Episode Description:
College admissions has no shortage of bad advice.
One B means your dream school is gone. You need to take every AP your high school offers. Every student needs a passion project. You have to fill every box on the Common App. And when the application portal says MISSING, somebody clearly screwed something up.
Except...no.
In Episode 17 of Drop In, Lisa and Josh are separating the college admissions problems families actually need to pay attention to from the ones that create WAY more panic than they deserve.
They start with three of the biggest college admissions myths.
Does one B ruin your chances of getting into college? No. Colleges review an entire academic record, including course rigor, what the high school offers, grades over time, academic trajectory, and the context surrounding the student. One grade is still one grade.
Do students need to take every AP their high school offers? Also no. Colleges want students to challenge themselves in context. Seven AP classes, four hours of sleep, slipping grades, and no time for anything the student actually enjoys is not automatically more impressive than a challenging, thoughtful schedule they can successfully sustain.
And then there is the phrase Lisa would happily retire forever: passion project.
A student does not need to manufacture a nonprofit, app, research project, or organization because somebody on social media said selective colleges expect one. A job matters. Family responsibilities matter. Four years in band matters. Playing a sport and becoming captain matters. Deep involvement in one organization can matter far more than joining twelve clubs simply to fill an activities list.
Colleges are looking for sustained engagement, contribution, growth, and authenticity.
Then Lisa and Josh move into two Common App sections that regularly make students think they are missing something.
The Additional Information section is for context. An illness, family move, significant circumstance, unusual academic situation, or another important piece of information may belong there. Keep it brief and factual. If there is nothing that needs explaining, you can leave it blank.
The Honors section is broader than many students realize. Honor roll, AP Scholar, National Honor Society, academic honor societies, National Merit recognition, departmental awards, academic competitions, and other academic distinctions may all count. And kiddos, you do not need to fill all five spaces.
Then comes the stuff families really should pay attention to: avoidable college application mistakes.
Lisa and Josh talk about copy-and-paste disasters, failing to follow essay directions, parents editing until the student’s voice disappears, unbalanced college lists, weak activity descriptions, questionable middle-school email addresses, and forgetting that the application deadline may be only one of several deadlines a family needs to track.
For more help avoiding those last-minute application problems, Decision Drop’s college counseling for seniors covers applications, essays, balanced college lists, deadlines, and the strategy behind the entire process.
Finally, they tackle one of the fastest ways to send a senior family into orbit:
The portal says your transcript is missing.
Before anybody fires off an angry email, verify what actually happened. Colleges may receive thousands of transcripts, recommendations, scores, school reports, and other documents around major application deadlines. Those materials have to be received, matched to the correct student, processed, and reflected in the portal. That can take days or even weeks.
Check Naviance, SCOIR, Cialfo, MaiaLearning, Common App, or whatever system your high school uses. Confirm that the document was submitted. Then give the college its stated processing time. If the item is still missing after that window, send a polite, specific email.
If you would rather read than listen, our companion guide, College Application Mistakes, the Biggest Myths, and How to Read Your Portal Without Panicking, breaks all of this down in written form.
The biggest takeaway from this episode is simple: the college application process is not as fragile as it feels.
Your kiddo does not need to be perfect. Their application does not need to be perfect. Read the instructions. Meet the deadlines. Proofread. Check the facts. Then trust the years of work your student has already done.
And if you want Lisa and Josh in your corner while your family navigates all of it, connect with Decision Drop.
In this episode:
Whether one B can hurt a college application
How many AP classes students really need
Why students do not need a manufactured passion project
What belongs in the Common App Additional Information section
What counts as an honor on the Common App
College application mistakes students can actually avoid
Why student voice matters more than perfectly polished essays
How to build a balanced college list
How to write stronger Common App activity descriptions
Why the application deadline is not the only deadline
Why college portals sometimes say documents are missing
What to check before contacting a counselor or college
When students should actually follow up about missing materials
🎙️ Also available on: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music | iHeart
Top Questions Answered in this Episode
Does one B ruin your chances of getting into college?
No. Colleges generally evaluate a student’s entire academic record rather than treating one grade as an automatic disqualifier. They consider course rigor, the classes available at the student’s high school, performance over time, academic trajectory, and context. A B is one part of four years of academic work, not the entire application.
