No - not mine. He has 2-3 draft ideas - and leaning towards one of them - but not much progress on the essay itself. He was busy in the summer with couple summer programs - in the hindsight, maybe he should not have done one of them - but on the other hand both programs inspired him with the current essay idea.
DS is a bit of a slow writer (especially when doing non-analytical or non-research type work) and also has the tendency to make most progress in the last few days before the deadline - so I am pushing for a college with a Oct deadline - lets see if he makes it.
@bigmacbeth@midcentury@stencils@MamaBear2001@hs2020dad
Thanks for the feedback! It makes me feel a little better. My kid has a crazy way of procrastinating - he dedicates himself diligently to every other type of work that he has - but at the end of the day, it is still procrastination. I think he is nervous about it so I will reassure him that many others are just getting going as well.
@Octagon Nope, my son is trying to decide if he should use his essay from AP Comp last year, or if he should start something new. His reach school is UChicago, so heās stressing their unique prompts. We are trying to push him to finish these sooner rather than later. Hopefully, he can get his common app essay done, so he can send in his app to the UMinn. They have a rolling admission, so it would be nice to get an acceptance on the board. His fall is super busy with XC, two youth boards, stuco and now we found out heās on homecoming court so the next two weeks are going to be full of activities.
Good problems to have, but a couple of weekend days should wrap things up. Weāll see, they do need to enjoy the senior year after all.
S20 is thinking of just not writing the common app essay at all. Itās optional for the schools he is still thinking about.
We toured UW Madison and he liked it okay but not more than U Minnesota so writing the essays to apply there doesnāt seem appealing.
Hopefully we can get the UMN app done once SAT scores come in; if he gets an acceptance there in October he will probably just be done. (And we would all be thrilled!)
Also, maybe itās the big hills on our last two tours but I am kind of ready to be done with visits!
Nope, not even really started here. She opened up the common app, filled in a few things, and hasnāt mentioned it since. Most of her deadlines are 12/1 or 12/15, so still feeling fine with that timeline. Iām guessing sheāll get serious about a first draft in early October.
Luckily (sorta), my D is not applying to any schools using the Common App. However, she is applying to some UCs and their application is very similar with 4 essays required. She has written about 4 drafts but has not shared them with me yet. Any other parents having a hard time getting their kid to show them the drafts?
My D started her CA up to the essay. Then she applied to her safety outside of the CA. Got that acceptance in yesterday and is planning to apply to one other school, also not the using the CA, so she may not finish it at all. Sheās only applying to the couple of schools that will allow her to defer since sheās planning on a gap year.
Hi all! Iāve been a lurker these past few months but wanted to share my daughterās approach/insight. She wrote her common app and supplementals for USC using last yearās prompts, including short questions. For example, for āthe place you are most contentā she wrote
ā in is my sanctuary. I go there to paint, unwind, and tackle the oxidation game the kiln plays with my pottery colors.ā
Of course, once she actually went into the common app, she realized that particular question has been scratched from this yearās list by USC, but that gave her an idea to use her description for an activities section (pottery painting is her hobby). So now she wants to treat all activities descriptions as supplemental short questions and to come up with witty/creative descriptions to make her application stand out. Not sure how successful she would be, or how much it makes sense, just wanted to share it. Even for straight-forward descriptions, fitting everything into 150 characters is tough and takes time, so please remind your kids to tackle those early on and not leave till the last minute, like they can do with the list of classes, for example.
S has almost finished the common app and has his essay topic and a rough outline. Once he actually sits down, he can usually whip out something very good in a short period of time, so Iām not too worried.
Nope, no essay here either. She was gone most of the summer so nothing got done then. The plan is definitely early action for the schools that have it though so hopefully itāll happen soon. She has a rough draft but not sure sheās going to polish it or just go with a totally new idea.
Itās been a struggle getting dd to do the common ap and essays. I am constantly fighting with her about it but I am not going to let up because this is too important. I was hoping that this would have been completed during the summer but despite my constant reminders she chose not to do it. Someone told me that in order to get the best chance of scholarships, Apps must be in by October 1 so that is what we are shooting for.
We got our first acceptance to Alabama today. The other apps are lagging now that school is in full swing. At this rate the safety is going to be the only one we apply to.
UK was her first choice safety but they reduced their NM scholarship this year. Itās still affordable but it makes others look that much better.
Mine did hers but only because UTK nursing strongly recommended applying in mid Aug. to early Sept. She did the common app essay, personal statement and the nursing supplement for that application and it is the only one sheās submitted. But weāre still waiting on the high school to send their pieces (transcript, recommendations etc.) via Naviance for it to be truly complete. Weāre hoping that she can re-purpose pieces of those 3 essays for all the other schools. 2 donāt accept common app so they might need to be tweaked a bit more depending on their prompts. Iām in full-time nagging mode to keep her on track and the plan is to just keep tackling one at a time - prioritizing her favorites and shooting for the Early Action due dates for those that have them. As of right now, sheās only applying to 6 schools which doesnāt seem like enough compared to how many others are doing but I feel like 2 are pretty safe bets so weāre going to roll with that for now.
Just went through the schools in her Common App to verify what every school needs, and by when. Also got dates and requirements for all supplemental applications. Tomorrow will sit down with her and go through the checklist and due dates (at least 2 weeks before actual due date). Shooting to be complete by 10/1 with all main apps, and 11/1 with honors college and supplemental apps. She REALLY just needs that Common App essay done!
My daughter did most of her common app in college counseling in school, has her Recs done, and has a draft of her main essay. Working on questions for supplemental apps (āWhy [school]?ā etc). And sheāll likely submit a Performing Arts supplement as a dancer which we need to work on. I would have liked her to take a crack at the SAT or a SAT Subject test again in Oct, but sheās burned out on standardized test prep completely.
Sheās getting her heart set on ED for a particular college and weāre heading there for a āsenior overnightā next week. Feeling like weāre in a good place but I am not sure I really still know all the pieces - or ever really will understand the puzzle!
My D is doing some app work here and there but nothing is near ready to push that āsubmitā button. Her first deadlines are Nov. 1st so mid October will be very busy. The schools she is applying to do not offer rolling admissions anyway so nothing there to gain by applying super early except for peace of mind.
First day of school here! Common app essay is started but needs a bit more work. As she is finalizing her list and looking at all of the deadlines and supplements this is looking daunting. I think the next two months are going to be rough but Iām trying to remain upbeat and positive!
Lots started here - little to nothing finished. I think she has a few scholarship deadlines starting mid-October, so sheās going to need to stat prioritizing. Sheās still debating her ED school, so thatās also slowing down finishing the supplement(s) due Nov. 1. Iād really, really like to have everything done by mid-November as the following month will be insane with Nutcracker and the last thing I want to do between Xmas and NY is watch her finish apps!
Common App essay done and most of info on CA Application filled in, but not much else. Focused on studying for Sept 14 ACT, then he will start working on all the supplemental questions. Also hoping to be mostly done with apps by 11/15, but we will see how that goes.
- so I am pushing for a college with a Oct deadline - lets see if he makes it.