Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[Tinks]

You can revise it as many times as you like before finally submitting it.

Thanks! That's what I thought as well. Good to know.

 

[disneylovin24]

I am a newbie as this is my oldest child starting the college process...and I have a question about the common application. Can we begin filling it out and save and come back to it? Or is it fill out and send in one sitting?

I thought it would be faster to ask you experienced moms than to go to the site. Thanks!

Also sometimes good to know, you can make more than one. I submitted my first one so I could not change it but then realized I made a mistake on it. Thankfully I submitted it to only one school so I was able to make another one for other schools. I can't remember how but it is possible! So if you mess up like me, don't worry! (And little mess ups don' matter either, I ended up getting into that school anyway - I put down the wrong graduation year which I thought would have made me look stupid!).

 

[disneylovin24]

Hi all!

Congrats to everyone and their kids going through this exciting time! I graduated HS in 2012 so I know the ropes and its all familiar to me so if anyone has any questions I am willing to offer my opinions!

I have one year of college in the books and after going through the whole process of applying then going to college for a year I have learned A LOT!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

School starts on August 7th. My son is a senior this year. He's taken on SAT test. We are planning on scheduling him for a 2nd one soon.

He hasn't even thought about what colleges he might be interested in. He did just pass his driver's license test and we got his senior picture proofs.
I'm disappointed that the company who did them doesn't offer senior announcements. I wanted to save time and have those done at the same time.

I am hoping to get him motivated to figure out what colleges he is interested in. He is so laid back about everything it's driving me nuts.

It doesn't help that I've no idea where we are even supposed to begin. Sigh..........

 

[Mom21]

How many colleges is your child applying to? I see someone above said 8 that use the common app. Not sure what that means for total. My daughter is applying for 4 which I think is a lot. I don't think any of them use the CA. Honestly she tells me but all the letters start to run together as to what she is talking about. I know she is applying to UF, USF, FSU, and UCF. They are all up there together in northern Florida. She is a bit constricted though as she has to go to a FL school as that is all I can afford, and she is majoring in Chemistry or Chem engineering (the engineering is if mom gets her wishes but doubt I will), so that limits the colleges.

 

[elgerber]

My dd is only applying to 1. She has her mind made up,and she is guaranteed acceptance. So, that is easier at least. She has been trying to apply online for over a month, and they still dont' have the app up for Fall of 2014 yet. It's driving her nuts.
I won't tell you how much I spent on pictures. We pick our own photographer, and I knew up front how much it would be, but I LOVED her work, and she has sooooooooooooo many props backgrounds locations etc, it's amazing. So, yes, that put me in the poorhouse, but I'll have them forever .

 

[SydSim]

How many colleges is your child applying to? I see someone above said 8 that use the common app.

My DD's situation is a little different than the average. Her major requires an audition and acceptances into the program are more competitive than the Ivy League.

She is applying to a few schools where she doesn't need to audition (so we consider those her "safety" schools, but she still needs to be admitted academically, and unfortunately, none of them are automatic admits). The rest are auditioned programs so she has about six of those. It is what it is.

 

[IDoDis]

We are at the RV tonight but when I get home tomorrow I will dig up the package and sheet prices for Prestige.

We finally got the email from Prestige with the proofs and price list. Talk about taking advantage of parents! $69 for two 5X7's of the same shot! And the package prices are absolutely outrageous considering these are really Sears quality photos where you can get like over 100 pictures in a package for $9.99 at Sears!

I'm glad we have a professional photographer lined up which makes it easier to to skip these Prestige pics. DD will choose her two pictures that she wants in the yearbook and that's it. I am going to call and see if I can still get my free wallets because the paper DD filled out didn't say anything about having to buy a package. It just said to fill out the form and turn it in to get 8 free wallets. I doubt I'll get them, but it can't hurt to try. There's one shot of DD with her letter jacket over her shoulder that I would love to have for free.

 

[Chelley00]

I'm very fortunate on the photographer front. One of my coworkers is a part time photographer who does beautiful work. He did oldest DS's senior pictures and would only accept $100 for his time and a CD of all the pictures. He's already got shots planned out for DS #2's pictures and we won't even have a chance to take them until late September!

We haven't gotten anything from the school about yearbook pictures or anything, so I'm curious to see if they do anything special at all.

 

[sk!mom]

My DD17 is applying to only one. After visiting her top choices, one school seems to be a perfect fit. A program and opportunities that excited her and it's in a metro area which she really wanted. It's a state school and she has the class rank to be an automatic acceptance. So as far as school selection goes- she's done!

