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My youngest will be a senior this next year. She has already decided to do an AA at our local community college. She'll be taking her math and science there over the next year.

Her ultimate goal is a MSLIS. She hopes to be a librarian specializing in the collection (not program/forward facing).

I'm so thankful that after 2 application/acceptance seasons (one during spring 2020!), I won't have to do much of anything for this one.

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I have a rising senior (public school also).  DS17's search and decision process is definitely more complex than DD20's was...but I'm glad that he's my second kid so I do have at least some experience! 

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I've got a rising senior. They know two schools they want to apply to (both likely admits). I've told them that I'd like them to find more, so that we can better compare aid packages, but so far they'd rather do anything else besides poke around on college websites.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My oldest daughter is a rising senior!

This is my first time through the college application process as a homeschooling parent. I am stressed, but preparing as much as I possibly can. 

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On 7/24/2024 at 1:03 PM, EKT said:

My oldest daughter is a rising senior!

This is my first time through the college application process as a homeschooling parent. I am stressed, but preparing as much as I possibly can. 

Congratulations! I hope you get to enjoy it too, it can be a lot of fun (and funny.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

DD applied to our state flagship yesterday and was accepted today. We received a notification via e-mail. It all feels too easy and a little anticlimactic. She still needs to apply to the Honors College, though. That requires a little more work. Plus, there's scholarships to apply for. Overall, we feel relieved and a lot less stressed. Happy about that. 🙂 

ETA: For what it's worth, we did not need to submit course descriptions. I was fretting about that. We went to the university's open house/tour for high schoolers this past April. We made contacts and where encouraged there. When we came home, I e-mailed DD's regional rep about some questions pertaining to homeschoolers, dual enrollment transfer credits, and whether DD would be exempt from their foreign-language requirement. Developing this contact built my confidence in applying as a homeschooler. When it came time to submit DD's transcript, which was the most difficult aspect because there was no clear way for homeschoolers to do so, I simply e-mailed it to the same rep. She had it in the system within minutes. My suggestion...attend the campus tour and develop contacts ahead of time. The Honors College presentation we found especially helpful.

Edited by pitterpatter
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5 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

DD applied to our state flagship yesterday and was accepted today. We received a notification via e-mail. It all feels too easy and a little anticlimactic. She still needs to apply to the Honors College, though. That requires a little more work. Plus, there's scholarships to apply for. Overall, we feel relieved and a lot less stressed. Happy about that. 🙂 

It is.  The only thing that is tougher is small acceptance rate schools and competitive merit.  Those things are definitely selective and need to be approached as such.  But your avg directional u, especially, is simple in most states.

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It turns out my kid is really interested in my alma mater. But we're out of state, and the price has gone up so much, so it's out of our price range, even with the rather large automatic scholarship they are eligible for. Unless kid earns one of the rare full tuition scholarships. And the scholarship requires writing an essay. This is my writing adverse kid. And the scholarship essay is, "Ask and answer your own question!"

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33 minutes ago, silver said:

It turns out my kid is really interested in my alma mater. But we're out of state, and the price has gone up so much, so it's out of our price range, even with the rather large automatic scholarship they are eligible for. Unless kid earns one of the rare full tuition scholarships. And the scholarship requires writing an essay. This is my writing adverse kid. And the scholarship essay is, "Ask and answer your own question!"

These are the challenges and choices that I find so good for maturing our kids during senior year. They really have to own the process ( do I write an essay that may enable me to reach my goal or not?) For my boys in particular, the applying process was a rite of passage that I hadn’t expected. The essays caused them to reflect about their goals in a way they never would before it was the key to what they wanted. 

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I have a rising senior but we have no idea what we are doing yet. He is leaning toward a gap year, but he would likely be going into a design-related major which means that there is typically a portfolio. He has one, but if we wait a year, it will be out of date. So I am inclined to ask him to apply and then defer admission. I think the biggest hold ups are that he is not 100% on the major and that he doesn't want to write the essays.  Unfortunately, at least one of the schools requires common app so we cannot escape the essay requirement. 

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  • 1 month later...

A whole slew of applications are now in! As of right now, I think there's only one school left that they are interested in applying to. 

We have official scores sent off to one school that definitely needed them and the other that is a top choice where it wasn't clear if they were okay with self-reported scores or not. I think the other schools are test blind or are okay with self-reported scores. I guess they'll let us know if they need official scores. Part of why we got them in nearly 3 weeks before the EA deadline was to have time to get things sent that they want official versions of.

And now we wait. I know at least one has rolling admissions where they will let you know in 1-2 weeks. 

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6 hours ago, silver said:

A whole slew of applications are now in! As of right now, I think there's only one school left that they are interested in applying to. 

We have official scores sent off to one school that definitely needed them and the other that is a top choice where it wasn't clear if they were okay with self-reported scores or not. I think the other schools are test blind or are okay with self-reported scores. I guess they'll let us know if they need official scores. Part of why we got them in nearly 3 weeks before the EA deadline was to have time to get things sent that they want official versions of.

And now we wait. I know at least one has rolling admissions where they will let you know in 1-2 weeks. 

Wow. Congratulations!

Mine has only applied and gotten into Northern Arizona U and only because they required zero essays. 
 

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18 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

Wow. Congratulations!

Mine has only applied and gotten into Northern Arizona U and only because they required zero essays. 
 

To be fair, the ones applied to so far do not require any essays. A few required a paragraph response to things like "why this major?" or a diversity question. But none required essays.

