Here’s hoping that D25’s attempt to connect Xello to CommonAp worked as a few schools were waiting on transcripts.
I’m glad one of us had success here… my S25’s VA Tech essays were not great. Short and sweet while conveying what he wants is clearly not his sweet spot. There is one, in fact, that I hate so much I can’t stand it. (But it’s what he sent.).
He keeps a single running google doc with all his essays - for applications, scholarships, honors programs etc so he can easily cut and paste. There aren’t that many different big ideas, so I’d say there are probably maybe four or five themes that he’s been able to adjust to fit most every need. And most of them, I like what he’s done. But not that first VA Tech one. He tried to get too many ideas into too few words, and it shows.
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D has her first acceptance to Susquehanna University! Plus it came with a $44,000/yr presidential scholarship bringing COA to $32,000/yr so long as she maintains a full schedule and passes. That squarely puts it in budget. She scheduled her audition and hopefully will get some money from that. My husband and her have to go without me and stay overnight because I work. We’re so happy for her, it’s her number 2 and on the same side of the country as our home.
Right now she’s filling in the SRAR for UDelaware and said it’s the most boring thing she’s ever done 
I almost asked her if she doesn’t to go there over Susq then why bother but it’s good for her to be bored sometimes. She registered for West Chester audition as well.
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Yikes, I’m sorry. I mean, I’m glad you had the wherewithal to just let your S25 send in something that he wanted to. But that must have been really, really hard. Kudos to you.
Amazing scholarship! Congratulations!
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For the LOR, does the university provide any additional info on their site or CDS. S25 has one that specifically states not to send any LORs and then another that says it is optional, but not required. He is sending 1 LOR for the optional ones.
We have a college counselor who reviewed it with him and she was adamant that it was good. But to me, it was disjointed and read poorly. I even asked him to draft a different response to the same question and talk about the two options with her. I thought the second one was far better, but she told him to go with the first one. I hope I’m wrong, but I hated it. Oh well, it is what it is, and he was done and happy with it. If this is what breaks his application then it wasn’t meant to be. (He sent this in like seven weeks ago and I’m still unhappy, so clearly I’m not managing it as gracefully as I could be…)
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My sons list is all over the place and it’s giving me anxiety. I also feel like we might be missing out on some hidden gems. Any suggestions for …
-Male
-GA resident
-3.95 GPA
-Honors + AP + Dual curriculum
-Testing doesn’t align with ability so looking at mainly test optional schools. (1200)
-Baseball pitcher - talking to a D3, but otherwise not being recruited. Velo is on lower end at 84, but nice depth in pitching and excellent stats. (6’3, 210) yes! He wants to play in college!
-Wants business- he thinks
-likes the idea of staying in the warm weather but could go north for the right place
- would love to be around water but not a deal breaker
- Wants a social scene, so Greek life, athletics, etc but not necessarily a UGA
- Medium size would be optimal
- Do not need aid or scholarships
His current list - which again is all over the place. HELP
Georgia
- Emory
- Mercer
- Georgia College
California: - UCLA
- Stanford
Texas: - University of Texas
- Rice
Florida: - University of Miami
- Eckerd
South Carolina: - Clemson
- College of Charleston
North Carolina: - Elon
- Wake Forest
TN - Vanderbilt
Pennsylvania - UPenn
Hawaii - University of Hawaii
New Jersey - Princeton
For academic safeties…
Hobart and William Smith? Salve Regina? University of Wisconsin-Whitewater?
Central Michigan U?
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Why is Princeton on his list? It does not seem to fit what he is looking for. I hate to say it but this list is one of the most confusing ones I have seen. As far as Ivies, he might like Cornell or Dartmouth best, despite the size difference between the two. Duke, Northwestern, Syracuse, BC and BU, U of Maryland, Bucknell, Lehigh.
Does he have solid/deep ECs outside of his sport? If he is not a recruit the reaches will look for other ECs - the athletic bucket is already full.