Do you need to take every AP class your high school offers?
No. Colleges want students to challenge themselves in the context of what their school offers, but that does not mean taking the largest number of AP classes possible. Students should choose a rigorous schedule they can successfully sustain and consider courses that make sense for their academic interests. More AP classes are not automatically better if grades, health, activities, or other responsibilities suffer.
Do you need a passion project for college admissions?
No. Students do not need to create a nonprofit, app, business, research project, or other manufactured activity simply to impress colleges. Jobs, family responsibilities, athletics, music, clubs, volunteering, and other sustained commitments can all be meaningful. Colleges are interested in how students engage, contribute, grow, and spend their time, not whether an activity has been labeled a “passion project.”
What should go in the Common App Additional Information section?
The Additional Information section is for relevant context that does not fit naturally elsewhere in the application. That might include an illness, family move, significant personal circumstance, unusual academic situation, or another fact an admissions officer may need to understand the application. Keep the explanation brief, factual, and clear. If there is nothing that needs explaining, students can leave the section blank.
What counts as an honor on the Common App?
Academic distinctions such as honor roll, principal’s list, AP Scholar recognition, National Honor Society, subject-specific academic honor societies, National Merit recognition, departmental awards, academic competitions, and some merit-based academic awards may qualify. Students do not need to fill all five available spaces, and nonacademic awards usually belong in the Activities section instead.
What are some common college application mistakes?
Common mistakes include leaving the wrong college name in a reused essay, failing to follow word limits or answer the actual prompt, allowing parents to rewrite essays, creating an unbalanced college list, writing vague activity descriptions, using an inappropriate email address, and overlooking financial aid, scholarship, honors, or housing deadlines. Most of these mistakes are preventable with careful proofreading and organization.
Why does my college application portal say my transcript is missing?
A portal may say “missing” even when the transcript or other document has already been submitted. Around major deadlines, colleges receive large volumes of transcripts, recommendations, test scores, and school reports. Those documents must be received, matched to the correct applicant, processed, and uploaded into the college’s system, which can take days or sometimes weeks.
What should I do if my college portal says a document is missing?
First, verify through your high school or application system that the document was actually submitted. If it was, check the college’s stated processing timeline and give the admissions office time to process it. If the item is still listed as missing after that window, the student can send a brief, polite email that identifies the missing document, when it was submitted, and their applicant ID if available. The episode specifically emphasizes verifying what happened before assuming a counselor or college made a mistake.
Chapters
00:00 – College Admissions Myths, Mistakes & Bad Advice
03:32 – Does One B Ruin Your College Admission Chances?
05:10 – Do You Really Need to Take Every AP?
07:41 – The “Passion Project” Myth
09:52 – Common App Additional Information: What Actually Belongs There?
12:02 – What Counts as an Honor on the Common App?
13:55 – College Application Mistakes You Can Actually Avoid
19:09 – Why Your College Portal Says “Missing”
23:37 – Hot Take: Verify BEFORE You Panic
25:39 – Drop the Mic: Your Application Does NOT Need to Be Perfect
27:38 – Next Week: Portfolios, Auditions & Specialized College Admissions
Read the full Episode 17 transcript
Josh (00:21)
Every week we drop the noise.
Lisa (00:22)
Drop the stress.
Josh (00:23)
And drop some knowledge.
Lisa (00:24)
Welcome to the Drop In, the College Admissions podcast by Decision Drop. If you want to learn more about our services or have Josh and me guide your family through this process personally, head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out. And don't forget to like and subscribe.
Josh (00:40)
I'm Josh.
Lisa (00:41)
I'm Lisa. Let's go. Ooh, did you hear that one? That was like a go. That was a good one.
Josh (00:46)
Exactly. So you're adding little musical tones and notes to it.
Lisa (00:50)
Not on purpose, but I'll take it. I like it.
Josh (00:52)
Alrighty then. Okay, so we are at episode seventeen. So today we're gonna do a little bit of myth busting.
Lisa (00:59)
Right. My favorite, y'all, because listen, college admissions is absolutely drowning in bad information and fear mongering. Every family has that neighbor, that one relative, that REEL that is in their algorithms right now, or that parent in the group chat, you know, you know who you are, right? Who says, well, I heard, and then suddenly everybody is panicking over something that's not even true.
