Give it a second; it's going to space

I like what Louie CK once said on Conan about technology and patience.  You should watch the whole thing.  But if you're feeling just a little too impatient yourself, start at 1:40.  

It's a lot of work to apply to college.  I remember sitting in my high school library, filling out my 9th application by hand.  That's right.  Pen and paper.  That makes me feel old.  I was marginally interested in the school and tired of doing applications.  So I stopped.  I didn't get past the personal info on that application and I never applied to that school.  8 applications would have to be enough.  There were other things to think about, other things to do.  I couldn't drag myself through another checklist for another college.

Though online applications have streamlined the process, those checklists are still long.  And it's understandable that students worry, especially about the things on those checklists they can't control.  They have to rely on us to send transcripts, recommendations, and the like.  

So here's the good news: Mrs. Best is a deadline-beating machine.  Seriously.  She cares just as much about our kiddos getting into college as any of our counselors.  And in the vast majority of cases, Mrs. Best can "send your stuff," as our form calls it, with the click of a button.  

Here's the catch.  Once that stuff gets sent, it isn't immediately received and processed into your file by the admission office.  In some cases, it takes the college up to 2 weeks to process transcripts, even when received electronically.  To complicate things, many colleges will continue to send you that pesky "we're still missing your transcript" email right up until the date it actually gets processed into your file.  That means there's an awkward lag period where the college might tell you they don't have your transcript, even though we can give you a confirmation number and tell you when the college received it.  It's kind of like watching that youtube clip above and waiting for it to buffer.  You've clicked play.  You've seen some of it, and you know there's more - it's just hanging out there frustrating you.  Give it a second; it's going to space.  

If you find yourself worrying about whether a school has your transcript, just ask Mrs. Best.  She can tell you when it was sent and whether the school received it electronically.  Just know that it might be a few days before the college acknowledges receipt.  They have a lot of stuff to process into files.  In the meantime, you can marvel at the fact that you just have to click submit, and off goes your application without you even thinking about using a pen.