they review it during one of the counselor/senior meetings
@wisteria100 I would up and die if S19 had to show his apps to his GC. And I wouldnât take any of her suggestions. Do you think your GCs actually change stuff on the kidsâ essays, etc??
@homerdog Yes our counselor makes very constructive comments on content, structure, word choice, grammar etc. Will point out things like, you need a transition here, or youâve overused this word, or you havenât answer the question directly enough, or the close is flat. With my eldest, it was a great resource and definitely value added. I wouldnât have my D submit any essay without a review from her. Our counselors tend to be ex admissions people at LACS, so the advice is sound.
Itâs starting to look like S19âs English teacher isnât going to assign a college essay, so I think weâll be looking at him typing âWordâ 650 times on October 31. If he actually writes something, DH or I will read it, make sure itâs not terrible, and off it will go.
The counselor doesnât review college apps at all as far as I know, but weâre in a public school. I would have higher expectations if I were paying $40K to send my kid there. S19âs GC spent most of her career in one of the local elementary schools but seems to be pretty on the ball.
Our HS schedules time in English class for the first month of school to work on essays in class. The teachers read them and the kids can share their essays with other students for review if they want. My son has finished most of the things he has to write, except for a couple of short, quick response questions.
I donât think our GC read them and Iâm not sure they really even review the apps, they just make sure LORs and other stuff gets sent in on time.
D had first week of school last week. She came home and said their English class is going to start with college essay writing as well. Combined with the fact that Guidance doesnât release transcripts until week of 9/24, Iâm glad we spent little time this summer on the application process.
Thanks for the replies on the GC review of the application. Interesting to see how different schools handle it. I was surprised to learn last week that our school does not send out any transcripts until after the student has submitted the application.
S19 had to fill out transcript request forms and our GC said they will go out within two weeks of when she gets the forms. Pretty straight forward. We have hard copies, too, for interviews if he needs them.
I definitely wish S and his peers would be given time and encouragement in English classes to work on essays. I havenât heard any mention of that and Iâm guessing the IB lang curriculum wonât allow for it. Thinking Iâll just have to keep bugging him.
Actually most schools are need blind, since most are public schools. Most private schools are need aware, due to limited endowments.
I donât think our guidance counselors look at essays. Having read the guidance counselor letter for my oldest I wouldnât want that. (It was horrible: filled with typos and seemed like the counselor had never met him. We only saw it because she sent it to us by accidentâŠshe meant to attach a different file.)
My S19 took advantage of the long weekend to submit three more applications. RPI added yet another supplemental essayâŠso he wrote that as well. Two more applications to finish upâŠbut they donât open until October 1âŠbut they are just filling out data forms and uploading his transcript. He really wanted to submit those today as well.
DDâs school counselors will have college application presentation for parents this Thursday.
It is interesting how different schools handle the transcripts. Our city uses Parchment, so we just order them online and theyâre sent electronically. Made it much easier, especially for the rolling admission app he did before school started.