Josh (01:26)
Exactly. And the problem with that is that bad information isn't harmless. So you have a student who gets a B and then they decide that their dream school is gone. Or a family that thinks their kid has to take every single AP class that their school has to offer, because if they don't, they're not gonna be a competitive applicant. Someone tells them at a cocktail party that your student needs to have a passion project, and then you take your perfectly normal 17-year-old and you make them believe that they have to have started a nonprofit three years ago.
Lisa (01:54)
Yes, and kiddos, this is already enough stuff to be stressed out about in this process. We do not need to make up or add imaginary problems on top of it.
Josh (02:04)
So today we're doing two things. First, we're taking on some of the biggest myths, some of which we've covered in past Drop In episodes. And then we're going to get into some stuff that's not necessarily a myth, but families still don't know what to do with it because nobody explains it.
Lisa (02:19)
Right, so we have the Additional Information section, for example. Everybody gets there and goes, Wait, what am I supposed to write? Do I need to write another essay here?
Josh (02:29)
No.
Lisa (02:29)
Thank you. No. And then you have the Honors section. Kiddos, you open it and you see five spaces, and then you immediately decide, my gosh, I don't know what I've accomplished, or maybe you've decided you haven't accomplished anything your entire lives. And that is not true.
Josh (02:47)
Yeah, and the sad part about it is half the time they already have three things that they could list.
Lisa (02:51)
True, exactly. And then we're gonna talk about the application portal. Because that is the one thing that can send the entire family over the edge during this process right now. So your kiddo logs in and it says missing transcript, and then suddenly you are two seconds away from emailing your high school counselor in all caps.
Josh (03:13)
Yeah, we recommend don't do that.
Lisa (03:14)
Please don't do that. Listen, we are going to explain what those portal messages actually mean, when you need to act, and when you need to give a college just a minute to catch up.
Josh (03:25)
Yeah, so really today is about separating the things that actually matter from the things that families spend way too much time worrying about.
Lisa (03:32)
Which you know I love. So let's do it. Okay, Josh. So myth number one. And this may be the biggest one. Does a B on my transcript ruin my chances?
Josh (03:46)
No, a B does not automatically ruin your chances at the vast majority of colleges in this country. So admissions officers are not sitting there with a magnifying glass combing through your transcript, hunting for that one imperfect grade so they can just throw your application into the shredder. They're looking at four years of work.
Lisa (04:04)
Right. And that is context, y'all. This is the word that families forget. And I know we've talked about this on past podcasts, but it is so true. Colleges are looking at what classes that you took, what your school offered, how have you performed over time, and what your entire story looks like. Maybe sophomore year was rough and then your grades went up. And that's okay because that also tells them something too.
Josh (04:30)
Yeah, trajectory matters, rigor matters, the overall strength of your academic record matters, but one grade is one grade.
Lisa (04:38)
Right. And this is where I need families to zoom out a little. Your kiddo got a B. Okay, that is one grade in four years of classes. It does not suddenly cancel out everything else they have done. And it definitely does not mean that that college list needs to go into the trash. Colleges are looking at the whole academic picture, not circling that one B or those two Bs in red saying, well, there it is. So families, acknowledge it, learn from it if you need to learn from it, and then move on.
Josh (05:10)
Well said. Okay, so myth number two. You have...
Lisa (05:12)
Thank you.
Josh (05:14)
...to take every AP your school offers.
Lisa (05:16)
This one makes me bananas because this is how we end up seeing kids taking seven APs, sleeping for four hours a night, dropping everything they actually enjoy and that brings them joy, and thinking that is what colleges want. And that is not what colleges want.
Josh (05:36)
Yeah. Colleges, they do want to see that you've challenged yourself in the context of what's available to you at your school. And that word context, and Lisa, you said it earlier, it really matters here too. So your high school sends colleges a school profile. Colleges know whether your school offers six APs or twenty-six APs.
Lisa (05:55)
Listen, so the goal is not to take the biggest number humanly possible. The goal is to take strong, challenging courses and a challenging schedule that makes sense to you and to your major. Colleges want to see how you're going to handle that actually. That's way more important.
Josh (06:14)
Lisa, that's super important because seven APs with slipping grades, no sleep, and no bandwidth for anything else is not automatically more impressive than four APs taken thoughtfully and successfully.
