Your friend is in luck. The enrollment cliff is here. Many colleges will happily accept applications post deadline to fill spots.

Anonymous wrote:No decent parent would allow this. You don’t have to be a tiger parent to see this happening in real time. That’s outright neglect.

Maybe not OP’s friend, but the world is full of parents who don’t speak English, didn’t go to college, went to college but were personally responsible for the applications at a time when that was much more feasible, or went to college but in a foreign country where the process was much more straightforward. The modern American college application process can blindside any of them.

And the culture of secrecy makes things even harder. It’s hard to forget to buy a prom dress because everyone is comparing notes. But it’s easy to not apply to college, because the culture is that no one talks about it. My kid has friends who told her when they lost their virginity but not where or if they applied ED.

No decent parent would allow this. You don’t have to be a tiger parent to see this happening in real time. That’s outright neglect.

Anonymous wrote:This kind of thing happens all the time, and is a natural consequence of the complexity of our decentralized system. I even heard a rumor about it happening within the last few years at a DC private. (The kid definitely wound up at Arizona, but I don’t know if the rumor was true or just a way people tried to explain how a kid from that school matriculated to Arizona.)

I can’t believe the people saying they don’t believe the story. What kind of bubble do you live in? Strange and unfair things happen all the time out here.

+1 This happens a lot.

Back in 2022, my BILs daughter was actually a good student, but she kept forgetting to her applications and missing deadlines. She didn’t want to go the community college route, so she decided to take a gap year instead. But she ended up just spending that time drinking and hanging out, and refused to get a job, and never followed through with college. Now she’s still at home and not really doing anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friend says her daughter really does want to attend a four-year, but struggled to narrow down a list and kept procrastinating. She didn’t ask for help, pushed things off, and then felt too lazy to get through essays. Friend also says the bigger issue is that the kid is generally very, very lazy, which they’re trying to figure out.

She’s a solid student — around a 3.8UW / ~4.2 W, SAT 1500, with all honors/7 APs, decent but not standout ECs. SLACS seem appealing to her, so Reed is a great option. She’s also a quite introverted kid. Major is Econ.

A kid with this profile who put off applying until this late probably doesn't want to leave home. That needs to be solved for. The inability to apply coupled with that GPA and SAT is pretty telling.

Honestly many kids I know would be in this situation had the parents not been heavily involved. My own kid is one of them and going to HYP. It’s an intimidating, complicated, stressful process and parents do a huge amount now. And I speak as someone who did her own apps entirely independently a generation ago.

Absolutely. My son has anxiety, inattentive ADHD and decision paralysis and if I hadn't kept on top of deadlines, he would have missed most of them. Or all of them. He's at a T50 now, doing reasonably well.

There are many colleges with rolling admissions. Just do a search.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullshit it’s a “friend’s kid.” In any event, try Google. It’s not that hard.

Why are people such dickheads on here? Does it make you feel better about your sad little life to be catty on the interwebs?

People who fail their kids like this deserve it.

This isn’t deciding to potty train at 2vs3 or whether or not to use organic sheets. This is screwing up your kid’s whole life.

The person at issue is not a “kid” at all. They’re a legally independent adult, and they're facing the consequences of their own inaction. The parents have nothing to do with it.

Trash.

You suck at life if this is your attitude about whether or not you should help your 17 year old with what’s probably the most important process/decision they’ve ever been involved in.

And jerk off, the parents are ABSOLUTELY involved because they are either paying or filling out a FAFSA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friend says her daughter really does want to attend a four-year, but struggled to narrow down a list and kept procrastinating. She didn’t ask for help, pushed things off, and then felt too lazy to get through essays. Friend also says the bigger issue is that the kid is generally very, very lazy, which they’re trying to figure out.

She’s a solid student — around a 3.8UW / ~4.2 W, SAT 1500, with all honors/7 APs, decent but not standout ECs. SLACS seem appealing to her, so Reed is a great option. She’s also a quite introverted kid. Major is Econ.

A kid with this profile who put off applying until this late probably doesn't want to leave home. That needs to be solved for. The inability to apply coupled with that GPA and SAT is pretty telling.

Honestly many kids I know would be in this situation had the parents not been heavily involved. My own kid is one of them and going to HYP. It’s an intimidating, complicated, stressful process and parents do a huge amount now. And I speak as someone who did her own apps entirely independently a generation ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullshit it’s a “friend’s kid.” In any event, try Google. It’s not that hard.

Why are people such dickheads on here? Does it make you feel better about your sad little life to be catty on the interwebs?

People who fail their kids like this deserve it.

This isn’t deciding to potty train at 2vs3 or whether or not to use organic sheets. This is screwing up your kid’s whole life.

The person at issue is not a “kid” at all. They’re a legally independent adult, and they're facing the consequences of their own inaction. The parents have nothing to do with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullshit it’s a “friend’s kid.” In any event, try Google. It’s not that hard.

Why are people such dickheads on here? Does it make you feel better about your sad little life to be catty on the interwebs?

On what planet would you advise someone to give “advice” to someone about their kid in this situation? OP obviously doesn’t know the answer so I doubt any friend would have asked for this advice from a clueless person. The advice should be MYOB and anything else is the d!ck behavior.

If this is coming up now then it’s more than just missing the deadlines. The kid likely has rejection anxiety, general anxiety, or ADHD/anxiety avoidance. She knew back in January that she missed deadlines, never got the teacher recommendations etc. She probably pretended to go along that she applied and is only now admitting to her parents that she

Maybe they could call some schools to see if they’d accept a late application.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullshit it’s a “friend’s kid.” In any event, try Google. It’s not that hard.

Why are people such dickheads on here? Does it make you feel better about your sad little life to be catty on the interwebs?

People who fail their kids like this deserve it.

This isn’t deciding to potty train at 2vs3 or whether or not to use organic sheets. This is screwing up your kid’s whole life.

Anonymous wrote:Friend says her daughter really does want to attend a four-year, but struggled to narrow down a list and kept procrastinating. She didn’t ask for help, pushed things off, and then felt too lazy to get through essays. Friend also says the bigger issue is that the kid is generally very, very lazy, which they’re trying to figure out.

She’s a solid student — around a 3.8UW / ~4.2 W, SAT 1500, with all honors/7 APs, decent but not standout ECs. SLACS seem appealing to her, so Reed is a great option. She’s also a quite introverted kid. Major is Econ.

That’s not just lazy…that’s some kind of underlying issue like ADHD.

Regardless your friend is at best stupid and at worst a horrible parent to have let this happen. I don’t know that gap year is good advice here because it sounds like the girl will end up doing nothing and not even applying next year.

If your friend actually gives any inkling of a s—, have her enroll in community college, figure out her issues, then transfer.

This kind of thing happens all the time, and is a natural consequence of the complexity of our decentralized system. I even heard a rumor about it happening within the last few years at a DC private. (The kid definitely wound up at Arizona, but I don’t know if the rumor was true or just a way people tried to explain how a kid from that school matriculated to Arizona.)

I can’t believe the people saying they don’t believe the story. What kind of bubble do you live in? Strange and unfair things happen all the time out here.