thanks and wow - that may be some work for their teachers, when inboxes flood with LOR requests. I know they write one letter and submit for each school but Naviance makes it so easy. I guess we will see in the coming weeks how it all works.
On the schoolâs marketing emails- I used to work for a company that helped other companies with email marketing campaigns- one of our biggest things was working on their overall email reputation.
We would not work with most schools or companies that emailed on behalf of schools. (also: testing centers-school photos- cap and gown companiesâŠ) The way they collect email lists and the difficulty in unsubscribing from said list- put them in the same group that we put spammers in and would not work with!
Best to mark as spam if you have tried unsubscribing in the past and it did not work.
(Once enough emails get marked as spam- the service providers will throttle back all of their emails for at least a little while 
)
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Progress on the college apps front!
D26 filled out the basics of her Common App profile today + the awards section. Theyâre all going to fill out the self reported academic record part together in class and that hasnât started yet, but will happen this week.
UT-Dallas got put back on the list. D26 is eyeing their Cybersecurity & Risk Management major, which is in the Jindal School of Management. But starting fall 2026, theyâre also going to have this Cybersecurity Technology & Policy major in the School of Economics, Political and Policy Sciences. Their MS in Cybersecurity Technology & Policy is NSA-certified. I suspect the new bachelorâs degree is with the intent to become NSA CAE-certified, too.
ButâŠthereâs no additional detail on their website about what math classes are required, major map, other required courses for that degree. So D26 is going to email the admissions office later this week to ask about it.
IF that degreeâs required courses are more cybersecurity focused than business-focused (i.e., the 1st major requires accounting, econ, stuff like that), then this newer major might be a better fit.
And IF I can get the flights there and back to line up well, we might be able to add in an in person visit in October when we go to UTulsa & to visit D24 at Austin College.
Meanwhile, Spousal Unit is having a minor hissy fit over the fact that D26 doesnât want to major in something thatâs in a schoolâs college of engineering. Oh my gosh, give me strength. Heads up, DadâŠYOUâRE NOT THE ONE ATTENDING COLLEGE! The kid is! Our kid does NOT want to major in computer science. And does NOT want to be an engineer, so quit trying to make it happen.
** cleansing breath ** 
Itâs only still August. Lord help us all. LOL
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On a positive note, a couple of weeks ago, the college counselor at school gave all the seniors this info in a hand out. Am sharing the info here in case anybodyâs kids might find it useful:
HOW TO RESEARCH A COLLEGE WEBSITE:
Mission/Philosophy: Review the collegeâs mission statement.
- what type of student are they looking for?
- does it match with the type of school you want for yourself?
- are there any red flags or questions?
- are there any requirements related to the mission? (religious courses, service)
Fast Facts: most schools have an âAboutâ section where you can find basic info.
- how many students attend
- male/female ratio
- diversity
- location
- number of students receiving financial aid
Academics:
- do they have your major? If you are undecided, what support is available?
- what choice in classes do you have?
- what requirements are there to graduate?
- is there a specific type of curriculum offered?
- can you find a sample student schedule or 4-year plan?
- are there options for double majors, concentrations, minors, etc.?
Extracurricular Activities:
- what do students do in their free time? Look in their campus life section.
- what is the housing situation?
- how big a deal are sports?
- what clubs or organizations could you see yourself joining?
- are there any groups or activities that you want to be a part of?
Admissions: Check to see if they have a profile of their admitted students.
- do your scores and GPA fall within the range?
- what is the acceptance rate?
- what materials will they require in the application?
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First - I think this is really great they are having the kids do this â second, I stumbled across the requirements for a specific school on my daughterâs list -and realized she would have to take 2 more years of language (her language is not on their list). And I suddenly realized that we never really looked at the college/university distribution requirements (!) ONLY the major requirements!! So now I think we need to go back and re-look at the distribution requirements. 
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We met with our financial planner recently- (he used to specialize in college finance planning so that was very lucky for us and very helpful/insightful!!!)
Worked through the estimated cost for all of D26s school choices (and a few other ones that she has shown some interest in just in case)
We got the worst- and best-case scenarios for each of those schools.
The good news- we were pretty close on our estimates and now we know the likely costs with some more accuracy.
The bad news- we now know the likely costs. 
Kinda like playing the lottery- you know the outcome, but until you check- there is always that dream/possibility that there is a nice surprise in store for you 
Senior year is so far so good.
She is butting heads with her Calc 2 teacher.