Has he recruitable at a lower D1? Patriot league?
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What does this mean? He is talking to D3… so will he go that way? Its hard do play if not recruited I think. Are there a lot of walk on pitchers out there?
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Perhaps Davidson (just outside charlotte, nc and close to lake Norman). Or Wofford or Furman (in adjacent towns in sc, just south of charlotte).
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Well, today bookended a last and a first. This morning we had our Little Bear’s last IEP meeting at school and tonight she submitted her first college application. She is totally on board with this thread’s suggested ice cream celebration for such events, but the local ice cream shop was closed by the time of submission. Will hopefully get a rain check tomorrow.
Btw, my ability to respond with the various response emojis has returned. Go me!
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Me too! 
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I agree with other responses—this is a very weird list.
I see Eckerd on it, but having lived there years ago I’ll mention that lots of other Florida LACs have a strong baseball tradition (e.g., Rollins/D2, Flagler/D2, Tampa/D2, Stetson/D1). Is this a class of 2025 kid, though? As already pointed out, it’s going to be tough to play intercollegiate ball if he isn’t being recruited, and if he isn’t already being recruited and graduates this spring, then recruitment beyond the one you mention is unlikely.
But overall, the issue isn’t that he’s missing out on hidden gems, it’s that his list is so scattershot that it’ll be impossible to find any gems. You have the bulleted list of what he wants, plus the other things that are effectively part of the bulleted list (baseball, good business program, test optional, warm weather)—what he needs to do, quite probably working with you on it, is to figure out what he actually wants and to make a prioritized list of desires.
Don’t focus on the list, focus on the characteristics. That’ll give him and you a lot of the answers right there.
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That’s great! I think when I see anything before November, I have to do a double-take. Is your child applying?
From watching my friend’s son last year, I know that spots for incoming freshman to play baseball are incredibly competitive. A lot of schools pull slightly older and more experienced kids from junior college (this seems to be more of a baseball trend than anything else). So for example this son-of-friend is passionate about baseball, honestly, it might be the only thing still keeping him in school, as he was feeling some significant burn out. So when he didn’t get commitments to play at any of the schools he was applying to that had both the academics and the baseball, he opted to do two years at a local junior college rather than attend a traditional four year college where playing time was unlikely. He’s hoping to be able to be able to transfer and keep playing baseball after either his first year (preferable) or at least his second.
In talking with friend, I think part of the problem they had was with his list - he applied to mostly big baseball schools, rather than some of the smaller D2 and D3 programs where they might have been more hungry for players. And even the schools that don’t have huge baseball programs that he applied to were schools that were really popular for other reasons (location, social life, academics) so they ALSO had a lot of great candidates and they could fill their roster with transfers who were known college quantities who were eager to move in.
I think friend felt that if they’d had a larger list, and a broader list, then her son might have had more chances of finding a traditional four year school where he could also play. So, all of that isn’t meant to be discouraging, but rather to say that I understand why you/your son would have a really long list. If he wants to play in college, I’d probably add a few more of the safety type schools, like those FL ones mentioned by dfbdfb, where he might have a better chance of some playing time then at a Stanford/Texas/Clemson/Wake etc. That doesn’t mean take those schools off the list - but he should think about where he’d want to if baseball wasn’t part of the scenario, and you may want to start seeding the idea that baseball isn’t likely at many of these schools, so he isn’t as taken by surprise and let down as my friend’s son.
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If @GASenior25 DS really wants to play a PG year can be a good option. Our school has 2 or 3 Baseball PGs every year.
It sounds like they possibly did not understand the recruiting process and timeline. @GASenior25 do you follow the coach Renee FB page? He could probably find a great home as a ‘26 if he starts now.
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Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina? A friend’s son went there and went on to play minor league ball, so I know they have a team. 
Medium size, and it is close to Myrtle Beach, so the water issue is addressed.
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We’ve just started looking at this school. Thank you.
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