Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Parent authorization letter-- need a sample ASAP

ROFL!!


YES.




Well, so that's what I did. I called and said "Are you SURE that you don't have a form or something for this thing that you are requiring of us, that you've apparently NEVER encountered before, ever-ever?"

Honestly I wound up feeling like I knew a lot more about the legal reasons for this requirement than the person I was on the phone with, for whatever that is worth.

This is the (redacted, obviously) version of what we're giving them. I'll update when I know what their legal department has to say about it (if anything):



The admissions person's version was "I understand that this is an adult learning environment" and "I give my permission for {kid} to enroll at {uni.}"

Which I happen to know leaves out that in loco parentis bit, and is WAY WAY less than most of the local CC's include.

We shall see.

Off to the campus.

Okay-- update is that regular admissions has what they need, and they've admitted her. Which... allows honors college to consider her application.

Problem is that they've already MADE the early round decisions.

I've made it clear to them that this is an unacceptable outcome.

We'll see what happens next.

Unfortunately, the timing of all of this means that DD absolutely cannot afford NOT to apply to three or four other schools, as inconvenient as that would be for us as a family. The Honors College at {state uni} is one thing, but gen-pop at this institution is quite another. The stats on the "average" student there put DD in the top 1-2% of students at the institution, in spite of her age... No way.

Lovely. Well, I guess I wasn't doing anything much with that spare thousand bucks for application fees and score requests... not to mention every weekend until March.


DD has placed a distress call to her summer internship mentor (the one who is primary author on the paper DD's an author on), who responded (even on a Saturday) to express her desire to help and offer to meet with her (and me) on Monday morning first thing-- when office staff will be in place and she can make things happen. This is VERY good news.

You should look at College Confidential. I think I see the answer to your question (if I'm looking at the right school). If that is the case, she will hear by April 1st.

Look at old College Confidential threads to see the Honors College admit stats from past years. You'll get a good idea if she will be "in" or not (though I suspect that she will be in...at most state schools these things are very stats driven).

My eldest got a mailing from a state school in early April. Since she was waffling on her college choice, she applied in early April, was admitted to the Honors College and received merit money. While she did not attend, a lot of state schools will accept kids well after the deadline if they have high stats.

Is there an official university procedure for dealing with mistakes like this one, when the university is at fault?

Apparently not. At least that was the (smug?) word from the honors college minion. I intend to hear that from the dean, however, if that is the answer, and I intend to get it in writing.

Unfortunately, this being Christmas week makes it very challenging to get good information from anyone.

Faculty have been pretty much horrified at the possibility that a kid like her would slip away from the institution because of an error like this-- and we've been clear with the honors college that it's either them, or she won't be attending there at all.

Right now we're scrambling because DD rather stubbornly didn't want to apply to any other big-name schools and the deadlines are pretty much all... on top of us, or already past.

(KIDS.)

I understand that this seems like a relatively minor inconvenience... I do.

This is also how the university seems to be viewing it. "Hey, bummer-- guess we'll have to bump you to the next round of consideration. Sorry about that, we'll probably let you know in March some time."

The problem is that we had her apply early round because WE WILL HAVE TO MOVE elsewhere-- and the only question is whether we ALL go (and rent or sell our home) or if only DD and I do, in which case I will need to be applying for jobs like mad, and we'll need to be going to a place where I can land one. My background is mostly academic, meaning that the hiring cycle IS UPON US. For next August/Sept, I mean.

We are constrained by my DD's disability in ways that even most parents of 15yo would not be. We have to have a certain level of medical care available, and HAVE to have her live off campus.

We fully expect that they WILL admit her to the program. It's just that if they do NOT, then we needed to know that NOW, not in another month or two.

I'm confused a bit because I don't know much about college applications. Can't she just use the Common Application? Or do the colleges all require gobs of extra stuff from each applicant?

ETA: not saying I don't see the massive inconvenience here WRT moving. Argh.

A lot of them do require this that and the other thing, and not everyone uses Common App. That is especially true of the kinds of schools where DD is likely to be a good fit.

At this point, we are NOT going to be able to make the Jan 1-15 deadlines, in all probability, because of the winter break closure and what that will mean for official transcripts and references from her school.

Yes, DH has already been screaming at our 14yo DD for her "laziness" and "stupidity" for only applying to this ONE place... {sigh}

Not helpful, but this is just horrible stress-wise.

All because of her age. EVERYTHING else about her looks like a really high-powered, awesome high-school senior, albeit one that has chosen virtual schooling. That wasn't where the snag happened, though-- it was her age.

I mention that because apparently DD is the YOUNGEST regular admit applicant that the institution has ever had. They've done special admits for students her age, but apparently that is a different process and those students aren't considered "regular admission" students, as most of them are "part time" or "transfer" students affiliated with the community college.

In other words, they didn't HAVE a process-- only a barrier, which they quickly admitted was silly in light of her bonafides, as long as we were able to supply them with documentation (easily done).

The error was that someone should have been able to tell us about this back in November. Earlier, probably, since she contacted them even in October, around the 28th.

She was told that her application was complete, just sit tight and don't worry... you'll know by the end of December.


She also got an e-mail from them to that effect on November 5. It's in both their records and ours-- confirmed by DD herself during her phone calls over this yesterday.

Honestly-- I've been kind of AWED by how well she has advocated for herself on the phone and in person during the past two days. It'd be impressive even from a 17yo extravert, and from a 14yo introvert, it's astonishing to watch.

Don't have much advice but having been through the college application process with my daughter, you have my sympathy. This is a stressful process even when you aren't dealing with a special situation.

Am I understanding the situation correct and if she got into the honors program at this university then you wouldn't need to move?

I suggest you check ALL the details for her applications. For most of my daughters applications, the application needed to be in on ONE particular date. (varied from end Nov - mid Feb) But there was another 2-6 weeks for all the final documentation to be received. For example my daughter was applying to art schools and often the portfolio wasn't required for an additional month after the application.

Good Luck and hang in there.