He is a âshow your full workâ teacher- she is a âwhy does that matterâ, and âit takes up too much time to do thatâ student. If the answer is correct- it shouldnât matter.
I have told her that this is not the battle you should fight- because you wonât win it!
Besides that- she is enjoying this year!
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Yeah, the âwhat requirements are there to graduate?â question is how we have learned how different the same major at different colleges can be. D24 learned that, as well, and eliminated some colleges from her list because of it.
1 of the colleges on D26âs list, in their honors program, requires a certain # of service hours either per year or by graduation (I donât remember which). Sheâs planning on NOT applying to their honors program because of itâŠwants to do service activities because she WANTS to, not because itâs an obligation or requirement.
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Biology can be dramatically different - some require an entire year of calculus. Some require EVERYTHING you might need to apply to med school -which hey great if you are pre-med. Not particularly necessary for every area of Biology though.
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Thatâs for sure! Some bio majors at some colleges required a year of physics + a year of calculus whereas for others, it was 1 semester of calculus and no physics. She went with a school in the latter category.
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First day of senior year is in the books. She is so ready to be done with her school. A brand new counselor who can âmaybe meet with her in the next few weeksâ. A math teacher who is new who did not bother to show up for the first dayâŠshe has several good friends in her AP Gov class but they are super chatty and distracting. Anyway, it is what it is but she is definitely over it already.
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Got an email from Northeastern for an application fee waiver. No fee, no essays, will probably apply.
Why not.
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Someone recommended that I run net price calculators in case Iâm wrong about the fact that we wonât get financial aid. They noted that some families are surprised to learn they are eligible for something. So, I ran one at the most expensive college my daughter is interested in today, just to check. After I clicked the âcalculateâ button, I could almost hear the AI laughing at me. It was not even close. The estimated parent contribution was nearly twice the estimated cost of attendance. I was not surprised at all, but your lottery analogy is exactly how I felt doing the exercise. Donât think thereâs any point in me running any other net price calculators. Donât get me wrong, I feel incredibly fortunate to be in such a position. But found that portion of your post so on the nose with my experience today I had to comment.
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UTD is a really good school, especially if they want to work in Dallas.
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Iâve told S26 that Friday is a college work day. He has no school, but does have band at 3pm. That should give us a solid few hours to work on the Common App, even while letting him sleep in a bit. Hopefully itâs not a big struggle!
All the specific college graduation requirements are definitely something to look at. My D24 eliminated one college because all her AP credits fell into the same category and the college had 9 categories of general classes to fulfill. Some places have very broad categories and AP credits go a lot further. This was key to her because she is doing a minor pretty much unrelated to her major and wants to take languages and other classes just for interest. Making room was important.
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I donât know how students applying to 20 schools handle juggling all of the requirements and due dates. My kid is applying to just 5 schools and itâs confusing as heck!
After reading the tea leaves on their websites, it looks like for 3 of the schools, they want official AP score reports with your app, not after youâre accepted. But then I reread the website and canât quite tell. D26 is going to ask counselorâs advice, which will probably be to email admissions office to get clarification.
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Most run out of steam by the end.
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Though it is getting into the â4th quarterâ here so probably wonât change many 2026 minds at this point, both Forbes and Niche have released their updated college rankings for this year quite recently.
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Yeah- same here!!! The time and the Cost!!$$$
At $45-$75 per application- ouch 
D26 has 1 school that required official scores and 1 that we could not figure out.
Told D26 to grab the CC from my wallet and just send to both schools to make it simple.
She decided to be proactive and send to all the schools on her list just in case- both SAT and APs!!! LOL.
At least there were only 6 schools on her list!!!
Love how when it is not her money that she doesnât seem to notice the cost-
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My S23 applied to more than 20 schools but most of them had minimal supplemental essays. As far as tracking everything⊠spreadsheets!!! 
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S23 applied to 12 or 13 schools. None of them had fees or supplemental essays so the most taxing thing was requesting transcripts for each one from the guidance counselor and filling out the tuition exchange requests.
D26 is really only interested in 3-5 schools right now and none have application fees (or we got a waiver code). Only one has a supplimental essay but she is intersted in BFA programs at a couple of them which means portfolio submissions. We checked the graduation requirements for all of them before she set her schedule for this year to make sure none required 4 years of HS math and none did (they only wanted at least Algebra II and Trig, which she has). She only has two AP classes so if she gets credit, great, but sheâs not counting on it.
The first day of school is a week from today so itâs all starting to get real for her!
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