 

[powellrj]

I'm very fortunate on the photographer front. One of my coworkers is a part time photographer who does beautiful work. He did oldest DS's senior pictures and would only accept $100 for his time and a CD of all the pictures. He's already got shots planned out for DS #2's pictures and we won't even have a chance to take them until late September!

We haven't gotten anything from the school about yearbook pictures or anything, so I'm curious to see if they do anything special at all.

Our school doesn't do anything special. The kids just have regular pictures taken like they normally do and put in the yearbook. We had outdoor shots taken of DD a couple of weeks ago, but aren't very happy with them so we will have them taken again by someone different. Its so different than her brothers were. They went to a different school that used Prestige and getting them there was hard enough so I just bought those pictures because I knew I would never get them to go again! I paid close to $500 5 years ago, so I can only imagine how much they are now.

 

[JeannieNM]

My DD's situation is a little different than the average. Her major requires an audition and acceptances into the program are more competitive than the Ivy League.

She is applying to a few schools where she doesn't need to audition (so we consider those her "safety" schools, but she still needs to be admitted academically, and unfortunately, none of them are automatic admits). The rest are auditioned programs so she has about six of those. It is what it is.

SydSim- what is your DD auditioning for? Our DD is looking at both theatre and dance. The scheduling is really tough with her other obligations. She is looking at large universities verses conservatory but they are all very competitive. So far she has one backup that is non audition and one that is non audition for BA but audition for BFA, unfortunately, academically that one only accepts 18% of their applicants so, while it is her first choice, it will be a tough admit.
DD has gotten several offers from schools that saw her theatre audition at a conference but she is not interested in any of them, oh well that would have been too easy. LOL

So far DD has 5 definite schools to apply to and 2 maybes. Of the 5 definite only 2 are on the CA. Of the two backups only 1 is on the CA. None are in state.

My dd is only applying to 1. She has her mind made up,and she is guaranteed acceptance. So, that is easier at least. She has been trying to apply online for over a month, and they still dont' have the app up for Fall of 2014 yet. It's driving her nuts.
I won't tell you how much I spent on pictures. We pick our own photographer, and I knew up front how much it would be, but I LOVED her work, and she has sooooooooooooo many props backgrounds locations etc, it's amazing. So, yes, that put me in the poorhouse, but I'll have them forever .

DD picked out her photographer (she has been looking at senior photos all last year to decide which company she wanted to go with), I am calling them tomorrow to get the scoop on pricing etc. One of her bbf's moms bought my dd, her dd and a third girl a best friend package at one of the local photographers on groupon. I don't know what it includes but they are going on Thursday for the photos. I guess I will find out then what the prints or cd costs. At our school each senior gets their own yearbook page and they do their own layout and provide the photos. Parents can also buy 1/4, 1/2 or whole page to express their congratulations and the parents lay those out. I have no idea what those cost either.

School starts on August 12. DD is doing a lot with her friends this last week and not much with college stuff. Oh well, we new it would be a crazy year!

Congrats to those that have already been accepted places.

What schools are you kids applying too?

 

[IDoDis]

I have a question that maybe some parents can answer who already had one child past the senior year and is currently in college.

DD is ahead on her credits since she's taken a zero hour senate class for two years. This means she doesn't have to take an elective this year. However, she's worried that if she doesn't take a full load it will affect her class rank when she graduates, thus affecting her scholarship potential. I am not sure of her most recent ranking because it wasn't on her final report card that was mailed out at the end of May. On her January report card, she was ranked 6th unweighted and 13th weighted (out of 400).

If she only takes 4 classes instead of 5, that would leave her more time for homework (3 AP classes) and more time for EC's (clubs and volunteer work) and her job where she works 15 hrs/wk without being so stressed for time.

The scholarship applications want her official transcripts through her Junior year. That's what they base the GPA and class rank on, correct? Aren't most scholarhip decisions from the colleges made by December/January? Not that senior year doesn't matter because they will want a final transcript sent in after she graduates, but the scholarship decisions are all made based on the first three years of high school, or so it seems.

Should DD take another class even though she doesn't have to in order to keep her rank or does it not matter? The elective she would take would be some class on Roman culture. Why she chose that, I have no clue. Since she will have 3 AP classes, she doesn't want to add in heavy-duty elective.

What would be the best way to go? Only take the 4 classes or take 5 classes? Will it affect her rank if she takes one less class? She has to register for school on Tuesday so any feedback I can get before then would be great!

