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</p>
<p>Thanks for that specific tip. Anyone making an early action application (as I expect my son will do, in two years) should be aware of that.</p>
<p>More FAFSA tips: if you have two on different campuses, in a repeat year for FA for both, there is some paperwork the sibs must exchange between the two of them, and get vetted by their FA offices, to demonstrate they’re both still alive and kicking out there. </p>
<p>Both students need lead time on their respective campuses to run the paperwork around. We had no problem with this loop-ette, but it’s not something to leave til last minute, either.</p>
<p>LOL, following my insufficient postage days, I’m always happier to see things hand-carried 
To me, Pony Express sounds just right.</p>
<p>I’m not sure this is a mistake - or may be our naivete regarding the post office. S send his art supplements via priority mail in the middle of December and paid for delivery confirmation (tracking number). Well, three of those were delivered to the schools but the destination post offices did not bother scanning the delivery confirmation numbers! S had to email the schools and they all got them, but when he looked up the tracking numbers online, they appear like they were never delivered. Our local post office was actually quite helpful and they even called one of the colleges to find out if they received the materials, but the college told them they will only speak to my S.</p>
<p>He had sent self-addressed stamped postcards with other mailings (he ran out with the ones above) and we’ve received those without a problem.</p>
<p>Our local post office offered to refund the 65 cents (0.65 x 3 = $1.95) tracking cost. Parking is tough out there with the snow piled up, so maybe I’ll pass. Plus, they were really nice in trying to help out.</p>
<p>Our only mistake was when we did my daughter’s apps about 3 years ago. Somehow I got 3 apps mixed up and sent them in the wrong envelopes. 3 shools got the wrong apps. (Thank God most have gone to online apps now). Anyway, we just resent them and everything was OK. The schools pretty much just trashed them. However, 1 of the schools did email us back and told us they received the wrong app. (Thankfully they did, because that’s how we found out). They told us that while they couldn’t help us with their app and encouraged us to resend it; which we did; they did say that they thought my daughter probably had a real good chance in getting into the other school because they looked over the app anyway and said it was very impressive. (Not sure if they were just trying to be funny or if they were showing how interested they were). Either way, it worked out. All schools got the right app (Eventually) and my daughter is doing well as a junior in college. Although we still get app info from the other colleges wanting to know if she is interested in their school. I guess they don’t always update their info.</p>
<p>P.S. We learned our lesson and all 7 of my son’s apps went in without a hitch.</p>
<p>So…here is a question…for those parents who have children in college now…do you think it was a good idea to have student sign away their right to see their letters of recommendation?..OH…one thing I learned last year when DD was applying to college was to stay on top of the GC. I found the GC thought they had mailed some necessary paperwork, but in casually stopping by their office about something else-they had NOT mailed in the paperwork.</p>
<p>^^^Yes.</p>
<p>10 char.</p>
<p>^^ second the yes.</p>
<p>I helped- hangs head…I forgive you for helping, Curm, but can you please stop with the destabilised economy???</p>
<p>Oh, yes. Gotta show that trust.</p>
<p>right! some of us have tuition to pay! :D</p>
<p>I confess I helped.
My neighbor gets the award. Her child is now almost 40. He was a smart boy always taking things apart. He worked with a professor at a local UC in the community they lived in at the time. her child decided he was fine at said University. He would not do any other apps. The Mom filled out apps for 5 other schools. Used the UC essays and some school papers she could scramble together. The prof at the UC (who knew what the Mom was doing) wrote a rec.
