D19 is not applying to any in-state (CA) schools. Her first requirement is cold. But she doesn’t know from cold- she grew up in northern California - she thinks 45 degrees is cold. Ha. (I grew up in CT, went to college in MI) We took her first to Colorado, where it is cold, but at least it’s sunny most of the time. Then to Minnesota. Then to the northeast. We will see. I will miss her so, but that would be the case even if she went to Berkeley. So. The closest she will be is a 2 hour flight away. Theoretically, I have always wanted my girls to go away for college - Californians are a lot like Manhattanites - “What, you mean there’s a world beyond here? Why?” But, now that it’s imminent … Mama will be sad. But, she is excited for her daughter(s) to find their wings. She remembers traveling Europe with a Eurail pass and not much else at 19 years old - no smartphone, no email, can’t remember calling her parents … ever … in more than 3 months. Oy.
@sdl0625 - My S19 is also afraid I will randomly show up at GT! I’m not sure where he’s getting that but I told him sooner or later he would be out at trivia with his friends and realize he needs some old people on his team so he’s bound to call DH and me. 
Also, D17 used to always say she wanted to live up north and after being in NY for a year, it’s funny how much she seems to like Atlanta now.
Those of you who know my geographic location probably already have guessed how amused I’m being at the discussions of distance from schools, and how far away you’d prefer to send your kids…
Thanks @RightCoaster and @TwinMom2023 .
@Turquoise52 the northeast had a flukey heat wave during February break last year. We met a family from CA visiting MIT who had specifically chosen February break so they could see if their child could handle the cold, and I think it was close to 80 degrees that day!
@mathmomvt We had the same experience! Took my cold weather wimp to Boston in February, at least partly to encourage her to stay closer to home for college… and it was so warm and sunny we left our coats in the car. The best-laid plans…
DS has a band of four within-two-hour schools, one at about 4 hours, three at 6-8 hours, and a cross country flight outlier. I’ve been hoping that the cross-country one falls off of the list somehow, but no luck so far.
We had a flurry of activity early in the month and got 3 applications in, but things have stalled in the last week. I’ve been trying to push ot get the letters of recommendation requested and written but kiddo’s school life is getting busy. He has the lead role in the fall play. I got a look at the script yesterday. In a 64 page script, there are 5 pages where he has no lines. Gulp. Lots of memorization.
Meanwhile I am getting nervous over my part of the process coming up. Next Monday the FAFSA opens. I don’t have balances on any of my 401ks or retirement accounts. Eep. I wish there were a way to see what the CSS requires for each school, so I know what sort of information I have to chase down.
@dfbdfb Y’all may need to get an airlines credit card. What is the closest so far? I think I know the farthest and dang!!
It looks like we will have to wait until mid to late october to press send because D wants to include some experiences she is going to have in the next few weeks. I was hoping to get all the EA schools in early, but it seems like we will be up against the Nov 1 deadline for some. Will that make a difference?
@gallentjill we are doing the same thing. S19 ready to hit send on seven apps but wants to wait until the end of cross country season which won’t end until first weekend in Nov. his deadlines are 12/1 for most of these schools. I told him that, the day he crosses the finish line at state, he is sending these apps!
We had the dip in grades last year so I’m hoping to include midterm grades, which come out Oct. 17. I’m not sure how to incorporate though. I thought the senior meeting had been rescheduled, but alas, I missed it last week. Ugh!
D19 hit “submit” last night for her app to her lottery school. All apps for the “first round” have now been submitted. Depending on her EA results, she may be writing more supplemental essays in December, but for now, she is done.
I’m making lists, too, for FAFSA and CSS Profile day. I actually took off work Oct 1 to get them done in the peace and quiet with no one else home :). I also wish they’d say specifically what is needed for the Profile - I’ve gathered everything I can, and have the checklist of things to call/log in that day for balances as of 10/1, but I just know I’ve forgotten something.
There’s a federal holiday October 8th so I’m going to get FAFSA done then. I remember reading a FAFSA thread last year where they said that the system had all sorts of hiccups on the 1st and was up and down all day, so I’m going to give it a day or so to stabilize before I get cracking on it.
That’s why I’m telling the kiddo to treat all deadlines as if they’re a week before the calendar deadline. All those procrastinators hit the college websites on the last day in the last hour and the systems go down. They’re not set up to handle the traffic, in a lot of cases.
If I have trouble with the websites, I’ll just do it one evening next week and enjoy my day off :). I’m with you on the last day/deadline day issue - I’ve always told S19 the same thing. NEVER try to submit at the last minute or last day, no matter how stable the system normally is.
Just heard that essays they are working on in class will be done Oct. 16. I think I’ll need to find a Control Freaks Anonymous meeting next week. With any luck, they’ll be submitting Oct. 27.
^ Control Freaks Anonymous sounds like just a thing for me!
Sign me up for Control Freaks Anonymous, too lol!
CFA all over this process. But in our neck of the woods, Oct 16th would have missed the UGA and GT early action deadlines. I feel like that’s Clemsons deadline, too.
Congratulations to all those kids who already have acceptances and to @carolinamom2boys on the Eagle Scout ceremony!!
I haven’t even thought about FAFSA yet, I didn’t think we would have to fill it out (we are full pay) but then I read that some schools require it even for merit scholarships. Since D still does not have a real college list I can’t research to see if any of her schools will require it so I guess I will just fill it out to be safe.
In the meantime D spent a little bit of time this weekend filling out the Common and Coalition apps. Coalition is such a pain - we have so many questions for the GC now. Even little things like should we put weight or unweighted GPA, should we list her school counselor or her dean (who will write her counselor rec letter) as the school counselor, they do letter grades for the semester but numbers for the final GPA - which should we list when they ask for how does your school grade… I’m waiting until she gets through the whole thing before I have her ask the GC.
As of right now D only has a few schools on her list - closest is the state school about 4.5 hours away, farthest is 3 hours by plane. In the back of her mind she wants to think about CA but she does not like how far is is. When she visited UF a few weeks ago she remembered that she liked the idea of being able to see her sister once in a while. That is a problem living in south FL - there are not many schools within driving distance!