Lisa (06:25)
And I want rigor to make sense for your kiddo. So, parents, listen to that. If you're telling me you want to study engineering, yes, we want to see you stretching in math and science. But that does not mean that you need to take every single humanities AP your school offers because it's sitting there on the course list. Rigor is not about collecting the most APs, y'all. It's about challenging yourself in a way that actually makes sense again for you.
Josh (06:54)
Yeah, you know, when you were saying that, Lisa, I had this image of Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War collecting the Infinity Stones. So students collecting APs, like you're just adding one onto the Infinity Gauntlet there.
Lisa (07:04)
Yeah.
Josh (07:04)
That's not how you should approach your high school course schedule. Choose challenge that you can sustain. That's really the main rule we'd like students and families to follow.
Lisa (07:14)
That is the rule. And if we're going back to the algorithm piece for just a second, y'all, everything you're seeing, I know, is all about highly selective schools, how to get in, you know, do this, do that. We get it. We understand. But remember, the majority of your colleges are still accepting the majority of the kiddos, right? So I know you're in this bubble or this box and only hearing about certain schools over and over again. But take a breath, y'all.
Josh (07:41)
Yeah.
Lisa (07:41)
Okay, myth number three. And this phrase has become so overused, I would personally like to retire this.
Josh (07:48)
Yeah.
Lisa (07:49)
You need a passion project.
Josh (07:51)
Yes, the old passion project. Right up there with the...
Lisa (07:53)
Mm-hmm.
Josh (07:54)
Remember the Passion Planner? Remember when those things, that was like a thing that they came out with?
Lisa (08:00)
No, I don't. Is that real? Did you just make that up?
Josh (08:03)
No, they're Passion Planners. You should look them up. I saw one at Staples the other day. Anyway...
Lisa (08:05)
I am. Okay.
Josh (08:08)
Apparently every teenager is essentially expected or required to start a nonprofit, build an app, launch a podcast...
Lisa (08:14)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Josh (08:17)
Saying that tongue in cheek because we have a podcast, save some kind of endangered species, or design your own custom logo.
Lisa (08:23)
Right, and they say preferably before junior year. No, kiddos, colleges are not sitting there saying, well, she worked twenty hours a week, helped take care of a little brother, played soccer for four years, and became captain. But where is her nonprofit? No, y'all, that is not how this works.
Josh (08:41)
Yes, because what colleges actually care about is sustained engagement. Did you care about something? Did you stick with it? Did you grow? Did you contribute?
Lisa (08:49)
And that can be a job. That can be taking care of your family. That can be four years in a band. That can be one club that you actually loved attending their meetings and doing things for instead of 12 clubs that you barely attended anything for.
Josh (09:03)
Yeah, because the thing that tends to fall flat is the obviously manufactured project that just suddenly appears right before senior year because someone told the kid they needed one.
Lisa (09:13)
Exactly. Because admissions officers are very good at knowing if something is real or not real. In fact, that's a game that Josh and I like to play. Real or not real before we start out with something, right? Because you do not need to manufacture personality just for your application. Go deeper into something that you care about. That's enough.
Josh (09:32)
So just to wrap us up with these myths, one B does not sink your application chances...
Lisa (09:36)
Mm-mm.
Josh (09:37)
You don't need to take every AP your school has to offer...
Lisa (09:40)
Mm-mm.
Josh (09:40)
And you don't need to invent a giant passion project.
Lisa (09:43)
Look at us, Josh. We just gave families three things that they can stop panicking about. I'm proud of us.
Josh (09:49)
Yep. Okay. I mean, we can stop the podcast right here.
Lisa (09:52)
Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not count our chickens just yet. Because now we have to talk about stuff that nobody explains. Okay, take the Additional Information section. What in the world is this actually for?
Josh (10:07)
Yes, so this is one of those Common App sections that students get to and then they immediately start to think there must be some kind of trick to this. Like, do I have to fill this out? Is there another essay? If I leave it blank, will they think I'm lazy? The answers to those are no, no, and no.
Lisa (10:21)
No, y'all, the Additional Information section is for, wait for it, context. Maybe that should be the theme of this podcast. Just context. Because that's it. It is where, when something about your application actually needs a little bit more explanation, and there's nowhere else you can do it, that is what you put into the Additional Information section.