I'm pretty sure that mine is going to choose to not apply to a school that could potentially give them a full ride partially because of the essay requirements (for the school and scholarships both). There are other reasons this school is not a high priority to them (wants a more residential campus than it is, slightly further away than they want to go, not as close to outdoor activities that they would like, etc), but I do think the essay is a factor.

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My son decided this last week that he wants to go to school next year versus the gap year. 

So I spent the weekend getting the Common App up. I already completed the documentation but I do need to edit it/review it.  

I think he is going to apply to community college and 4 year schools and then we will decide later where to land.

There is a possibility he can live on campus where my oldest is while attending community college. That might be a good fit for him.

The 4 year he is considering has a co-op program but they recently made a change to the co-op program that puts a lot more of the burden of finding jobs on the students, and from what I understand, the curriculum is already very demanding. Trying to find a sublet every other semester might be too much for my kid too. The job experience would be awesome but he could end up all over the country. We are still addressing his anxiety (meds/counseling) so I am not sure what to think about that.  

His field of interest (graphic design) does not require a four year degree. 

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Almost all applications in. They are debating if they can overcome their reluctance of writing to do the scholarship essay for my alma mater. So applications are either done or just one left. None of the six applications submitted so far have required an essay.

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9 hours ago, silver said:

Almost all applications in. They are debating if they can overcome their reluctance of writing to do the scholarship essay for my alma mater. So applications are either done or just one left. None of the six applications submitted so far have required an essay.

Wow.

Mine still hasn’t managed a single one outside of Northern AZ.

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My current senior is the "plan ahead" type and he has finished/submitted 9 of 10 planned applications (One, Rice University, doesn't have EA application option).  He's already been admitted to 3 with rolling applications (Iowa State, University of MN, Michigan State).  Iowa State and U of MN are definitely financial safeties for us (U of MN is in state), and Michigan State is likely to be affordable as well, so that's great.   A number of his other options are borderline in terms of affordability (may depend either on scholarships or how the close the Net Price Calculator reflects actual results, since a few are very close to the max budget in the calculator), and a couple are very much "reaches". 

One of his two reaches is MIT, and he has his interview with a local alum tomorrow.  He is both very excited and nervous about that! He knows that getting into MIT is extremely unlikely, but he didn't want to not "shoot his shot".

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We STILL haven't submitted anything. On the plus side, we just figured out the classes he hoped to take at the community college in the spring have a crazy schedule and so we are going to have to swap out courses (It's an hour drive away).  So I can change the transcript, course descriptions, and common app before we submit.  

On the negative side, I have not received any response from him on asking for a recommendation so I guess we aren't submitting one. 

Trying to just hold this all loosely.  Pushing this kid is not helpful.

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Mine has decided to try for the full tuition scholarship that requires an essay (their dad told them something to the extent of this essay could potentially be worth over $70,000 over four years, and is worth trying). We know it's a long shot, and my kid will be happy at other schools that we can afford without a long shot scholarship. But they'd also be happy at this particular school, so they might as well try.

Unfortunately, the prompt is a non-prompt. "Ask and answer your own question!" We have no idea what they're looking for. A personal essay? A problem solving essay? Humorous? Serious? 

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10 hours ago, silver said:

Mine has decided to try for the full tuition scholarship that requires an essay (their dad told them something to the extent of this essay could potentially be worth over $70,000 over four years, and is worth trying). We know it's a long shot, and my kid will be happy at other schools that we can afford without a long shot scholarship. But they'd also be happy at this particular school, so they might as well try.

Unfortunately, the prompt is a non-prompt. "Ask and answer your own question!" We have no idea what they're looking for. A personal essay? A problem solving essay? Humorous? Serious? 

Whatever is easiest for her to write! Seriously. That’s as open ended as I have seen. 

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15 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Whatever is easiest for her to write! Seriously. That’s as open ended as I have seen. 

That's kind of the advice I gave. "What do you want to highlight or talk about of yourself/your character/your actions? Make up a question that lets you highlight that."

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On 10/30/2024 at 8:47 AM, silver said:

Mine has decided to try for the full tuition scholarship that requires an essay (their dad told them something to the extent of this essay could potentially be worth over $70,000 over four years, and is worth trying). We know it's a long shot, and my kid will be happy at other schools that we can afford without a long shot scholarship. But they'd also be happy at this particular school, so they might as well try.

Unfortunately, the prompt is a non-prompt. "Ask and answer your own question!" We have no idea what they're looking for. A personal essay? A problem solving essay? Humorous? Serious? 

One piece of advice I heard on a college tour from an admissions counselor was to always be yourself in your essay. For example, if you are a naturally humorous writer, incorporate humor, but don't try to be funny if you aren't just to try to stand out. Everyone should focus on their own genuine strengths, and trying to be someone that they are not will ultimately be exhausting and less impactful. 

Another piece of advice is to try to use personal examples. Sharing specific stories that highlight your true personality and experiences by writing an essay that only you can write is a good way to craft a strong essay.

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They're now working on scholarship applications. Some of these are so dumb. There's one for a school that is asking, "Please explain why you are seeking financial assistance and how a scholarship will assist you with your educational expenses." It's part of a general scholarship application, which throws your name in the hat, so to speak, for most of the scholarships. But it's still a weird question, especially the second half. A scholarship will assist with educational expenses because it literally lowers the amount you have to pay. What else is there to say? 

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