Class of 2022- High School Parents

[slo]

Good morning!
My DD18 is a 2022 grad year.

DD is sports editor for the HS TV channel on YouTube and today is the last football home game, which is her last game being down on the field. She’s feeling a little blue today about it - she loves her school and she loves covering football games. She‘s gonna have a great time tonight and soak it all in, since it won’t ever happen again.

 

[MDIME]

Checking in.. got the FAFSA done yesterday, feeling accomplished! My DD just finished out her high school golf career placing 3rd in her class at the individual state championships and 5th in the state overall. Has her golf swing video complete and is emailing it to her 1st choice school this week. Regardless if she gets to play golf, Embry Riddle is still her first choice. That application is being submitted this week. Then she will move on to her other school apps and plans to have those done before the end of the month. It’s been a crazy busy start to senior year! Hope all of you parents are hanging in there!

 

[slo]

Checking in.. got the FAFSA done yesterday, feeling accomplished! My DD just finished out her high school golf career placing 3rd in her class at the individual state championships and 5th in the state overall. Has her golf swing video complete and is emailing it to her 1st choice school this week. Regardless if she gets to play golf, Embry Riddle is still her first choice. That application is being submitted this week. Then she will move on to her other school apps and plans to have those done before the end of the month. It’s been a crazy busy start to senior year! Hope all of you parents are hanging in there!

A big congratulations to your DD and good luck to her with trying to get recruited .

 

[MDIME]

A big congratulations to your DD and good luck to her with trying to get recruited .

Thank you!

 

[mefordis]

What's your opinion on including "poll worker" in the college application? Would that be considered volunteer work or have any impact at all? She already has a few volunteer jobs to put but wondering if we should include that as well.

 

[RDM83]

What's your opinion on including "poll worker" in the college application? Would that be considered volunteer work or have any impact at all? She already has a few volunteer jobs to put but wondering if we should include that as well.

I would say to include it. Here our poll workers are doing a few nights including election night. Of course you can choose your own schedule, but the fact that they are taking at least SOME time to get involved helping in the community (paid or not) out of their already busy schedules shows initiative, responsibility, and balance. I think that deserves credit on their college app.
Just my two cents

 

[design_mom]

What's your opinion on including "poll worker" in the college application? Would that be considered volunteer work or have any impact at all? She already has a few volunteer jobs to put but wondering if we should include that as well.

I think it'd definitely be considered volunteer work. I'd say including it depends on what else you have. I think the common app has a certain number of slots allowed for extra curricular activities. If you have space to include, then sure. If you don't have enough slots, then you'd need to prioritize. If she's going into a field where poll worker is in any way related, then I'd say DEFINITELY include. If not, then decide if it's more valuable (more hours, more dedication, bigger impact) than your other items or not. I wouldn't necessarily bump an on-going activity in favor of a short-term volunteer assignment unless it was something that really played into her interests.

My daughter has formally requested her recommendation letters (she had talked to the teacher informally previously, but she put them in "through the system"). Last night, I ordered her ACT score reports to be sent and I filled out the FAFSA. She worked on a supplemental essay required by one of her colleges last night. We're getting there, slowly and surely.

 

[JaxDad]

I’m walking that fine line between encouraging my son to get all the applications done and nagging him! He’s worked so hard and is an excellent candidate, but has not submitted an application yet. I know he’s working on them, including after-school workshops with friends and counselors, but he just hasn’t “completed” one. I’ve been telling him that there is no perfect essay, and the time and effort to keep tweaking them is generally not productive. I’ve also reminded him that submitting applications early definitely matters at some schools when it comes to things like dorm selection.

He’s also applying for ROTC scholarships, which include physical assessments. He’s not a good runner, so I’m trying to encourage/nag him on training for that as well!

I did complete the FAFSA, although I’m sure we’re firmly in that no man’s land of not qualifying for aid but not able to afford his more expensive school choices, hence the ROTC scholarship applications. If he ends up at UF, the financial part will be easy, and he won’t need the extra scholarship, but I want to let him pursue his other dream schools as options. It’s all pretty exciting, but I’m looking forward to having everything decided, so I can move on to the stress of preparing for his move!