Josh (10:43)
Yeah, for example, maybe your grades dipped during a semester because of an illness. Your family moved, or there was some kind of significant circumstance that really impacted your family and thus impacted your ability to perform your best academically. So maybe there's something unusual about your school situation. Maybe there's an important piece of context an admissions officer would otherwise wonder about, and this is your opportunity to tell them about that.
Lisa (11:06)
Right. But the keyword here is brief. You are not writing a memoir, kiddo. You are not trying to make anyone cry. You are just saying, here is what happened and here is the context. That's it. Done and done.
Josh (11:19)
Exactly. Calm, factual, short. My grandmother used to watch this old show called Dragnet and there was this guy, Sergeant Joe Friday, bit, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. That's pretty much what you have to do here.
Lisa (11:31)
Wow, I like how we're staying with this retro theme, right? Because it was The Jeffersons, I think, last week. And now we're at Dragnet, which I love Dragnet. I used to watch it all the time with my dad on Nick at Nite. So ooh, thank you for taking me back there, Josh. But yes, y'all, it is true. If you have nothing to explain, leave this part blank.
Josh (11:49)
Yeah, blank doesn't mean bad. So don't be afraid to embrace it if you have nothing to say.
Lisa (11:55)
No, blank is fine. Please do not invent something just because there's this box on the Common App that makes you nervous.
Josh (12:02)
Well said. Alrighty, Lisa, the Honors section. Let's talk about it.
Lisa (12:07)
The Honors section. All right. So this one hurts my heart a little because I cannot tell you how many students look at this section and immediately say, my gosh, I haven't done any of these honors. And here's the thing, y'all. If you really start to think about it, yes, you actually have done these things and you actually do have things to put in the Honors section.
Josh (12:29)
Yeah, so the Honors section is for academic honors and awards, generally from ninth grade on. And the bar is often pretty broader than students think it is.
Lisa (12:37)
So think about honor roll, principal's list, dean's list, AP Scholar, National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Science Honor Society, departmental award, an academic competition, or award from your school. All of those things, they count.
Josh (12:52)
Yeah, so National Merit recognition, a merit-based academic scholarship, recognition from an academic summer program, consistent honor roll over multiple years. Students sometimes overlook these things all the time because they think honor means they needed to win some kind of giant national competition.
Lisa (13:08)
Right. And you don't, y'all. All you need to do is really sit and think about it. And also, you don't have to fill in all five slots. If you have two good honors, list the two good honors. Please do not start inventing awards because the Common App gave you five boxes to do so.
Josh (13:27)
Exactly. And also, please remember, keep the section academic. So the MVP award that you got for the soccer team may be fantastic, but it belongs with the activity, not in the academic Honors section.
Lisa (13:39)
So parents, before your kiddo says, I got nothing, go back. Think about it a few years. Look at report cards, look at awards nights, certificates, emails, that random piece of paper in your junk drawer. You probably have more than you think, kiddo.
Lisa (13:55)
Okay, so Josh, enough with imaginary problems. Let's talk about the actual mistakes that we see families make every single year. And the good news is almost all of them are completely avoidable.
Josh (14:07)
Yeah, so number one, the copy-paste disaster.
Lisa (14:11)
Mm-hmm.
Josh (14:12)
Students, picture this. You write a beautiful Why Us essay for school A, then you reuse part of it for school B, and somewhere in that second paragraph, you leave school A's name on it.
Lisa (14:25)
Listen, you have no idea how many times I saw this when I worked at both UT and A&M. So a student would apply to UT and then end it with Gig'em, or a student would apply to A&M and then end it with Hook'em Horns. Y'all, it did not end well.
Josh (14:42)
Yeah, very similarly, telling Boston College how excited you are to attend Boston University is not ideal.
Lisa (14:50)
Not ideal, y'all. So kiddos, please, before you submit, search the document for every school name, program name, professor's name, mascot, whatever you mentioned, five times. Just think about it. That's all I'm asking. Search five times.
Josh (15:05)
Yeah, and so number two, not following the instructions. An oldie but a goodie. So if a college asks for 250 words, give them 250 words or fewer. If the prompt asks about community, answer the community question. Don't take the essay you really wanted to write and force it into a prompt it doesn't answer.
