were you able to fit all your Common Application supplements into their tiny form?

[Nicole M]

I guess I'm wondering, actually, more about how you submitted materials, whether in hard copies or electronically. I've been working so hard to generate these materials, I didn't think to ask these obvious questions about how to get the stuff to the colleges...!

 

The reason I ask is that on the C.A. site they recommend that you send everything electronically or by snail mail. And while I was able to navigate Dante and Latin and (the gods help me) science and math, I cannot figure out their forms. Nice.

 

I did email the kind counselor from the school that is my son's first choice, asking him directly whether I could just snail mail the whole shebang if my son submits everything else electronically. Fingers crossed.

[Jane in NC]

Hi Nicole,

 

I did not have problems conforming to the counselor form, but I had problems with the Homeschool Supplement. Given that the school profile and transcript are uploaded on the counselor form, I could not see modifying or abridging these documents for the Homeschool Supplement. Thus I telephoned each of my son's counselors at those schools using the Common App to ask if I could snail mail the eight page course description list that I wrote. No problem with this. They noted that they like seeing additional material from homeschoolers.

 

Interestingly, the counselors at the LACs appreciate that homeschoolers do not fit into nice little boxes. They found it ironic that the Common App people seem to have created their most rigid form for us!

 

Jane

[Nicole M]

Hi Nicole,

 

I did not have problems conforming to the counselor form, but I had problems with the Homeschool Supplement. Given that the school profile and transcript are uploaded on the counselor form, I could not see modifying or abridging these documents for the Homeschool Supplement. Thus I telephoned each of my son's counselors at those schools using the Common App to ask if I could snail mail the eight page course description list that I wrote. No problem with this. They noted that they like seeing additional material from homeschoolers.

 

Interestingly, the counselors at the LACs appreciate that homeschoolers do not fit into nice little boxes. They found it ironic that the Common App people seem to have created their most rigid form for us

 

Jane

 

Oh, good! I was worried I'd have to tell my son, "I'm sorry honey. Let's just forget about college. Mommy can't figure out the forms."

 

I will make some calls tomorrow. Hooray!

[Brenda in MA]

Hi Nicole,

 

I did not have problems conforming to the counselor form, but I had problems with the Homeschool Supplement. Given that the school profile and transcript are uploaded on the counselor form, I could not see modifying or abridging these documents for the Homeschool Supplement. Thus I telephoned each of my son's counselors at those schools using the Common App to ask if I could snail mail the eight page course description list that I wrote. No problem with this. They noted that they like seeing additional material from homeschoolers.

 

Interestingly, the counselors at the LACs appreciate that homeschoolers do not fit into nice little boxes. They found it ironic that the Common App people seem to have created their most rigid form for us!

 

Jane

 

Nicole,

 

Even though I doesn't look like it, there is some flexibility with the Common App forms. I used their homeschool supplement and answered the questions on the first page, but on the 2nd page, which looks like a blank transcript, I wrote in each section to see the course descriptions attached with his transcript to the secondary school report form because my son's courses didn't neatly fit into their form.

 

For the transcript, I made up a one-page transcript that included all the course titles and grades, GPA, etc. Then I added an 8 page document to that containing descriptions of all of my son's courses. Before I uploaded the transcript, I pasted it together with the course descriptions in MS Word, and I uploaded the whole thing as one document with the secondary school report form.

 

Once you do the upload, you can do a print preview to see if it took in everything you uploaded. Before you submit the counselor form, you can also undo your upload, fix the document and upload it again. It took me a few tries to get it in there how I wanted, but once it was submitted, the whole thing was transferred electronically. I had no questions/issues from any of the colleges over submitting things this way, and I made no trips to the post office.

 

Hope you find a way to get everything sent in the way you want,

Brenda

[Nicole M]

For the transcript, I made up a one-page transcript that included all the course titles and grades, GPA, etc. Then I added an 8 page document to that containing descriptions of all of my son's courses. Before I uploaded the transcript, I pasted it together with the course descriptions in MS Word, and I uploaded the whole thing as one document with the secondary school report form.

 

Once you do the upload, you can do a print preview to see if it took in everything you uploaded. Before you submit the counselor form, you can also undo your upload, fix the document and upload it again. It took me a few tries to get it in there how I wanted, but once it was submitted, the whole thing was transferred electronically. I had no questions/issues from any of the colleges over submitting things this way, and I made no trips to the post office.

