Having one in hand is solid indeed. Congrats to your 27!
Sharing big wins!! but this is not college related… we have been navigating getting an MRI approved for my 27’s injury, and woohoo - it’s been approved by our insurance. Finally. Even though the outcome of this is not likely to be what my 27 wants, at least the ball is moving forward. I’ll take it!
wins with insurance can be a HUGE win. yay!
Had one moderate win today, too. Kid made big progress on their essay last 2 days. Not finished, but MUCH closer. Feeling like it needs some editing/polishing/smaller edits instead of large-scale revising now. phew.
Oh, and they also sent scores to the one school (EA) that needs official score reports. Seeing them check things off felt good! Took all of 5 minutes but still good! Also signed up for an interview at 1 school that offers them -
It’s exciting that’s some acceptances are starting to come in. Congratulations!
D27 needs to finalize her essay and then she can complete the first few applications. She’s excited that she just received an application fee waiver from her top choice school. We have some waivers from a few other schools from going on tours. Any way we can save money during this process is a win.
SAT scores in and jumped quite a bit for S27. He will be able to submit scores to all the schools on his list without question now. He mentioned looking at more schools now. I honestly think the schools on his list are great fits academically, recreationally, and financially and I’m not sure a reachier school would be all that for him..but he can have at it if he wants. So long as also works on his essay lol.
The Kid was awarded a merit scholarship from the University of Minnesota, which brings the price down to the cost of a UC! He would prefer to leave the state. The Kid was also invited to the honors program.
Congratulations! 
That’s fantastic, congrats!
Some forward momentum for my kiddo this week. ACT scores sent, transcripts ordered, progress made on essay, and finishing counselor-format “brag sheet” this evening. Targeting Oct. 24 for submission to four EA applications. Saw the school counselor last night at a parents event and she was effusive in her comments about the kiddo, so that was a good feeling.
We have some forward momentum around here as well. He’s finished the activity section of the common app and added a few more schools to his “applying” list in Maia, so now he’s got 8 on his list. It looks like a pretty balanced list to me, which is a relief. There are maybe two more schools that I think he may still be considering. The big thing now is that he’s decided to redraft his essay. His counselor supports that decision, but I just hope he gives himself enough time to do that, since he’s been feeling kind of buried with homework and is honestly somewhat distracted by beautiful weather and wanting to be outside instead of in front of a computer.
He’ll definitely be applying test optional everywhere that he can. His scores on the September SAT actually went down, which didn’t surprise any of us given how little he prepped for it and how much other stuff he had going on at that time. It is what it is. He’s targeting 10/25 as a submission date for his EA apps. I think he is going to feel so relieved once he gets that first round of applications submitted!
Well, we seem to be in pretty good shape based on the latest weekly check-in. They have a firm list of 12. Only one reach and like 5 safeties.. but they haven’t visited most of those safeties and likes them on paper, so we’ll see. It was also nice b/c they switched out their reach for one I thought was a better fit and it seems they agree.
More exciting is that they’ve done a lot of the supplementals already, and have a rough draft of their common app essays. They are pretty stressed b/c they have seriously upped their rigor this year (5 APs, and one dual enrollment), but so far they seem to be managing.
We have one final SAT on Wednesday, and then more or less everything will be set.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is my last kid going through this… whew!
You only need 1 though, at least, (and quite possibly none?!)
Wow you all sound like they are in great shape!
yeah, my stress level has gone way down. I think we’ll be in the position of comparing merit offers and total cost of attendance. I’ll definitely take it.
Yay to all the progress and especially the acceptances! I’m still not sure if my kid will want to circle back and change the list at all. Right now she has 6 reaches, 4 targets, and 2 safeties. I kind of wish she had more on the low end especially because she really doesn’t want to go to the in-state safety, but she doesn’t see much of a reason. The big state WUE school she picked as a safety (Oregon State) seems good to her and is good for her field of study, so she doesn’t see much of a reason to add more that are similar but not quite as good. And although they aren’t really safeties, I do think she’s got a good shot at WPI and RPI in that target zone. She might add a Canadian school as a different sort of safety.
I think I’m just never sure if we’ve done enough college research. It’s hard to call it done – like, what if there’s somewhere great for her she hasn’t even thought of?
