There are some schools with 10/15 deadlines, especially in the South, so this timing would track. Like yours, my 27 is going to be using as much time as possible and will submit a few days prior to each deadline.
Cue parental anxiety!
Like many of your kiddos, my 27 is having essay issues. Remember when he said he planned to start from scratch? Said start from scratch has not happened yet. He’s got a weekend without other commitments coming up, so hopefully he’ll be able to lock in and get some fresh new ideas hammered out. Once he gets going, he’s actually a pretty decent writer and his essays are cohesive and flow nicely, but it’s carving out the time to get going that’s proving a challenge. On the plus side, he does have two of the three recommended interviews scheduled, so that’s good.
And in other college app season parental anxiety news, his calculus grade is… not good. Not failing, but sure as heck not good. First quarter grades close in about 2 weeks, so he’s got a tiny smidge of time to turn that around. He is, I believe, well past the point of being able to drop the class, but he likes the teacher and is going in for extra help every chance he gets. On the plus side, his other grades are looking ok so far from what he reports. We’ve got parent-teacher conferences this week. So strange to think these will be our last formal conferences for him! His school does not do spring conferences, especially for seniors. It has been hard to keep up with the “last one” events this fall with so much other stuff going on. It all feels like it’s going by even more quickly than it did for my 25.
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My kid’s main essay is only OK, but she’s calling it done anyway. She is a very straightforward not reflective person, and hates every example essay on the internet with a burning passion. She started out with a wilderness theme, but couldn’t get beyond listing some things that happened, then turned to something that started as a list of activities, and finally landed on something that uses those activities but is more about lessons learned from growing up in a very tiny town. With a flat ending, but she refused all of the ending suggestions, so oh well.
Class-wise the difficult one she has this semester is an online 400-level seminar class in population genetics from our state university. The assignments are a lot of projects with flexible due dates so she is kind of behind, won’t know grades until late, and the prof isn’t an easy grader. But they are a great teacher, and my kid is learning a lot, and I am forcing myself to step back and remember that her ultimate goal is to become a scientist, not to get into a reach college. Even if she ends up getting a grade that hurts her in admissions, the class will help her in her overall goal.
She has set herself a schedule of working a little bit on college apps at the same time every day, which seems to mostly be working for her, even though she doesn’t get much done in each session.
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I’m sitting on my hands and being patient this week, because it’s show week for our Theater program (for which D27 is the Technical Director). She’s been so busy since school started so there hasn’t been much forward progress on her essay; the only thing she has left to do for her initial set of apps.
She did do a portfolio review over the weekend for her top college pick, tho, and the reviewer accepted her portfolio. Neither of us (nor Google) knows whether that means her portfolio is deemed artistically good enough for admittance, or just that it’s quantitatively sufficient. I really hope it’s the former because stats-wise, it’s a good fit for her to be admitted, and if she’s also been deemed artistically sufficient, I’d feel much more confident.
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Woohoo! The 27 has a new essay draft that he is really excited about! Still needs some editing apparently (no, I have not seen it), but thank goodness. And amazingly, there is joy in the process for today. Yes, the calculus grade is still not great, but for the first time I feel like the pieces are coming together, and he feels in control of this part and is actually excited about it. It can happen!
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It’s a good thing I found out about this site otherwise I would not have known that after submitting applications the school will give them log-in instructions for a school portal. I kept asking D27 about them (she was only checking CommonApp website and her HS uses SchoolLinks) she was saying that she did not receive any emails and her apps were showing up as being OK. I finally got her to check her emails (there are 100’s that are unread 
) and we found them. I sat down with her last night and set up her accounts. We then find out that one of the schools UT-Austin was still waiting for the application fee to be paid and even though they already had the school transcript, they wanted her to list her core classes and the grades she received. So we finally got that taken before the EA deadline which is today. D27 finally realized that I’m just trying to help her and not make her life difficult by asking her questions.
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this generation is SO bad at emails (by and large) and yay for getting it done by deadline!
