On our journey from homeschool to college, our son created an account on the Common App back in July. Today, on August 1, the Common App opened up for applications. Our son is considering applying to about 10 colleges and nine of them are on the Common App.
The Common App is used by over 1,000 colleges and universities.
There is nothing scary about the Common App. Like anything in homeschooling, one must face the fear and do it anyway. Click, read, fill out, research, ask around – the usual steps like for any other scholastic activity known to men and women in the 21st century.
Also by means of an update, Facebook is somehow blocking my posts in the series of Homeschool to College: Our Journey, so I will have to continue my updates in a different format. I am not really sure what is going on, so please bear with me as I investigate.
Something else: our son keeps leveling up his skills in PrepScholar, the software we invested in to prepare him for the SAT. Last week, he took a Practice Test inside that Dashboard and increased his score by a whopping 120 points. I knew he could do it. He knew he could do it. Something clicked recently and it shows. This is simply an example of why you should continue to encourage your children to persevere as they prepare for these standardized tests.
The August SAT is fast approaching and our son is working hard to be ready and not have to take the test again in October. We are aiming for a score high enough to guarantee full merit scholarships at several colleges.
If you think spending $300+ for test prep software is expensive, think about the ROI (return on investment). Would you spend $300 in order to get $100,000 or more? One year in college easily costs $30,000-$75,000+. Multiply that by four years. Now think about your initial investment again: $300. Ace the test and your child can get four years of free college. Is it worth it? I think so.
Even if you do not have a senior this year, I encourage you to poke around the Common App. You can actually sign up for a practice account, so that you can inspect the kind of tabs they have in there. This year, I hear there are some new features, so expect more changes in the future. That is why it is important to look at it now, so you have a basic understanding of what to expect.
