I’ve also heard at every school: “We don’t care which application you use”. That said, just to get the ball rolling, we are using the school app for the first few. These aren’t elite schools, and it literally takes 30 minutes to fill out an app. Some allow upload of resumes, rather than enter all the activities. The Self-Reported stuff (SRAR) is kind of a pain, but we haven’t completed UMinn yes. In the case of UIowa (not Iowa St. ), an admittance opens up a supplemental app, so the sooner the better since there will be new essays. The schools-specific apps just feel more personal.
Also, I have no problem creating the login and filling in the mindless information for D20. I think log all the login information in a spreadsheet, with a link to the app for completion by D20. It does avoid situations like applying to the wrong school, and forgetting usernames and passwords.
He did apply to Iowa State and got accepted within a couple hours of submitting the application. Now it wants him to accept his offer and pay $330. It says it’s 90% refundable if you change your mind before May 1st, but is this something we need to do now or can it wait? I was really hoping to just compare financial aid packages. I don’t want to have to pay $300/school first. :neutral:
@cshell2 Congratulations! We haven’t accepted yet. My impression was that the main benefit is that they prioritize housing choices based on the date you paid the deposit.
@cshell2 congrats on the acceptance! While I know nothing about Iowa State and the benefits of accepting early, I would not accept an offer without knowing the financial aid. Perhaps your son can email them and ask when he will have financial aid information available. Since FAFSA isn’t open until Oct 1 I suspect it’ll be a bit to find out financial aid. If he’s eligible for merit aid that info would hopefully come out sooner. With my S18 he found out his merit aid with most schools either with his offer letter or shortly after.
@VickiSoCal my daughter is applying to StAs as IR/French and absolutely loves the school based on (academics, teaching style, community feel, traditions, location - visited/toured Aug18) and it will be her first choice. Trying to get a sense of chances so that I can properly support enthusiasm and also level set expectations…one last intangible, StAs has familiarity with her HS as 5 current students applied/offered/attending
Stats: ACT 32(ss);
AP World History, English Literature 5s; AP US History 4;
Taking next year AP US Government, AP French, AP English Comp (anticipate all 5 or 5-4-5 respectively)
SAT II:
US Hist 740
Literature 710
World Hist 710
French 740
Other schools applying:
U Glasgow (she does not like that French requires a year away from school…AND…no IR/French combination)
American U (second choice)
Vassar (reach)
Wesleyan (reach)
Boston U
Loooooong message, I appreciate your looking at this.
Best of luck to all the kids submitting their apps! We are in Texas, so were able to start the process on July 1st. My DD20 school counselors started back the next week and sent her transcripts (no LORs or essays required) and she has already been accepted (Juy 17th or so) to her top choice (Tarleton State). It’s definitely not a top tier school, but it fits her vibe and she loved it both times we visited. We are still waiting to hear about her app to U of Alabama, and are going to apply to a few others, but she doesn’t really want to go out of state. Plus, due to finances, she is okay with starting at TSU and possibly transferring out to TAMU-Galveston campus later on. Such a relief to start school with this part of the process almost over. lol Congrats to all the other kiddos with acceptances!
@BOS-rules IR is the hardest to predict, but those stats look good to me!
Make sure her personal statement is very focused on why she wants to study IR and why in the UK.
How much does your kids AP credits affect your college choice? I finally did a comparison between some of the schools and the contrast is Stark. Some schools basically allow for the entirety of the general education core credits to be completed with AP (UK) while others may give credit but it doesn’t really count towards anything of value (FSU) and everything in between. I am not my daughter but that makes a huge difference in my book.
At this stage in the process, it means very little to our family. Once she gets back all of the results of her applications we will then compare all of the colleges that accepted her (god willing) and look at all of the pros and cons. In general, the colleges she is looking to apply to will give very little actual college credit for AP classes and we are not looking to have her graduate early. I’m also not sure she will take all of her senior year AP exams since many of the colleges on her list won’t give the credit but maybe it allows her to skip some prerequisites (e.g. college calculus)? We will cross that bridge when we get to it in the spring I suppose.
We’re looking at how her AP credits will transfer over, but I wouldn’t say it’s a deciding factor. Interesting that you mention FSU as not helping much. For my D20 they’re pretty much in line with the other schools she’s looking at. She should be able to get out of Calc I, Calc II, Micro, Macro, and 2 Gen Ed Sciences. That is of course assuming she gets the needed scores next year in Micro, Macro, and Physics E&M. The only two APs she’s taken/will be taking that won’t help her at FSU are Comp Sci A and Stat. Pretty much none of the schools she’s looking at will give her anything for Stat.
So today he applied to Huntsville. Man, that was a strange application. It basically just asked the normal about info, like name, address, parents, high school name and a few demographic questions. And that was it. It took all of 5 minutes. Filling in the credit card info for their $30 payment probably took as long as the application.
All the other schools had self-reported grades and test scores and at least some space to put in extracurriculars.
), an admittance opens up a supplemental app, so the sooner the better since there will be new essays. The schools-specific apps just feel more personal.
All of my S’s school’s apps are now live except UGA. Let’s go!