 

Hope you find a way to get everything sent in the way you want,

Brenda

 

Okay, I will confess it's the uploading that's freaking me out. I did the same, made a one-page transcript, 8-page course descriptions, etc. I was not working on my own computer when I posted, having just been to the Common App. website, but now that I'm at my own keyboard, I will attempt this uploading business. Thanks for the information and encouragement!

[Musicmom]

My ds applied to two schools using the Common App--both of which wanted the application and their school-specific supplement submitted online (happily, neither school asked for the Homeschool supplement, so we were spared that part :)) So ds submitted all of his stuff online (uploaded all his essays, etc.) It was quite a pain getting everything filled out in the small spaces allowed, especially since ds's activities and courses didn't fit neatly like ps activities/classes would.

 

As for the secondary school part--I just snail mailed the whole kit and kaboodle in one package. My course description document alone ended up being 25 pages long :tongue_smilie: and exceeded the upload limit of 256K, so that was one deciding factor. Then I had my Homeschool Profile, the counselor letter my husband wrote, two forms of ds's transcript in Excel (one by school year and the other by subject), a transcript from EPGY and an extra letter of recommendation obtained a year ago, and of course the secondary school form which I printed and did by hand. I arranged these all neatly in a folder, with a table of contents, and mailed it. It was a lot of paper, and a trip to the post office, but ultimately it seemed simpler to me to have it all corraled in one place. Another side benefit was being able to customize the counselor recommendation for each of the two schools.

 

It seems to have worked out--the schools' websites show they've received the packages and that ds's application is complete.

 

Best of luck to you!

[Kareni]

I'm another one who went the traditional mail route though my daughter did her part of the application electronically. As with Musicmom, all of the colleges found this acceptable. (Well, there was that one that lost her application fee, but that was ultimately found!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

Nicole,

 

Even though I doesn't look like it, there is some flexibility with the Common App forms. I used their homeschool supplement and answered the questions on the first page, but on the 2nd page, which looks like a blank transcript, I wrote in each section to see the course descriptions attached with his transcript to the secondary school report form because my son's courses didn't neatly fit into their form.

 

 

The blank transcript on the second page of the Homeschool Supplement is a problem. For example, it gives four slots for science courses. My son has had five. I cannot understand the purpose of this document given that we upload complete, electronically signed transcripts elsewhere!

 

Jane

[Kathy in Richmond]

I also snail-mailed my whole guidance counselor package.

 

Like Musicmom, I chose this route because it is the only way to customize the guidance counselor recommendation letter for each school.

 

I downloaded the Common Application Secondary School Report form and Home School Supplement forms to my computer and filled them in neatly using the PDFill program. I left the second page of the Home School Supplement blank and just wrote 'see attached transcript'. There is no way my dd's math courses would have fit on four lines:).

 

Our package also included a transcript, counselor letter, school profile, course description booklet, and high school reading list. Some of them also got her awards and activities resume.

 

All but one of my dd's schools are Common App schools, and so far none of them have had a problem with receiving the package by mail. My only caveat is that you need to make sure that the pages are easy to scan. It is my understanding that typically whatever I send in will be scanned into their computers to be read online by their adcoms. So I used plain white paper and black ink - nothing fancy or too colorful.

 

~Kathy

[Musicmom]

My only caveat is that you need to make sure that the pages are easy to scan. It is my understanding that typically whatever I send in will be scanned into their computers to be read online by their adcoms. So I used plain white paper and black ink - nothing fancy or too colorful.

 

~Kathy

 

Good point, Kathy! My dh also figured everything would be scanned, so I made sure everything was loose pages, neatly stacked, ds's name/birthdate on each page, nothing stapled or paperclipped, etc, and black and white (as far as possible--the EPGY transcript was red.)

[Nicole M]

Good point, Kathy! My dh also figured everything would be scanned, so I made sure everything was loose pages, neatly stacked, ds's name/birthdate on each page, nothing stapled or paperclipped, etc, and black and white (as far as possible--the EPGY transcript was red.)

 

I had a lovely email corrospondence with the couselor from my son's first choice school, and some others, and they were all perfectly happy to have paper copies. First-choice-guy did mention that they would scan the material and upload it, so now I am feeling a little sorry for the poor work-study student who has to do that. Oh, well!