Lisa (15:24)
Right, answer the question. I know you love that other essay, but save it for somewhere that actually makes sense and where it fits.
Josh (15:33)
Yeah. Number three, parents editing the essay until the student disappears. I know we've talked about this in past episodes, but we feel like it's worth repeating here.
Lisa (15:42)
Parents, you know I love you. But please keep your hands off the keyboard. Help them brainstorm, ask questions, tell them when something is confusing. I don't know, help proofread. But at some point you have to let the words belong to them.
Josh (15:59)
Yes, because admissions officers read thousands of essays. They know what a seventeen-year-old sounds like, and they also know what a forty-seven-year-old sounds like.
Lisa (16:08)
And we are going to say this again and again. A real kiddo voice that is slightly imperfect beats a perfectly polished adult voice every single time.
Josh (16:19)
Yes. Alrighty. Number four, an unbalanced college list. So that means too many reaches, not enough places where the student has a realistic path to admission, or plenty of academic options, but nobody ever checked whether the family could actually afford them.
Lisa (16:35)
Right. And this is one of those mistakes that hurts the most because you do not really feel this until the decisions start coming back. So every school on that list should have a reason to be there. And every list needs choices.
Josh (16:51)
Yes. Number five, the Activities section. Vague descriptions, inflated titles, listing 10 things without actually telling the reader what the student did. How did you impact it? The growth you had. Again, another circle back from a past episode.
Lisa (17:08)
Man, look at us. We are circling back a lot this week. All right, so think about this. What did you do? Did you organize something? Did you raise money? Did you run a drive? What kind of drive did you run? Did you recruit people? How many people did you recruit? How many hours did you actually spend on it? Listen, give us the good stuff. And be you. It can one hundred percent have a personality.
Josh (17:33)
Yeah, because being specific beats trying to sound impressive.
Lisa (17:37)
Every time.
Josh (17:38)
Okay, number six, and this is a favorite of mine, the email address.
Lisa (17:44)
Yes, the email address.
Josh (17:47)
Yes, so students, if you're still using the email address that you made back in middle school, so those of you who are cowboypimp72 or anything like that...
Lisa (17:57)
Wow, y'all, we're gonna make a new one.
Josh (18:00)
Something simple. First name, last name, maybe a number if you need it.
Lisa (18:04)
Right, because if the email address makes you cringe even a little when you say it out loud, it's time.
Josh (18:09)
No, it's definitely time. Emails should not be the place where you choose to try to be exciting. Keep it boring.
Lisa (18:21)
Should that be another sticker? Boring is very good.
Josh (18:23)
Maybe. We'll talk about it.
Lisa (18:25)
I'm gonna add it to the list. All right. Okay, so we are already to number seven. Remembering that the application deadline is not the only deadline. That's very important. So you have financial aid, CSS Profile, if the college uses it, scholarship deadlines, housing deadlines, honors application. There are dates everywhere.
Josh (18:47)
Yeah, and we encourage students to make one calendar where you can put all of these dates and the reminders for them.
Lisa (18:53)
One calendar that your family can actually see because there are way too many moving pieces to keep all of this floating around in your head.
Josh (19:02)
Yeah, and none of these mistakes we talked about require some level of brilliance to avoid. It's mostly just careful, boring work.
Lisa (19:09)
Okay, so portal time, y'all. And parents, lock in. I need everybody to hear this part because I have seen this movie many, many times. Your kid submits the application. A few days later, they get access to the student portal. They log in, and next to transcript, it says missing in all caps. So cue...
Josh (19:32)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa (19:32)
...the panic.
Josh (19:33)
Right. And so the student immediately thinks that, my God, my counselor forgot to send this stuff in. The parent is ready to email somebody, and then everybody assumes that the application is somehow now ruined.
Lisa (19:43)
Right, so stop.
Josh (19:44)
Right. Because here's what's actually happening. Most of the time, this is due to a processing lag. Colleges are getting a ton of paper right now, thousands and thousands of applications, which can sometimes cause a backlog, and sometimes it can be a pretty significant one.
Lisa (19:58)
So they are getting transcripts, teacher recommendations, counselor letters, test scores, school reports. All of those things have to be received, matched to the kiddo, and then updated in the system. That does not happen instantly.
