Common App Deadlines

[learners4life]

Is it true that applications aren't due to many of the schools using the Common App until as late as January and February. I just saw these types of dates on Cornell, Texas A & M, Colorado State.  Am I missing something?  UC applications are due in November.  

 

[Arch at Home]

From what we have seen, November 1 tends to be for the first round of Early Decision applications or school's with competitive scholarship applications. Regular admissions are in January and February. That said, I am pushing DD to get her apps done this month so as to have them over and done with before her Senior year gets intense. I know that later in the year there will be scholarship applications and competitions to attend to.

[Arch at Home]

nt

Edited September 8, 2016 by Arch at Home

[8filltheheart]

My dd has to complete all of her apps this month bc I want them submitted well before Oct 15/Nov 1. Those are the deadlines for honors programs and scholarships at most of her schools.

[Luckymama]

Dd only has one school with a Jan 1 deadline, the only school that offers ED.

 

The other deadlines are Oct 14, Nov 1 (so many), and Dec 15. All those are early for scholarship purposes---they also offer later regular decision deadlines, but she needs the scholarship money.

 

I would love her to be done by the end of this month. I don't think that will happen because of all the essays still to be written and revised.

[JeanM]

I have to say the thread title here almost gave me a heart attack. DS has started on his common app stuff, and we're hoping he'll be mostly done by mid-October, but I think his earliest deadline (early action) is in November.

[quark]

Scholarships! :willy_nilly: We haven't even started looking into those.

[8filltheheart]

Scholarships! :willy_nilly: We haven't even started looking into those.

Those are what drive our entire school list!

[quark]

Those are what drive our entire school list!

 

These are the scholarships from schools, 8? I am quite sure he won't qualify for anything need based and his schools don't give merit aid as far as I know. But then I also forget about all the little outside ones that could potentially add up if he was willing to write essays etc.

 

When people say choose senior year fall courses carefully, I now know exactly what they mean. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

[learners4life]

The other deadlines are Oct 14, Nov 1 (so many), and Dec 15. All those are early for scholarship purposes---they also offer later regular decision deadlines, but she needs the scholarship money.

 

 

 

Scholarships! :willy_nilly: We haven't even started looking into those.

 

We hadn't even begun to consider scholarships either!  Probably because UCs don't offer anything but the Reagents Scholarship, and everything else she is applying to is 2nd choice. That said, there are a couple that she is applying for that would not happen without some scholarship money, so thanks, Luckymama, for bringing this up.  I will add it to the stack of things that I am buried under.

[Luckymama]

These are the scholarships from schools, 8? I am quite sure he won't qualify for anything need based and his schools don't give merit aid as far as I know. But then I also forget about all the little outside ones that could potentially add up if he was willing to write essays etc.

 

When people say choose senior year fall courses carefully, I now know exactly what they mean. :tongue_smilie:

8 and I have similar college search parameters.

 

We do not qualify for need-based aid. All of dd's schools offer merit aid, some guaranteed with her stats and some very, very competitive. These are mostly full tuition with a few full ride scholarships mixed in. We have found a few smaller scholarships ($5K range) offered through special programs at the schools with separate applications.

 

Dd has not searched for any scholarships offered from outside organizations. I don't know if she will. The essays she has are proving to be very exhausting: six schools, 20 essays with only *2* overlapping :eek:

[quark]

Dd has not searched for any scholarships offered from outside organizations. I don't know if she will. The essays she has are proving to be very exhausting: six schools, 20 essays with only *2* overlapping :eek:

 

Whoa! :scared: Okay, I will try not to complain. I think DS has 10 or fewer than 10 long essays (with some possible overlap) and a few with shorter answers.

 

I knew I was being too laid back. Will start researching some more to see if we inadvertently left something out.

Edited September 8, 2016 by quark

[8filltheheart]

8 and I have similar college search parameters.

