We keep learning…

Mod Squad Pete is in the midst of writing applications. Since school started, he’s focused on college stuff mostly on the weekends and homework during the week. A couple of weeks ago he changed his mind about which colleges he was going to apply to when. Quickly, every night required attention to both school work and college work.

Here a few things we’ve learned since that change of mind. What seems obvious now, in hindsight, offered us surprises almost each day.

1. Changing your short list of colleges for early action admission can make life exciting.
2. Making that change in mid- to late-September increases the excitement.
3. No matter how many college admissions sites one has read, someone has to dig deep into the new one.
4. We thought we knew all the varieties of application options — who knew there was Early Action, Restricted?
5. Though many colleges list November 1st as their early action deadline, a few (with November 1 listed as their deadline) will tell you they start reading in October and recommend you submit all materials by October 15.
6. The dice fell just so: the new college added in late September strongly suggests materials arrive by 10/15.
7. The high school guidance office would like a month’s notice for transcript requests.
8. Great guidance counselors will do whatever they can to help a student who has changed his mind.
9. Getting up to speed with a new college’s needs does not mean the deadlines for the original colleges can be ignored.
10. Adding a quick visit to the new college does not mean homework or essay drafts can be ignored. Nor the SAT.
11. Even though recommendation requests were made months ago, actually getting enough and appropriate information into the teachers’ hands is a real chore. [Though not the chore it must be to write dozens of recommendation letters.]
12. No matter how many times one has checked the resume / cover letter / arts resume / counselor questionnaire / recommendation request form or whatever, one can always find another way to improve it. Just press send.
13. No matter how many times one has explored the Common Application, there will still be blanks, questions, and parts that just don’t accept the accurate answer.
14. I am convinced we still have much more to learn.