How far along is your HS rising senior on college apps?

[Anonymous]

Please, what is Common Ap?

[Anonymous]

Kid at a test in public magnet. Applying mostly to SLACs.

SAT and SAT2s are done.

Asked for letters of Rec Junior year, which is how it is done at his school.

Filled out the Guidance counselors rec letter form

Has draft essays from junior English class, but nothing that he will specifically use, yet.

Has a flexible list of 11 colleges, that the guidance counselor has the guidance counselor seal of approval. We have a general idea where he is applying and a plan to get it done. But it constantly evolves. Has visited all but 2 colleges currently on the list. Is doing one of those next weekend. Will likely not get to the other because it is far away.

Has interviewed most places it is offered. Needs to arrange local interviews for 3 schools.

Will apply rolling admission to Pitt in mid August. EA to 2 others in October, then evaluate which other colleges to apply to based on admission and merit awards. He has a general idea.

Is currently evaluating the common app questions and owes me outlines for two possible responses tomorrow evening, plus a draft of the Pitt short answer questions. Hell then pick one and start writing.

He and I are meeting once a week to discuss college status, review homework from the prior eeek, and assign new homework.

Now, before you say land the helicopter and calm down. This is unusual, even among his high achieving peers. My kid has significant ADHD, a very heavy academic load, and a fall activity that is all consuming. I expect little work to get done once school starts until November, so we are trying to plan for the Common app app to be filled out, with a draft of the essay and EA supplements to be done by then. He knows that this fall will be tough and is working in advance to avoid a clusterf*ck in October.

We started summer after sophomore year and have been doing this slowly but surely, one step at a time for over a year. We met once a month last year about college, and stated meeting once a week this summer. It’s an appointment in the calendar, and we try not to talk College outside of that dedicated block. We are treating college admissions like a class.

This is more guidance, structure and planning than most kids need— or than DC2 will need. But, it’s an idea what parents of ADHD kids can do. Start early, chunk the tasks upfront, spread out the work, anticipate and avoid chokepoints.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a great way to approach the process with your son PP. You are helping him get control over an anxiety-provoking process and use his summer time wisely. He is also learning a lot about planning and time management for projects in general from your coaching. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes to your son!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a great way to approach the process with your son PP. You are helping him get control over an anxiety-provoking process and use his summer time wisely. He is also learning a lot about planning and time management for projects in general from your coaching. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes to your son!

Thank you! It has worked well for this kid. And hopefully it has prevented a sh#tshow this fall. But on DCUM you expect some people to say— land the helicopter, let him do it on his own, etc. I think those people probably aren’t deal with ADHD, one of the hardest Hs in the nation and time consuming fall ECs. It’s nice to get positive feedback.

[Anonymous]

I love the once a week meetings. I have a kid with some anxiety type symptoms. We started once a week discussions 9th grade about school assignments. Can't talk about it other times. He is in charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is slightly off topic...but does it occur to any of you that if your child has to take the SAT three times, maybe the previous scores were an accurate read. And maybe the schools your child can get into with those scores are places where they will do well and fit in (versus getting them into a stressful situation where they are in over their heads??)

No, because if everyone is taking it 2-3 times and then superscores, that's what you are competing against.

[Anonymous]

Rising senior at one of the big 3s. Took SAT for the first time in 08/18 and scored 1020. Spent 8k on test prep and took in 03/19 and scored 1460. Spent another 4K on test prep and took the SAT on 06/2019 and scored 1570 and done with SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising senior at one of the big 3s. Took SAT for the first time in 08/18 and scored 1020. Spent 8k on test prep and took in 03/19 and scored 1460. Spent another 4K on test prep and took the SAT on 06/2019 and scored 1570 and done with SAT.

[Anonymous]

OP, there is no reason to have a full list before applying. How about having her apply to one. One school. Find one with Rolling Admissions where the application opens in August, probably August 1st. The app goes in, she'll hear in October. That gets her going. Makes it less scary. If they require an essay she'll put one together. It's a start. She can improve on it later. There will be other schools, other applications. She will get a sense of what's going to be required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is slightly off topic...but does it occur to any of you that if your child has to take the SAT three times, maybe the previous scores were an accurate read. And maybe the schools your child can get into with those scores are places where they will do well and fit in (versus getting them into a stressful situation where they are in over their heads??)

No, because if everyone is taking it 2-3 times and then superscores, that's what you are competing against.

True, and usually the score does increase each time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do we find out what the common app essay question is?

It doesn't matter. All the essay questions are just prompts. You can write about anything. Like waiting for the domino's pizza person to delivery (was that Harvard Yale or Princeton that person got into) or writing "Black Lives Matter" 150 times (that was Stanford). The readers don't care that you even respond to the prompt. They just want to be entertained.

[Anonymous]

you laugh at PP for getting prep, but you need an SAT score of *at least* 1400 to be competitive at top 30 schools...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is no reason to have a full list before applying. How about having her apply to one. One school. Find one with Rolling Admissions where the application opens in August, probably August 1st. The app goes in, she'll hear in October. That gets her going. Makes it less scary. If they require an essay she'll put one together. It's a start. She can improve on it later. There will be other schools, other applications. She will get a sense of what's going to be required.

OP here. This is a helpful approach. Thank you! I will say most of the responses are making me nervous, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising senior at one of the big 3s. Took SAT for the first time in 08/18 and scored 1020. Spent 8k on test prep and took in 03/19 and scored 1460. Spent another 4K on test prep and took the SAT on 06/2019 and scored 1570 and done with SAT.

This can’t be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you laugh at PP for getting prep, but you need an SAT score of *at least* 1400 to be competitive at top 30 schools...

White UMC unhooked more like 1500. Rolling eyes at PP because this isn’t real unless she spent the 12k to have another kid take the test.