 

We do not qualify for need-based aid. All of dd's schools offer merit aid, some guaranteed with her stats and some very, very competitive. These are mostly full tuition with a few full ride scholarships mixed in. We have found a few smaller scholarships ($5K range) offered through special programs at the schools with separate applications.

 

Dd has not searched for any scholarships offered from outside organizations. I don't know if she will. The essays she has are proving to be very exhausting: six schools, 20 essays with only *2* overlapping :eek:

Yep. Our dd's reality. One application has been completely submitted. A whole list of essays still to write.

[Luckymama]

Whoa! :scared: Okay, I will try not to complain. I think DS has about less than 10 long essays (with some possible overlap) and a few with shorter answers.

 

I knew I was being too laid back. Will start researching some more to see if we inadvertently left something out.

You're not being too laid back. You're dealing with a different family situation (one kid vs youngest of 3 in our case), different state uni system (dd has no viable in-state option for her majors), and different major/course requirements (let me tell you, studying a critical language at a high level in conjunction with strong International Relations limits one's options!).

 

It's all good. You and ds have this :)

[learners4life]

Mama and 8 - Can you tell any of the schools your daughters are applying to? Like you, my daughter's college app choices are somewhat limited, as she is only applying to universities that also have vet schools (with one exception which has a good track record of undergrads getting into vet school).  So, while our schools probably wouldn't be the same,  I would still be helpful for seeing the whole picture.

[quark]

It's all good. You and ds have this :)

 

Oh man, that is so good to hear! :001_smile:

 

[8filltheheart]

Mama and 8 - Can you tell any of the schools your daughters are applying to? Like you, my daughter's college app choices are somewhat limited, as she is only applying to universities that also have vet schools (with one exception which has a good track record of undergrads getting into vet school). So, while our schools probably wouldn't be the same, I would still be helpful for seeing the whole picture.

My dd's list would most likely be incredibly unhelpful. Her #1 filter is Russian. That eliminates a lot of great schools.

 

I would recommend starting here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html

[8filltheheart]

Oh man, that is so good to hear! :001_smile:

 

Definitely. Putting 8 though college definitely falls under a different set of parameters than 1.

 

In another discussion, a hypothetical question came up: if your kids had a $500,000 trust fund (total for all), would it change where they applied. My response was no bc that works out to their already approx $15,000/yr budget that we tell them they have to stay under. ;) All in the perspective!

[Luckymama]

Mama and 8 - Can you tell any of the schools your daughters are applying to? Like you, my daughter's college app choices are somewhat limited, as she is only applying to universities that also have vet schools (with one exception which has a good track record of undergrads getting into vet school). So, while our schools probably wouldn't be the same, I would still be helpful for seeing the whole picture.

On mobile so excuse typos and grammar please

 

D's filter is Arabic, so the schools she's looking at include those on the list at thelanguageflagship.org (a new one isn't listed there yet) plus one other known for Arabic w a great IR school and another in DC known for IR with decent Arabic offerings.

 

FYI I don't know where you are from and if this might work, but the University of Delaware has phenomenal success with vet school acceptance by their pre-vet students. Merit aid w high stats is common, and there are some competitive full rides offered. Plus Newark ("new-ark") is a great town with some very nice residents. Ahem ;)

[quark]

My dd's list would most likely be incredibly unhelpful. Her #1 filter is Russian. That eliminates a lot of great schools.

 

I would recommend starting here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html

 

I know this was not directed at me but I am finding the link very helpful to understand other options. Thanks 8!

[learners4life]

Thanks, 8, for the website recommendation.  I signed up and am looking through.