 

[sk!mom]

My DD is taking 5 classes and then will leave school at lunch. Missing the last two periods will give her time to get homework done before she goes to ballet. She will continue study ballet through Christmas, at least, because she wants to do one more Nutcracker. Now that she has decided not to pursue dance in college, I suspect that she may decide to give it up after Christmas. She also assistant teaches a few classes a week.

She's taking 4 AP (English 4, Calculus, Govt./Econ, and Environmental Science). Her school requires attendance for 5 periods so she's taking ceramics for the 5th. she wanted something enjoyable and non stressful.

 

[TLuvsD]

Our school district does not rank, so I don't know if one class less will impact the ranking. Call the school counselor and ask how it works at your particular school.

We do have percentiles (top 5%,etc). D had 5 classes senior year, still kept her top % rank. A lot of seniors leave at lunch, so I imagine it didn't have much impact.

Most applications are due in Dec/Jan. Be sure you know the application deadline for scholarships as well (it is often earlier). Some schools want 1st semester grades sent when available. I know we sent in D's.

 

[madge]

and so it begins .... senior year for DS started Thursday.

his last first day of school.

 

[utkscvol1]

and so it begins .... senior year for DS started Thursday.

his last first day of school.

My daughter's was Wednesday

 

[JeannieNM]

My DD starts this coming Tuesday.

How is everyone's list coming? DD is almost done. She has 5 schools she wants to apply to and 2 more she wants to check out. They are 2000 miles apart so we are going to one close to us in September and the other one at Thanksgiving. (the far away one is near our family).

How many schools is your child applying too? [5-7 for our DD]

How many of those schools are on the Common App? [2-3 for us]

Do any of the schools your child is applying to require an audition, tryout, portfolio or an additional piece? [yes, 5-6]

Is your child taking the ACT or the SAT again? [Yes, ACT, Sept and maybe Oct]

Is your child doing EA for any of ths schools on thier list? [yes, 2 for us]

What has your child gotten done so far? [We have signed up for two auditions and recieved confirmation on one. Working on figuring out the others., Started CA, rough draft of CA essays done, theatre resume done, dance resume started kinda, Another application started, so many essays and different apps, DD is trying to decide how many dance classes, solos, groups and plays to participate in this fall along with her school work and ECs]

IDoDis- our school requires 6 courses min senior year, and we have a rotating A-F schedule so there is no leaving early for us unfortunatly, it would be such a big help if DD could. Some days it's 10 pm before she gets home from rehearsal and then dance class. Makes for late nights with homework and early mornings with school. If your DD can use the time then I would have her take the time, but our school does not rank so I have no idea how that works.

Good luck everyone and lets keeping sharing the process.

 

[SydSim]

My DD starts this coming Tuesday.

How is everyone's list coming? DD is almost done. She has 5 schools she wants to apply to and 2 more she wants to check out. They are 2000 miles apart so we are going to one close to us in September and the other one at Thanksgiving. (the far away one is near our family).

How many schools is your child applying too? [5-7 for our DD]

How many of those schools are on the Common App? [2-3 for us]

Do any of the schools your child is applying to require an audition, tryout, portfolio or an additional piece? [yes, 5-6]

Is your child taking the ACT or the SAT again? [Yes, ACT, Sept and maybe Oct]

Is your child doing EA for any of ths schools on thier list? [yes, 2 for us]

What have you gotten done so far? [We have signed up for two auditions and recieved confirmation on one. Working on figuring out the others., Started CA, rough draft of CA essays done, theatre resume done, dance resume started kinda, Another application started, so many essays and different apps, DD is trying to decide how many dance classes, solos, groups and plays to participate in this fall along with her school work and ECs]

IDoDis- our school requires 6 courses min senior year, and we have a rotating A-F schedule so there is no leaving early for us unfortunatly, it would be such a big help if DD could. Some days it's 10 pm before she gets home from rehearsal and then dance class. Makes for late nights with homework and early mornings with school. If your DD can use the time then I would have her take the time, but our school does not rank so I have no idea how that works.

Good luck everyone and lets keeping sharing the process.

1. Approximately 12

2. Around 7 or so

3. Around 6 require an audition

4. Taking SAT again in October

5. Doing EA for around 6 of them

6. CA is totally completed except for essay (which is almost completed). Accounts have been set up at most of the schools and any app that was available is also completed (but essays still being worked on.)

Our school uses Naviance which has been a great help. She has requested one audition date, but doesn't have a confirmation yet. Trying to line up hotel rooms for overnights for audition dates that I think she may get. Resume is done, did some headshots, cheap, from a good friend. Monologues and songs chosen.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Hi All, just finding this thread. Sadly, I belong here. Although I still have a few weeks before DD's senior year starts so that's good.