Josh (20:13)
Yeah, so a portal saying missing a few days after you've submitted your application doesn't necessarily mean that the document is actually missing. So a lot of times it means we just haven't processed it yet.
Lisa (20:24)
And those are very different things. This is the part that we want families to remember. Right after a major deadline, give it some time. Sometimes it takes two weeks to process. Sometimes it could take longer than two weeks. So do not assume that your counselor did anything wrong just because the college portal has not caught up yet.
Josh (20:46)
Yes. And before you contact anybody, verify what happened on your end. Who sends what? So your counselor typically sends the transcript, the school report, the counselor recommendation. And sometimes they'll also submit teacher recommendations as well, depending on your school's policies. Other times your teachers submit their own recommendations. So testing may come directly from the testing agency, which is again the student's responsibility, or sometimes you can self-report that directly into the Common App, depending on the college. And then of course, students, you actually submit the application.
Lisa (21:20)
If your high school uses SCOIR or Naviance or MaiaLearning, Cialfo, or another program or system, you can see whether the counselor actually submitted the document or not. So before you do all of this, log in, check.
Josh (21:34)
Yeah, because nine times out of ten, the family usually discovers, that was submitted like twelve days ago.
Lisa (21:40)
Exactly. Even the Common App will show when a teacher submits something or a counselor submits something. So we just want you to think about all of this before you start drafting that angry email.
Josh (21:53)
So here's the process. Step one, confirm it was sent. Step two, if it was sent, give the college time to process it. Step three, if it is still showing as missing well after the processing window, so we're talking three weeks, four weeks, then send a polite email.
Lisa (22:11)
Right, keyword being polite. I cannot emphasize that enough, y'all. Maybe try, hi! In my portal, it's still showing that my transcript is missing. And my counselor submitted it on October 10th. Could you please let me know whether it's been processed? Here is my applicant ID or my school ID. Thank you so much. Chef's kiss.
Josh (22:34)
Exactly. Specific, helpful, easy to answer.
Lisa (22:37)
Not, why hasn't my transcript been received, in all caps, like you're yelling at them? Because we already know the answer might be it probably has. It just hasn't gotten uploaded to your portal yet.
Josh (22:49)
Right. And students and parents, remember, colleges know that they have processing delays. This isn't new information for them. They're not gonna punish a student because their own office took time to match a document that was submitted properly.
Lisa (23:00)
Right. So do you check your portal? Absolutely. But read it calmly. Verify before you worry, which y'all, I know is easier said than done. And then give the system a little time to process. And then follow up when a follow-up is actually needed. And remember, there is no such thing as a college counseling emergency. Those deadlines have been published for a long time. Because listen, your procrastination, kiddo, is not your college counselor, not your parents, or that college's emergency. That is definitely...
Josh (23:34)
Bingo, man.
Lisa (23:36)
...going to be a sticker.
Josh (23:37)
Exactly. And it looks like you've already preempted our next segment because it's the Hot Take or Hard Truth time. So it looks like you already gave one. But just in case, Lisa, go.
Lisa (23:46)
Okay, so families, a lot of things you panic about in the process are either already fine or were really actually never a problem. The B, the Honors section that you thought was empty, the transcript that your counselor did send, the portal that's just not updated yet. I get it. You care. And this feels big, and it is big, but we want you to know that everything is going to be okay. So before any bun spirals, check the facts, ask, read, wait a minute, because the fear is often much bigger than what is actually happening.
Josh (24:28)
Yeah, well said. Okay, so mine is for the parents.
Lisa (24:31)
Mm.
Josh (24:32)
Parents, your school counselor is on your team. So the hot take here is check your own homework before you blame theirs. Every year, families see a missing item in a portal and immediately assume somebody at the high school dropped the ball. And then they look in Naviance or SCOIR or Cialfo, Common App, MaiaLearning, and discover, the counselor submitted that a week ago.
Lisa (24:54)
Yep. Mm-hmm.
Josh (24:56)
These counselors are often managing enormous caseloads and hundreds of moving pieces. Most of them are working really hard to get students where they need to go. So before you send that email, check the system, verify the date, see what was actually submitted, and then if something really is wrong, reach out.
Lisa (25:16)
Y'all, assume competence and then check the facts. Honestly, I think, Josh, that's pretty good life advice, like in general. Assume competence and then check the facts.