And a few (very very few) colleges thrown sneaky extra essays into Portals…
I am surprised you managed to submit w/o paying the fee! I haven’t seen that happen before!
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Yeah that was weird. D27 said when she submitted it didn’t take her to a payment screen and just said that she still needed to pay. I sat with her so she could show me and of course she is moving through the screens pretty fast. I slowed her down and read everything and that is when we saw that payment instructions will be emailed later. So I told her to keep an eye on it. Yada yada yada, then we had the talk last night about checking and reading the emails from schools she has applied and is thinking about applying to.
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My D27 is in the thick of it with essays. We’ve got two weeks left for early action and early decision deadline
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D27 officially submitted to 6 schools over the weekend. Woohoo! And then texted me from school this week that she completed the STARS grade thingy a few schools were requiring AND set up the portals for all the schools. Her ACT score came back great and I think that got her on a roll. She is taking a break from essays until after her CA school tours at the end of the month.
Tonight is senior night for her sport. She is my 4th kid but this is the first time I will have done anything like this. I guess I am walking out on the field with her and the giant cardboard baby head that came in the mail 
She told her visiting grandparents that the last 6 weeks were the busiest she has ever been in her life! She has managed to not get sick, but did get a sports injury. It killed her but she sat out a game to heal up.
I cannot wait for this application season to be done but then I know that the waiting season is really tough too, in a whole different way!
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Same! I will be so happy when 11/1 hits. But my kiddo has a lot to do before that date!
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Out of blue, mine is considering ED1 somewhere (haven’t started supplements) I think they won’t in end, but oh man… (Parents are fine if they do - I can see them there and we can pay if needed and they managed to get in).
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Good luck with the decision! Great that it is a school that you can see them at and can afford!
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yeah it could be very stressful if either of those things were not true! It is a BIG reach anyway, (ED or not) so probably a non issue
Same situation over here. I hope it works out for him, but a definite reach. He is going to ED and give it is best shot.
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D27 came home from school with stars in her eyes. One of her friends received a birthday gift at school today from SCAD (a box of cookies). The friend hasn’t applied yet, so the kids were all bemused and impressed that she received swag. I just think it’s cute how they’re so impressed, and honestly it’s great marketing on SCAD’s part.
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Something is in the air. D27 asked if she could change an application to ED1. After a long family discussion over dinner, I think she’s going to do it. The original plan was to apply EA and to ED2 if deferred in EA. Our thinking is if we were ok to ED2, then why not just ED1 and take some stress away. She’s been in love with the school since she first stepped on campus and has really researched all aspects of their community and their program for her major. I think working on the applications has cemented that she really has her heart on one place. I pray it works in her favor. I really don’t like the idea of ED, but sometimes you have to figure out what is best for your family. Here’s a virtual round of drinks for all. 
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agreed all around. Not for everyone, for sure…and I wish so many didn’t feel so pressured.
However, I did ED way back when. Never regretted it so am biased. (we weren’t full pay, I had loans - though they weren’t overwhelming by any means, and had low interest rates).
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Thank you for sharing your experience. Positive outcomes are helpful, when you’re wonding if you’re making the right decision, pun intended. I agree with the pressure. We’ve done our research and we have had conversations with the school. It’s been in the background of thought for the last six months, it hasn’t been a light spontaneous decision, just a change of action. There will be the student FAFSA loans for sure. I did lose some sleep last night, but feel good about the change of plan this morning.
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Both my husband and I and my sister-in-law all did ED back in the day and had a great experience.
In the way of kids though, both of mine are shocked at how casual and ill-informed we were about the whole process when we made those decisions and are being much more deliberate. (My process was: Want an LAC. My coast is too close to home, opposite coast is too far/scary. Visit 2 schools in the middle, one seems great, apply ED to that one).
My D27 would ED if she could, but MIT is her favorite school and they don’t offer it. I’m curious to see if she’ll jump to ED2 somewhere if MIT rejects her straight out, but I doubt it at this point. My D28 is against the whole idea of it – I’ll see if she changes her mind next year.
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