 

[mefordis]

What is the purpose of filling out FAFSA if you know without a doubt you will not be getting financial aide, and are prepared to pay cash with no loans? I'm new to all of this and I'm getting ready to do the common app and FAFSA today, but wondering if I should just save time by skipping FAFSA.

 

[design_mom]

Application are in!

My daughter had an 'at home' school day yesterday while the juniors took the PSAT. She took the afternoon to finish up her applications. We clicked "submit" for all of them yesterday afternoon through the Common App. She's requested her recommendations and transcripts through her high school's system, and I filled out the FAFSA and ordered her ACT score reports.

So... now we have to make sure everything "comes together" in each college's system. (Her high school has moved to a new system for doing all this stuff this year. It used to be Naviance, now SchoolLinks. I'm a little bit worried there are going to some growing pains/learning curve while everyone -- counselors and students -- learn a new system, so I'm really glad we've got the applications in with enough time that we can follow up if things aren't happening like we think they should.) Most of her schools have an early action deadline of 11/1, but a couple are later.

 

[sam_gordon]

DS has applied to a couple of colleges. Of course, we haven't visited them yet , so a little backyards, but it's progress.

 

[mefordis]

Finally finished the FAFSA, got AP scores sent, requested a couple of recommendation letters (we are not at all on the ball), and the essays are written in the common app.

She took the ACT Saturday and feels pretty good about it. I'm hoping for a 28. If she gets a 28 she will send it to all 7 colleges she applied to. Some do not require it.

How is everyone else doing?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What is the purpose of filling out FAFSA if you know without a doubt you will not be getting financial aide, and are prepared to pay cash with no loans? I'm new to all of this and I'm getting ready to do the common app and FAFSA today, but wondering if I should just save time by skipping FAFSA.

We were in a similar boat but applied anyway, because in order to get any in-school scholarships or financial awards, it was necessary.

 

[design_mom]

Well hmmm.

My daughter might have already received a couple of replies. She sent in her applications a little less than two weeks ago.

One of her schools has 2 pathways into the nursing program. Most students will take "pre-nursing" the first year, then apply to the nursing program at the end of freshman year. However, they select some students (about 1/3 of the total) for direct admission. The direct admission route is selective and requires an interview. The nursing school said they don't even see your application till you've been accepted into the university as a whole. The early action deadline isn't till 11/1, but she has already gotten an invitation to interview (so I assume, at minimum, she's in for the pre-nursing program with the potential to "upgrade" to direct admit)! It's one of those one-way recorded interviews and she's required to do it this week -- which really kind of stinks because it's State Finals week for marching band, plus she's got a bunch of tests in school, and she's scheduled to work. I don't think she's going to have as much time to "prep" for the interview as would be ideal. I am very glad she has an interview but, boy, it sure would have been nice if it had happened NEXT week instead. If she gets direct admit, I think this school would be her #1 choice for sure.

Also, on Monday, I had her go through all of her application portals to make sure her schools had received all of her supplemental documents (transcripts, recommendations, test scores, etc.) We sent them all, so if something was missing I wanted to know so we could follow up. Most of the schools have a checklist showing what they have/are still waiting for. For one of her schools, the checklist was gone when she logged in. It was replaced by a module that said "Accept or Decline your Enrollment." She hasn't received any communication from that school yet (no 'congratulations' e-mail or mailing) and the early action deadline isn't till 11/15... but I think that means she's in! (This school has a highly rated nursing program but it does not have a direct-admit option. Everyone's pre-nursing till the end of freshman year.)

But, that's pretty exciting!

 

[mefordis]

Well hmmm.

My daughter might have already received a couple of replies. She sent in her applications a little less than two weeks ago.

One of her schools has 2 pathways into the nursing program. Most students will take "pre-nursing" the first year, then apply to the nursing program at the end of freshman year. However, they select some students (about 1/3 of the total) for direct admission. The direct admission route is selective and requires an interview. The nursing school said they don't even see your application till you've been accepted into the university as a whole. The early action deadline isn't till 11/1, but she has already gotten an invitation to interview (so I assume, at minimum, she's in for the pre-nursing program with the potential to "upgrade" to direct admit)! It's one of those one-way recorded interviews and she's required to do it this week -- which really kind of stinks because it's State Finals week for marching band, plus she's got a bunch of tests in school, and she's scheduled to work. I don't think she's going to have as much time to "prep" for the interview as would be ideal. I am very glad she has an interview but, boy, it sure would have been nice if it had happened NEXT week instead. If she gets direct admit, I think this school would be her #1 choice for sure.

