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Just had a meeting with the counselor. It went very well. She was very helpful and gave many pointers. She has known S for 9 years (elementary+highschool). She also said that THEY prepare a packet with school profile, transcripts, counselor and teacher recccomendations. All we have to do is give them plenty of time in advance and an envelope (school even pays for the postage).

It was very positive and made us happy.

But

I have this nagging feeling. Since there are so many people involved, how does one make sure that your file is complete with all the required information by the due date? Am I being paranoid?

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Just make sure you get everything to the HS VERY early. I attached letters to my requests specifically stating the deadlines. Then call the hs to see when they will get the "stuff" in the mail. Once mailed, give it about a week and call the college to see if they have received it. If not, call the hs back and check that it was sent. ALSO many colleges do send postcards telling what has and has not been received. Some, however, do not...so checking yourself is a good idea.

By Rhonda63 (Rhonda63) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 12:57 pm: Edit

The only way to really know is to call the college and check. The college may lose things, too -- one of my D's recs was lost, and the teacher had mailed it right away. The one that arrived later was not lost. It was no problem, teacher just re-sent it, but it's a good idea to check and make sure they have everything they need.

I don't know that colleges send postcards anymore, some may. Others will let you check online, once you've sent in a Part 1 app and they've opened a file for you.

By Over30 (Over30) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 01:02 pm: Edit

Some schools also allow you to check the status of your app online (they'll give you a # when you send in part one usually). I wouldn't call a lot, but if you're not sure one phone call near the due date will ease your mind. Some schools (Stanford, and I'm sure there are others) won't answer or return a call or email, so you just have to wait for their postcard.

We had this conversation last year here, but make sure your transcript is correct. We had a problem last year with the wrong scores on his transcript.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 01:04 pm: Edit

The funny thing in this process is that admissions committees are human, too:

- they lose things.
- they understand that schools lose things.

While I don't advocate tempting the fates, I think you will find that the only thing a college will be completely inflexible about is the basic application deadline. Recs, SAT scores, transcripts, supporting documentation? all flexible.

Think of it this way. For each deadline, the school will receive thousands of pieces of mail. What do you think they do for weeks after January 1, for instance? Open mail. File the stuff. Misfile the stuff. And so on.

By Patient (Patient) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Our school recommended that each item sent to a school (school recs, teacher recs, application, etc.) be sent with a self-addressed, stamped white postcard that had, on the reverse side, e.g.

"Teacher recommendation 1 received.
(name of college)"

or, "School report received. (name of college)"

The colleges were great about sending those back, we got almost all of them and could keep them in a file and would know that way whether a teacher or the school had not sent something in.

This is really pretty important. One of my son's friends got rejected from a couple of places under a nightmare scenario where the school failed to send in a couple of his recommendations on time.

Also agree with the poster who noted to put a post-it or something on every form with the due date.

Fedex tracking for some of the last-minute apps sent in over the winter break worked great, too.

By Dmd77 (Dmd77) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 12:01 am: Edit

We sent the complete applications (other than teacher recommendations and transcripts) by certified mail with a return receipt and tracking. The $4 mail cost (per app) was cheap for the peace of mind. We did not use on-line application because we couldn't understand how verification was going to be done. They may have improved that in the last few years.

With one exception, all of the kids' schools had on-line checking of the completion of the application file. With a different exception, they all sent a postcard with a notation of what was missing/app. completion shortly after the application date.

One recommendation had gotten lost somewhere along the line (I suspect by the college). A replacement copy was sent by fax (one month after app. deadline, when they called the school) with no apparent affect on the application--D got in anyway.

By Sybbie719 (Sybbie719) on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 05:58 pm: Edit

we did a little bit of all of it (except calling the school). Some schools (Tufts, Barnard and Bryn Mawr)had application tracking which we were able to use.

We did do the post card with everything that was sent from our house and the school (every school returned the cards). We sent supplemental stuff overnight mail (with the post card)so that I was able to get a tracking number, look up on line for delivbery and obtain copy of the signature of the person who signed for the package.

Used the common application to file on line which did send you an e-mail response of when the school downloaded your application.

By Monydad (Monydad) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 03:03 pm: Edit

It is really important to contact the colleges to make sure your file is complete. Don't rely on them to tell you.

At the end of the admissions cycle last year, my daughter finally received a letter from the last school to be heard from, informing her that since her folder was incomplete her application had been considered inactive. They claimed they had previously mailed her notice of the incomplete file, but if they did we never received it.

By the time she received this letter there was nothing to be done about it.

Fortunately she had already been admitted to a school which she preferred.

Two other schools contacted her counselor when something was missing from her file, but this school didn't.

By Simba (Simba) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 07:19 pm: Edit

Thank you all. There were many interesting ideas. I liked the idea of a 'post card'. Today, I even bought some from the post office.