common app. cross post

[Guest Barb B]

For those who have done the common application: on the secondary school report form - how do you attach a transcript? Is it an upload, or an attachment like you can do in emails? I know, I am getting a bit ahead of myself (2010/2011 common. app. is not up until 8/1!).

 

Thanks.

 

Barb

[Kareni]

I'll admit to being a luddite. I mailed my daughter's transcript, counselor letter, course descriptions, homeschool profile, and reading list to the ten colleges to which she applied. This had the advantage that I could tailor each counselor letter to the particular college. I was also able to include an additional letter of recommendation using this method. The Common App can limit you to a certain number of letters of recommendation, and we wanted to submit a letter from my daughter's employer of three years.

 

My daughter did submit the actual Common Application online.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Chris in VA]

We mailed ours, too, snail mail.

(Actually, the school mailed it.)

[Brenda in MA]

it was so easy that way -- once I got it all formatted and entered. No trips to the post office or the copy center.

 

You attach the transcript to the secondary school report form using the upload feature. Once you've uploaded, you can use the Print Preview feature to see how it will look and to make sure it went in OK. My original go at the transcript used an unusual font that I got from the HSLDA website transcript template. The upload for that didn't take. I had to redo the whole thing in a more standard font (Times New Roman), and then it went in fine.

 

You can upload a document that is several pages long. I had a one-page transcript for my son followed by 8 pages of course descriptions. The course descriptions included about 3 - 4 sentences about each course along with a list of the textbooks and materials used in the course.

 

You do, however, submit it only once, and what you put in goes to all the schools your child applied to through the Common App. For us, this meant that I had to have everything finalized and submitted prior to Nov. 1, as he applied Early Action to a couple of schools. As Karen alluded, you also cannot customize the materials to each school. For us, this was not a big deal, but for some students, it might be depending upon the types of schools/programs the student is applying to.

 

Each school will tell you through the Common App how many letters of recommendation they want. The common app will only take that many. We sent some extra ones to a couple of schools that asked for more from homeschoolers. Those had to be sent via snail mail.

 

Good for you for getting a jump on all of this now!

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[Guest Barb B]

Brenda, Thanks!! That is reasurring as I want to upload transcript and course descrptions!

Barb

[TravelingChris]

I am not going to do anything online. I will go ahead and print the applications and all materials and submit them by mail. I just have to many problems with online applications and the extra stress is not worth it to me.

[readwithem]

I'll admit to being a luddite. I mailed my daughter's transcript, counselor letter, course descriptions, homeschool profile, and reading list to the ten colleges to which she applied. This had the advantage that I could tailor each counselor letter to the particular college. I was also able to include an additional letter of recommendation using this method. The Common App can limit you to a certain number of letters of recommendation, and we wanted to submit a letter from my daughter's employer of three years.

 

My daughter did submit the actual Common Application online.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

We did this way as well - snail mail for counselor docs and student app online. I wrote "see attached documents" a lot. :001_smile:

[Gwen in VA]

Another "snail mail" person here!

 

My kids found their part of the online applications to be an exercise in frustration, so I was delighted to skip the head-banging fun and just mail in all the school/guidance counselor stuff.