Also, on Monday, I had her go through all of her application portals to make sure her schools had received all of her supplemental documents (transcripts, recommendations, test scores, etc.) We sent them all, so if something was missing I wanted to know so we could follow up. Most of the schools have a checklist showing what they have/are still waiting for. For one of her schools, the checklist was gone when she logged in. It was replaced by a module that said "Accept or Decline your Enrollment." She hasn't received any communication from that school yet (no 'congratulations' e-mail or mailing) and the early action deadline isn't till 11/15... but I think that means she's in! (This school has a highly rated nursing program but it does not have a direct-admit option. Everyone's pre-nursing till the end of freshman year.)

But, that's pretty exciting!

This is great news! It sounds like she'll get in everywhere she applied. So exciting!

 

[RDM83]

Just a quick update. Things are definitely moving along. My daughter has received about 6 acceptances already. These include 4 direct entry Physician Assistant’s programs she applied to. Still waiting on a few more. She is super excited about direct entry as th will get her a dual degree in 5 years if everything goes as planned.
We are set to go visit her top choice in a few weeks. They have an “overnight” accepted students experience. She is looking forward to it.

This is our first child going to college and although we are SUPER excited for her, We are being very cautious and making sure we read everything before we commit. This is the biggest financial decision after purchasing our house IMO.

We have three more children behind her and I am sure we will be more experienced when it’s their turn to go to college if they decide to.

How is everyone else doing?

 

[RDM83]

double post

 

[clori]

My daughter has one acceptance though honestly that is a state school that tyypically does on the spot admissions in october. She applied to one school that emailed and offered her the option to come to something this weekend for on the spot admission decisions instead of waiting until December. She is waiting - it is the school her older sister graduated from last year so she applied to make her happy but isn't super interested in (it was free at least). She is a decent but not top student and didn't take SATS so it will be interesting to see what happens. Since she isn't my first child to apply and go to college and knowing she has one option I think we are pretty relaxed. For us being middle class the cost will play a major role in where she can attend. It is not fun when you have to say no to a dream school due to affordability.

 

[design_mom]

Congrats on the acceptances!

My daughter has 2 for sure. One from a state school that's pretty high on her list but is not a "direct admit" program, and another from a private school which will only be affordable if they give her a decent scholarship. They said the scholarship packet will be coming by mail, but we haven't received it yet.

She got an invitation to interview for direct admit to a third school (probably her top choice *if* she gets direct admit) and she did that. Timing-wise it kind of stunk because she had to do it within a few days of the invitation and it was a very busy week (several tests at school, state finals for marching band, already scheduled at work, etc.) We didn't get to prep as much as I would have liked, but we did our best. It was a one-way recorded interview (no feedback) and she said the questions were not similar to the ones we'd prepped for. She did her best, that's all you can ask for. She won't find out if she got in (to the school at all, let alone direct admit) till their Decision Release Day in FEBRUARY (which I think is a ridiculously long time to wait since the early action deadline was 11/1 -- and her interview was even prior to 11/1) but what can you do? I would assume if she's been invited to interview for direct admit that she's AT LEAST in for the non-direct admit pathway. They did recently invite her to a special visit day just for "top prospects" to the program in January. (I'm a little unclear about whether it was really an "invitation" (optional) or a second-step to the direct admit process. Either way, we're planning to go).

We're still waiting to hear from 3 other schools -- two have published decision release dates, but the other does not.

 

[clori]

How far away do your seniors want to go. My daughter doesn't want to go that far. I think she remembers her sister suddenly coming home when there were gas explosions right near her school then covid. I also think she wants to be where there is public transportation so she feels she can get home. She thought about a school in Manhattan but said no - we have family there but she simply doesn't really like being in a city.