On a scale of 0-5, how involved are you in the app process?

[Anonymous]

4.5 for the first. Very involved in researching schools and shaping the list, helped brainstorm and edit the essay. Didn’t touch the apps though. About a 2 for the second kid. A combo of less anxiety on my part, him having a better counselor, and him being more independent by nature. They both ended up in just the right place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if these responses also depend on the level of real support given by counselors and staff at school. We basically have none. (4.5)

Agree with this. Public school guidance doesn’t do much vs private school hand holding.

[Anonymous]

I'd say about 3.5. Helped research colleges and mad notes. Also gave feedback on one essay. Have not seen common app at all.

It's an intense time for my kid -- sport, classes, early apps, supplementary recordings etc. Trying to do some support work without injecting myself in content.

[Anonymous]

0, with all kids. I inquire but that’s it.

[Anonymous]

1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like 0.5, maybe will get to 1 by Nov 1. Just to look over what’s in the common app. I gave a one word suggestion on an ED supplemental so far.

You reviewed and provided feedback for an essay. that puts you at at least a 3.

[Anonymous]

Well I was 0, but now that UNC is due today and nothing has been sent, I will be 5 for the next ones. Argh, I knew this was going to happen letting DS be in completely in charge. “Well I told my counselor when I saw her in the hall. It isn’t my fault that nothing was sent on time.” Well kid maybe that is case but you pay the price!

[Anonymous]

1. I'm getting 7am texts telling me things like the FAFSA's open here's the key.

[Anonymous]

I'd say 1-2.

I paid the fees, completed the FAFSA, answered questions when asked, checked in with DC periodically about the process, and booked the hotel for the campus visit we made just prior to paying the deposit. I had absolutely nothing to do with compiling the list of schools, writing the essay or any supplements (I've never even seen any of them, per my DCs wishes), or completing the Common or Coalition apps.

[Anonymous]

I’m a 5, but my kid has special needs that add another layer of complexity.

[Anonymous]

I'm generally not an overbearing, micromanaging parent, but with my current HS senior I am a 5.0. And honestly, if i was anything less - say, even a 4.99 - I swear, this kid would not be attending college because they are so completely indifferent to the whole process.


*And yes, I am starting to recognize that maybe a gap year is in order here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if these responses also depend on the level of real support given by counselors and staff at school. We basically have none. (4.5)

Agree with this. Public school guidance doesn’t do much vs private school hand holding.

This is a really important point. I’m very impressed with all that our MCPS HS does to help kids and parents educate themselves on admissions, but there’s zero meaningful counseling. It’s like night and day compared to friends with kids in private schools.

[Anonymous]

For those who are a 0-1, do you really mean you have no input into the selection of the colleges they apply to? Is that because you are able to full-pay anywhere or just one of those people who will figure it out on the back end once you see where they are accepted? Or you gave your kids a budget and tell them to figure it out?

I've been deeply involved in the research/list building part of the process because money is a big part of it for us and we want to avoid loans. The part of the process that has the biggest influence there is choosing where to apply and understanding the ins-and-outs of merit vs. need aid and how to evaluate what a school might cost. Once the list was set, DS handled the apps with little input from me except a final proofread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Continuing to laugh at the responses to this thread. Poster after poster insisting she was a zero. What are you doing, then, on a college admissions forum on DCUM, the most Type A website in the DMV?

By OP's definition I was at least a 4.5 for all four of my kids, each of whom were very different people. I had one who barely graduated high school, yet got a 780 verbal on the SAT. We were uber involved in finding a college that would accept her after she took a gap year.

I had two others who were smart and well-rounded and had good records and test scores but weren't the intellectual type and didn't obsess over colleges and would have been happy in any good school. We suggested a few places that wouldn't have considered themselves as safeties or alternatives to schools they had found themselves, looked over their applications and essays and offered suggestions, etc. And we had another kid who was very high achieving and headstrong who had concrete ideas for where she wanted to go and do. She floated those ideas by us and we gave our reactions -- including financial ones -- but in the end she did what she was going to do.

All four qualify as 4.5 or above by OP's definition. By OP's definition, a zero is when your kid says to you in the August after high school graduation "oh, by the way, I'm going to X college next week -- can you give me a ride?"

If all four of your kids are done with the process and in school why are you still here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if these responses also depend on the level of real support given by counselors and staff at school. We basically have none. (4.5)

No. The responses depend on the level of self-delusion and denial by each poster.

Right we're all losers who don't see the light and know everything the way you do. So smart and self-assured and self-aware you are. Let us know when your Ted Talk is.

That's not what I'm saying at all. I freely admit I wasn't anywhere near a zero. I'm saying none of you were/are either. If you were, you wouldn't be on DCUM's college admissions forum.