College Applications

Cameron worked a good portion of the afternoon on filling out the Common App, starting the process of applying to colleges.  For right now he has decided to apply to IU, Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida with a preference leaning towards Indiana.  He was excited at first to begin the next step of his future life, but after a couple of hours of work he became completely disillusioned with the amount of work that it would ensure.  Just the information that he had to upload for the Common App was daunting.  Once he saw the question for the essay, "Name a time in your life that you had a setback," he stopped completely.  He had spent way too much time on the computer already this afternoon to then write about Richard.  We told him to take a break and we would regroup later in the week.

I talked to Meg this afternoon about this time period in her life.  She laughed as she said that she was sure that she had everything filled out by August 3rd.  I knew that couldn't have been the truth unless I nagged her constantly about it.  There's just way too much to get done to finish it all that quickly and without my help or the guidance counselor's.  The way I remembered it was that everyone had their application into IU by the 22nd of August with others to follow shortly afterward.  The only one that I remembered not having to help was Cal.  Once he found out where his friends and classmates were applying, he wanted to beat everybody to the punch.  He also kept adding colleges as the fall wore on as he wanted to prove that he could get in everywhere that they could.  He also wanted to see how much money each one would offer in scholarships.  

No matter who finished first or who applied the earliest to IU, I am just glad that this will be our last time filling out the Common App in the Heinisch home.  There has to be an easier way to do all of this, but no one has come up with it yet.  If each student had a resume on file with their high school and could send that with their transcripts, that would really help.  It would also be a lot easier if essays were the same for each college.  Those take forever to write.  I also wish that all colleges offered a fee waiver for applying to all students. Paying $60 for each application definitely starts to add up.  Thankfully, all of this will be over soon and Cameron can then take a break and enjoy his fall.