What is the protocol for reminding teachers about rec letters? She asked two last year, that said yes at that point. Then emailed again this fall thanking them, giving a brag sheet, a deadline, and inviting to the common app. And then hasn’t heard anything from either. I’m not sure if she should just wait and see if the letter shows up (can she see if/when it does?) or poke them again, and if so, on what timeline?
This is coming from a place of no experience at all, but if she hasn’t heard back from the teachers at all, I might urge your kid to check in 2 weeks before their first application deadline. Just a “hi there, just making sure there’s nothing else you need and that I’m still on your recommendation list. My first applications are due on x date.”
Meantime, I think D27 is mostly done, with just her essays (“just.” Ha!) and artist statements to finish (as well as polishing her portfolio). She should be submitting about half of her apps by November 1, then the rest are mostly due mid-January.
I cannot wait for this phase to be over.
Yay for all the progress for so many of you!
Husband and daughter went on 2 college tours last week. They have not done much of the college planning together so I was really glad they had a car ride of discussion and were still speaking to each other at the end lol. Extremely strong personalities and I am often the calm middle woman. One college was a repeat tour for D27 that she and I visited when playing her sport was still on the table. The other was a repeat for her dad who had taken D24 on a tour there. First one (Bentley) remains on the list as a safety but D27 was less enthusiastic. Wasn’t sure there was enough fun to be had. Wellesley dropped off the list entirely. (“Lots of very smart woke girls reading books in the woods”) 
We had all thought that might be her thing!! I am just thrilled she is FINALLY starting to figure out some preferences.
We are waiting on pins and needles for her ACT score tomorrow. Then she will decide if her ACT or SAT is stronger and she can put in the credit card info and hit submit for 10 colleges! Next up is finishing the UC application. She is visiting her big brother in CA end of the month to tour some schools. That should be enlightening.
I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is an insane month for her with her sport, college applications, senior project and 4 AP classes really kicking in. I hope she can make it to Halloween weekend without getting sick, injured, or just falling apart. Everything should be submitted by Thanksgiving and we will celebrate for sure.
I’d say let it be for now. The teachers on their end should be able to see the deadlines and that, plus her email should have provided plenty of notice. Some people won’t submit until the posted due date, and unless if there are special circumstances, the biggest concern is that the application your child completed and transcript are on time. Many people don’t start writing letters until October, they wait until the school year settles in a bit.
Hopefully this helps, I know it’s hard when you are at someone’s mercy to complete things! If you haven’t seen notice that the letters were posted maybe 10 days out from the deadline, she can reach out again. She can also talk to her counselor and see what they’d suggest. Maybe her teachers often post on the deadline?
If your daughter doesn’t want to attend the in-state safety, I would suggest cutting that one from the list.
Is there any issue about whether Oregon State would be affordable? If Oregon State will hit your budget for sure, you only really need one safety, although it is nice to have more.
It sounds like you guys have done thorough research looking for colleges that will fit your kid’s particular wants and needs, and she is happy with the current list. 12 schools (or 11) is plenty of schools. I suspect she will have several good options to pick from when spring rolls around.
Hi. I’ve mostly been a lurker this time around, but good luck to everyone’s ‘27. I have a question that didn’t come up for my TO ‘22, and now I realize I’ve got a knowledge gap for this. Is there a list somewhere (maybe on CC or elsewhere) with which schools demand an official standardized test score report be sent during the application process (versus self-report and then send after acceptance to verify before enrollment). I don’t trust the AI answer on this, knowing how it scours for words/answers. I’m seeing, for example, that out of the Ivies it’s only Princeton that needs the official score report? And UW Madison needs it but not UMich? My kid trusts that I have answers on this stuff because he’s the younger sibling…but the older one was test optional so…
Thanks!
This aggregator provides some of that information for 365 schools. I would still verify on the school’s website, but this source tends to be pretty trustworthy:
my take: you truly have to go my each school’s admissions website.. I’d like to think most would also point this out or link to it from the common app too.
FWIW of my kids school, only UMD requires official score reports, so I know that one does and it needs to get to them by 11/1 FYI. They ALSO mention this in Common App where there is a question that says… “I acknowledge I need to send my official SAT/ACT scores by the deadline in order for my application to be considered complete.” So you may want to dig in to the apps once you add to the common app too.