Josh (25:25)
It really is. It really is. And it's a pretty good sticker choice too.
Lisa (25:30)
Y'all, you heard it here again. Josh just suggested a sticker. Okay, I think we're already up...
Josh (25:36)
Just saying.
Lisa (25:37)
...to like 15 stickers now.
Josh (25:39)
We'll have to get on that. Okay, so moving past stickers, Drop the Mic. Lisa, so you start us off again.
Lisa (25:45)
Okay, all right. Here is what I would like every family to carry out of this episode. This process is not as fragile as it feels. I know we keep saying this, but I'm gonna say it again. A B does not undo three years of hard work.
Josh (26:01)
Mm.
Lisa (26:01)
One blank box does not mean your application is incomplete. You do not need every AP, five honors, a giant passion project, and a perfectly polished essay to be what the colleges want. You need to be thoughtful, you need to be honest, you need to pay attention. And when something looks scary, get the facts before you decide if it is a disaster.
Check the portal. Check when it was submitted. Read the instructions. Ask the questions. Then take a breath. Your kiddo has spent years building this application. One red missing label on a screen does not erase any of that. Trust the work that they have already done.
Josh (26:44)
Nice, nice. So here's mine. Students, stop treating the application like it's a trap. So I think sometimes you guys get so afraid of making one tiny mistake that you start to believe that there must be some secret correct version of the application that you're supposed to figure out. There really isn't. Colleges are trying to understand a real student, not a perfect student, not a résumé with legs, a person.
So, yes, do the boring stuff right that we talked about. Proofread. Make sure you change the school names. Double check your deadlines. List the honors you actually earned. Answer the question they actually asked. But then let the application sound like you. You don't have to manufacture something bigger, shinier, or more impressive than the life you're actually living. Be careful, but be honest. Tell them who you are. That's enough.
Lisa (27:34)
Mic dropped twice, Josh. Look at us.
Josh (27:38)
I'm telling you, it'd be perfect for those sound effects. But okay, so transitioning next week on Drop In, we're talking about the college paths that do not follow the normal college admissions calendar.
Lisa (27:50)
And parents. So whether you're in the middle of this right now or you have a younger kiddo who is just starting to think about it, you definitely want to come back and hear us on this one. If you have an artist building a portfolio or a performer getting ready for auditions, you cannot always wait until senior year to figure this stuff out. Some of these timelines also start really early.
Josh (28:09)
Yeah, and they work differently from a traditional application. Art programs are reviewing portfolios, performance programs may require pre-screens before you ever get to audition. And sometimes...
Lisa (28:19)
Yeah.
Josh (28:20)
...those deadlines are completely different than the college's regular application deadline.
Lisa (28:24)
Which is why “I did this really cool thing” is great. But how you're actually going to show it to the college is another thing. So what do I submit? When do I submit? Who do I need to submit it to? Who's going to see it? Where do you go for the auditions? What do I need to send before you even get there? And the big one, when should I have started all of this?
Josh (28:45)
Yeah, because this is where these pathways can go a little sideways, right? So the portfolio deadline you didn't realize was different, the pre-screen requirement that may have been missed, the audition slots that filled up while your family was still deciding whether or not to apply.
Lisa (29:00)
And these are those little details that become big details when you find out about it all too late. So we're talking timelines, what to watch out for that really actually matters, and how to make sure that your kiddo is ready before those deadlines sneak up on you.
Josh (29:18)
Yeah, and then towards the end of next episode we'll finish with a little bit of a lightning round. So what belongs in a portfolio? What...
Lisa (29:22)
Mm.
Josh (29:24)
...should you know about pre-screens? And how do you prepare for an audition without turning the next six months into one huge panic attack?
Lisa (29:30)
So quick questions, straight answers, and hopefully a whole lot fewer families saying, Wait, we were supposed to do what when?
Josh (29:38)
Yep, so that's next week on Drop In.
Lisa (29:39)
So we are Decision Drop, making your college journey collaborative, simple, and most importantly, yours. And if you want Josh and me in your corner helping your family throughout this whole process, from building lists to applications to reading the portal without losing your mind, head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out.
Josh (30:00)
Thanks for dropping in, y'all. See you next week.
Lisa (30:02)
And don't forget to like and subscribe. Bye!
