Final medium: the comments. Use them to tell me how the first wave of college scrambling went at your house. Were you too involved? Or maybe your child didn't scramble at all? (Be careful. My head still hurts. I may not take your my-kid-was-done-weeks-ago answers terribly well.)
I know the game is different now, and will be even moreso when my 2 1/2 year-old is ready for this---hard to imagine what it will be like. However, when I was applying to competitive colleges, first in my family, with parents who could not help me (mother deceased, father and aunt had no knowledge to guide me), I hand-wrote and typed my applications myself, got them in (overnight mail) just at the deadline, and got into 8 of the 9 very good schools I applied to. My husband and I are both highly educated and will of course do whatever we can to help our child get into a school that will shape much of her adult life. But I think it's important to keep some perspective on the situation, kids can (usually) step up to the plate as much as they're asked---we just have to ask them and strike the right balance between helping and doing for.
EllenCT: I know the game is different now, and will be
Best investment I ever made was to hire a woman who is a high school English teacher at a nearby high school and a former admissions consultant to work with my son on his essays over an eight-week period. Together they figured out which prompts would result in the best essays and planned the milestones to hit over time. It was a win-win: we avoided the screaming matches and he was pushed (by someone other than me) to produce his best work. And the best part? He submitted his ED application three days before the deadline. My only input was proofreading and some final editing to make one or two of the essays fit the 2000 character limit on the Common App and supplements.
Parents of juniors, take note for next year.
inmyhumbleopinion: Best investment I ever made was to hire a woman
I feel like I'm only breathing with about a third of my lung power.
Can't believe we got done with 12 hours to spare. Can't believe I'm saying "we." A couple of weeks ago I realized we didn't need to hire anybody, I WAS that somebody.
What is the distinction between editing and writing? Between letting a 17-year-old present themselves raw and pointing out that his standing and smiling (in a 60-second-video) wasn't a good use of 7 of those seconds?
Was I really that much more together in my day or is it the haze of the decades in between? And how come some people say "my kid just went and did it on his/her own" whereas my kid wanted the brass ring but needed my guidance to get there? Should I have let him fail (to get it in, to get it in on time, to get it in on time and in the quality he is capable of)?
All great questions, in hindsight...
(BTW, I have a FT job with employees to manage, AND a 13-year-old who's navigating the HS admissions process in NYC, so it's not as if I've just got spare time on my hands and nothing better to do...)
judylevine: I feel like I'm only breathing with about a third
"Was I really that much more together in my day or is it the haze of the decades in between?"
Unless you went to an elite prep school, I think the admissions "arms race" has really escalated since you and I went to college, and I think there really is more being asked of these kids to get in. It's not enough to have good SAT scores, you have to have near-perfect SAT scores. It's not enough to have a 3.8 GPA, you have to have over a 4.0 (weighted with APs). It's not enough to participate in varsity sports, you have to be a star player. It's not enough to write a decent essay, you have to write one that bears your soul. What's worse, kids who--on paper--have all the creds don't necessarily get in, whereas in my day they'd have their pick of multiple Ivies.
So, you probably did have it more "together" because there wasn't nearly as much being asked of you. That said, high school curricula has become so prescribed these days, I don't think kids have learned how project manage as well as we did.
inmyhumbleopinion: "Was I really that much more together in my day
Parents of juniors, take note for next year.
Can't believe we got done with 12 hours to spare. Can't believe I'm saying "we." A couple of weeks ago I realized we didn't need to hire anybody, I WAS that somebody.
What is the distinction between editing and writing? Between letting a 17-year-old present themselves raw and pointing out that his standing and smiling (in a 60-second-video) wasn't a good use of 7 of those seconds?
Was I really that much more together in my day or is it the haze of the decades in between? And how come some people say "my kid just went and did it on his/her own" whereas my kid wanted the brass ring but needed my guidance to get there? Should I have let him fail (to get it in, to get it in on time, to get it in on time and in the quality he is capable of)?
All great questions, in hindsight...
(BTW, I have a FT job with employees to manage, AND a 13-year-old who's navigating the HS admissions process in NYC, so it's not as if I've just got spare time on my hands and nothing better to do...)
Unless you went to an elite prep school, I think the admissions "arms race" has really escalated since you and I went to college, and I think there really is more being asked of these kids to get in. It's not enough to have good SAT scores, you have to have near-perfect SAT scores. It's not enough to have a 3.8 GPA, you have to have over a 4.0 (weighted with APs). It's not enough to participate in varsity sports, you have to be a star player. It's not enough to write a decent essay, you have to write one that bears your soul. What's worse, kids who--on paper--have all the creds don't necessarily get in, whereas in my day they'd have their pick of multiple Ivies.
So, you probably did have it more "together" because there wasn't nearly as much being asked of you. That said, high school curricula has become so prescribed these days, I don't think kids have learned how project manage as well as we did.