The son ended up getting into several high ranked schools. Ended up attending one of them. Did great. Went on to great things. Won awards, invented things that save lives.</p>
<p>StickerShock,
This was to his in-state flagship safety where he is hoping for merit $$! AGH! DS also listed me as unemployed on the same app. (I have a small at-home business doing textile art, but GEEZ!)</p>
<p>I am in awe of any high school kid who is able to navigate the college admissions process by him or herself, particularly those kids who prepare and submit a half dozen or more applications without outside help. I would think that most high school students would be more than happy to have some help. My D was one of those who pretty much did it all on her own. Now we all wait anxiously, hoping there will be no “stupid admissions mistakes.”</p>
<p>DS had no problems waiving his right to see the recs. His research mentor showed DS his letter (wow), but that’s the only one any of us has seen.</p>
<p>We sent all hard copy materials via FedEx. No worries about tracking. Was worth it – my insurance company (USAA) has a special deal so we get discounted FedEx rates.</p>
<p>P3t, thanks for the info on the kids needing to shuttle forms for each other. We’ll have that scenario in two years.</p>
<p>Mafool, it’s GOOD to be Queen! :)</p>
<p>We have found two stupid editing typos in the activity resume (due to updating over the fall). Pretty mortifying, since DS is a copy editor at school and I spent 15 years doing benefits communications work! Nothing substantive, though, so should be OK. He’s not sending in a correction.</p>
<p>I would be really interested in a poll of CC parents to see the # of 'helpers" of sons vrs daughters. Much has been written in journals about the different rates that boys brains mature [almost always slower than girls, but they do eventually catch up by age 27] and the way their brains work[ I haven’t heard of too many boys who can multitask, i.e. pay attention to a lot of things at the same time. I’m not referring doing a lot of activites- football, debate team, geting great grades, but more that boys concentrate on 1 task at a time] I think the differences in brain development is a factor in who needs "help"with college admissions process and who can "do it on their own.</p>
<p>Meloparkmom,
Are you referring to the NYT article that was published over the weekend about organizational tutors for boys?<br>
[Giving</a> Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success - New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/education/01boys.html?em&ex=1199422800&en=8634eff2fe1d4f62&ei=5087
]Giving”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/education/01boys.html?em&ex=1199422800&en=8634eff2fe1d4f62&ei=5087
)
DS1 does LOTS of things simultaneously. DS2 needs quiet and focus. It’s been suggested to us that we get DS2 an organizational tutor, but he and I don’t have power struggles over this stuff, so it works with me teaching him and listening to how he wants to organize his work.</p>
<p>mom60 - That is a wonderful story. Good for that mom.</p>
<p>One thing that the side issue in this thread brought up for me was the fact that when I’m in a really honest mood, I’ll admit that one skill that I never developed very well - and the lack of which has probably caused me more trouble than anything else - was the ability to ask for help. The cult of the individual runs strong in our society, from Ayn Rand to Shane to the only-too-true stereotype of the male who won’t stop to ask for directions. But the fact is that the ability to find people who will help you do things that they have experience or expertise in, letting them help you, and coordinating your efforts with theirs, is a key and under-appreciated life skill.</p>
<p>I should note that my own daughter’s application process was all over the map. She did her (pretty straightforward) UC application entirely on her own, but called on my help a lot for the private schools (I’m the household IT guy and we had lots of issues with on-line applications, printing stuff out, inserting pictures in the on-line submissions etc.) Suggestions for short answers to goofy application questions (“If you were an international city, which one would it be?”) were tossed around the kitchen table with our sons and their friends chiming in with suggestions. (Not good ones, for the most part.) She brainstormed with me and my wife and her friends about essay topics before she wrote any. Once she did, I read them and we discussed the points she was trying to make, the length, and which ones were suited for which schools, on several occasions. And then my wife went and submitted an application for another state safety school “just in case” without even asking. (A non-essay type of application.)</p>
<p>I’m sure that different approaches are best for different students and their families, but I think that recognition is due for the principle that a lot of the time people work best when they work together with others who are able and willing to help them. Some students’ parents might not be an asset in the process, others might be. A smart student should be willing to enlist the assistance of those who are. At my daughter’s age I’m sure I would have done it all on my own. But I don’t think that that means I had better life skills. I was (am) just stubborn.</p>
<p>Well-put, Kluge.</p>
<p>I had the same thought as menloparkmom. My son was delighted that I was willing to help with the tedium of things that he would hate, like typing into online forms every course and grade from 4 years of high school. He’s just not that detail-oriented unless it’s on a project he’s passionate about, and he saw applying to college as more in the “something to get through” category. He said his girlfriend loved filling out all the apps, though, and I know I would have loved the organizational challenge when I was a high school senior. I suspect there is quite a difference in how many boys and many girls approach college applications. </p>
<p>I’m not ashamed to admit that I helped with the administrative stuff. When there’s potentially a $200,000 expenditure involved, I am not shy about being the final proof-reader, watcher of deadlines and filer of documents. If being freed up to spend more time on the 15 essays he had to write gave my son a slight advantage, I’m willing to face the scorn of others whose children are more perfect :)</p>
<p>I echo what Kluge has written. Whereas I am independent by nature (which is definitely not necessarily always a good thing) some of my kids are more willing and able to seek advice and/or help from others. I see this as a good thing. Obviously, if any of my kids completely shirked responsibility that would be bad, but to learn to use available resource people is definitely an important skill to learn in life. Some posters have implied that a child who does everything without parental or other help is superior to one who requires/allows assistance. I would strongly disagree. </p>
<p>Furthermore, I think the advice and anecdotal examples provided by various parents need to be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering the “statistical significance” of the advice. A parent of one or two children could possibly have children who all have the same bent toward self-sufficiency (or possibly arrogance, stubbornness, etc.) and not want any help in the application process. I only have four kids, all of whom have been raised similarly, but they are significantly different in terms of self-sufficiency. </p>
<p>My long-term objective is NOT for my children to all become self-sufficient someday (i.e. develop my independent personality). Rather, I hope they will each learn to humbly ask for help from appropriate qualified persons as the task or activity warrants asking for help. In the meantime, when I have experience or capabilities (e.g. editing, formatting a PDF file, etc.) that can help my kids during the college application process, I have no problem helping out. Similar to the OP, I also am a homeschooling parent, so there are some portions of the application (such as the high school transcript) that only I can complete accurately anyway.</p>