 

I am doing this completely on my own.  My husband is not involved with our homeschool at all.  We have no fellow homeschoolers in our area who have done anything but the CC route, except two that got into an almost 100% admission rate school. I see all of you writing about other homeschoolers in your circles who got into this college or that, and I can only imagine the wealth of information that is being shared in these groups.  *I* am the one that everyone has started coming to for homeschool advice in the last couple of years, and I have gladly shared all of my hard-earned knowledge and lessons learned. I volunteer like crazy at our church, and am asked to train and advise others who are new to teaching there. It goes on and on.  Everyone leans on me. In sum: my life has been give, give, give. And I'm pretty dry at this point. This is our first and only homeschool grad.  I have no experience with this, and am coming into it pretty exhausted from some trying years of family deaths and health problems.  It is probably the only time I have asked for any help from anyone, so I appreciate and need all the help I can get.

[quark]

It is probably the only time I have asked for any help from anyone, so I appreciate and need all the help I can get.

 

:grouphug: The Hive is probably among the most generous forums I've seen. I'm sure that if you ask someone will help. I will be very happy to for UCs as that's what I've been researching the most. I've found teamwork to be a great way to learn so we can team up too if you like. Good luck!

[learners4life]

FYI I don't know where you are from and if this might work, but the University of Delaware has phenomenal success with vet school acceptance by their pre-vet students. Merit aid w high stats is common, and there are some competitive full rides offered. Plus Newark ("new-ark") is a great town with some very nice residents. Ahem ;)

 

We are in California.  I will try looking on the University of Delaware's site and see if it tells where their undergrads get into vet school.  I looked at UC Davis vet school admission stats, and saw that University of Delaware was accepted once out of the three years I looked at.  Probably most people from Delaware aren't wanting to come to California! UCD is daughters top choice vet school, but there are others that are closer to Delaware and might have higher rates of Delaware acceptance. I will look into that.

Edited September 8, 2016 by learners4life

[8filltheheart]

CA is an unknown entity for me. I am also not sure how vet school works.

 

The way I search is I start with stats(test scores and GPA). I look at automatic scholarships based on those. That is one list of schools. (For example, U of AL gives full tuition scholarships for a 32.) Then I research schools fitting other criteria that have competitive scholarships. I look at the schools' data set. (I like using collegedata.com bc it is easy to use and all in one place.) I look at the admissions test scores and make sure my student is in the top 25% of admitted students. For really competitive scholarships, I want to see their stats in the top 10%.

[learners4life]

(I like using collegedata.com bc it is easy to use and all in one place.) 

 

I'd never seen this before.  :thumbup1:  I've been doing it the hard way - going to each school individually and navigating their site to find and gather the info.   :banghead:

[goldberry]

The title freaked me out also!

 

I've been gathering info and getting everything ready.  But don't you have to wait until filling out the FAFSA when it opens Oct 1?  I thought we were supposed to do that first?

[Luckymama]

The title freaked me out also!

 

I've been gathering info and getting everything ready. But don't you have to wait until filling out the FAFSA when it opens Oct 1? I thought we were supposed to do that first?

No :)

 

Schools that do not need FAFSA info for acceptance don't care. Need-aware schools (google for a list) do and will hold acceptance decisions for FAFSA data.

 

Decisions about aid do rely on the FAFSA (and the CSS Profile for private schools). That information will either arrive after, sometimes way after, acceptance or will arrive with the acceptance decision but not until later in the spring.

[GoodGrief]

Hugs to all of you in the midst of college apps! Soooo many small details of which to keep track, especially if your student is casting a wide net. And the essays never seem to end.

 

I do recommend completing apps earlier rather than later. For some schools (like Georgia Tech, for example), you completely miss out on merit aid if you go with later deadlines.

 

And definitely do the Common App before FAFSA.

 

College Confidential (especially the class specific boards in the Parents Forum, and the financial aid forum) gets a bad rap here, but it's a good resource. There are many detail-oriented parents bringing up things that may not have occurred to you. :-)

[Meredith]

I am graduating my oldest and my dd is running out of steam writing essays.  Her list is at 10 schools so far, but I think it's realistic to cut that list down.  I would like her to get her to get at least some of her applications done ASAP, as in this month, but don't want to push her too much.  Feeling overwhelmed with infomation - common app and FAFSA questions - glad to gain lots of info and encouragement here.